Wellington Phoenix stand-in coach Giancarlo Italiano has hailed goalkeeper Oliver Sail's man-of-the-match performance after his side recorded a 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar at Moreton Daily Stadium.
Sail refused to be beaten in the Phoenix's first clean sheet in five attempts, standing firm as Roar directed 36 shots - 11 of them on target - at his goal on Wednesday night.
Two of his saves, against Louis Zabala's gilt-edged chance in the 48th minute and Henry Hore's attempt in the 57th, allowed his side to immediately spring forward in transition before leading 2-0 through Ben Waine, and then 3-0 via Ben Old's first-ever ALM goal.
They added to a lead sourced from Scott Neville's 28th-minute own goal.
"The save at 1-0 that led to the second goal was the most crucial part of the game," Italiano said.
"It was a big save and then (Sail) really grew into the game.
"(Sail) was exceptional today. So were all the defenders and midfielders."
Italiano was filling in while regular coach Ufuk Talay completed a COVID isolation period, which will end on Friday.
Despite the goals to come, controversy dogged Phoenix's first, which was forced to undergo a lengthy VAR review before being ticked off by the officials.
Neville was furious a push from Waine as he sought to clear wasn't called, claiming referee Shaun Evans had told him it was a foul but was deferring it to the VAR.
"We're off the ground and (he) pushes (me) in the back," Neville told Paramount.
"The referee even said it's a foul but we'll let the VAR deal with it."
But Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon wasn't in the mood to blame the officials for his side's defeat, instead expressing frustration with their inability to finish.
"We're expecting to score and we don't," he said.
"At this level, those chances need to be taken because when they transitioned down the other end the chance they had was harder than the one we had.
"We were in that game - 3-0 says we've been comprehensively beaten and we have in the scoreline but not the performance."
Moon anticipates welcoming back a number of missing players for a visit from Newcastle on Sunday including Tom Alred, who was a late withdrawal on Wednesday with hamstring tightness.
Now into fourth after Macarthur's draw with Sydney, Phoenix next host Melbourne City at a venue to be determined on Saturday.
