The Wellington Phoenix Women have snapped their long run of road defeats with a sensational 3-1 win over Perth Glory, keeping their A-League Women playoffs hopes alive.
Alyssa Whinham, Michaela Robertson and Macey Fraser all scored during the 3-1 win, Wellington's first on Australian soil since October.
The victory leaves the Nix seven points adrift of the top four with four matches remaining, three of which will be at home.
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple couldn't have been happier with the result after a tough run of results.
"It's a huge win for us," he said. "It's been well documented our struggles on the road so we've decided to come to the furthest place we can play and get a win, but I thought we were well-deserved winners in the end.
"It was very, very tight in the first half. It was pretty end to end and both teams had some good chances, but I thought in the second half we really stepped it up and had the best chances."
Temple believes staying in Australia after their disappointing 5-3 defeat to Melbourne Victory proved to be pivotal.
"It could literally change our season doing that. It was a... good decision," he said.
"We're... thankful to the club as it obviously costs to come this early and put us up. To do that for us was huge."
After making four changes from the side that lost to City, Temple was forced to make another change when centre-back Rebecca Lake went down with an ankle injury early in the match, bringing on Wellingtonian Emma Main.
Wellington broke the deadlock just after 20 minutes with a quickfire counterattack which saw Mariana Speckmaier burst upfield before finding Isabel Cox, who stood up an inch-perfect cross to the back post that Whinham nodded home from close range.
Perth equalised through a Michaela Foster own goal just before halftime but Wellington regrouped, scoring twice in the second half including a rocket from midfielder Macey Fraser to seal the match.
"We had two real moments of quality," said Temple.
"Alyssa's through ball for the second goal was outrageous really and Macey's finish for the third goal. We haven't had those bits of quality in the last few weeks, and it was awesome to see that tonight."
After eight road games in nine rounds, the Wellington Phoenix will now prepare for two matches at Porirua Park in four days, starting with next Sunday's match against reigning champions Sydney FC.
Wellington Phoenix Women 3 (Alyssa Whinham, Michaela Robertson, Macey Fraser)
Perth Glory Women 1 (Michaela Foster OG)
