The All Whites have ended their goal drought en route to a 2-1 victory over China at Wellington's Sky Stadium.
Even missing talisman striker Chris Wood, the NZ men broke a goal-less stretch dating back almost 12 months, since they beat Solomon Islands 5-0 in the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament.
An own goal from China defender Zhu Chenjie and a second-half strike from midfielder Matthew Garbett saw them finally get the goalscoring monkey off their back.
Although China struck back with an injury-time goal to substitute midfielder Dun Ba, beating goalkeeper Oli Sail with a perfectly placed header, the home side had enough to give interim manager Darren Bazely his first victory in charge of the side.
Despite the scoreline, the All Whites were by far the more comfortable of the two sides.
New Zealand had more possession (60 percent), more shots (17 to 10) and more passes, and were finally able to put China away after last week's scoreless draw in Auckland.
The only blemish came from the penalty spot, when striker Alex Grieve fired a limp effort straight at the keeper, after Elijah Just earned a spot-kick for a foul inside the area.
Ironically, an opposition player ended the All Whites' barren run, when Zhu headed a Marco Rojas free-kick past goalkeeper Yan Junling.
Garbett doubled that lead just minutes after coming off the bench, latching onto a pass from Joe Bell to beat Yan with a right-foot shot inside the far post to seal New Zealand's win.
New Zealand 2 (Zhu OG, Garbett) China 1 (Ba)
