Up, up and away as Phoenix end travel jinx

The Phoenix will board their flight to Wellington today with a spring in their step and three points in the luggage compartment for the first time in more than a year.

A hard-fought but crucial 1-0 win against the Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia in Newcastle last night was the Phoenix's first three-pointer in 12 matches in the A-League across the ditch since a 2-1 win against Sydney FC on November 7 last year.

More importantly, it has strengthened their bid for a top-six playoffs spot.

They may have only climbed one place to fifth (before the final match of round 15 between Perth and Sydney late last night), but there is a three-point gap between the Phoenix and the bottom four teams, who all failed to win at the weekend.

Ricki Herbert's side now travels to Brisbane this weekend to face an out-of-sorts Roar side struggling in eighth spot.

It was tough going in Newcastle with sweltering conditions affecting both teams, though oddly it was the Phoenix who appeared to adapt to the heat better.

Any theories of a World Cup hangover were quickly thrown out the window when the visitors, containing five All Whites in their starting team, took an early lead in front of a record low Newcastle crowd of only 4239. Paul Ifill was the man of the moment, scoring his fourth goal in five matches and sixth of the season in the 14th minute.

After some good work from Daniel, Tony Lochhead sent an inviting left-wing cross into the danger area and Ifill, playing more centrally in a front two with Chris Greenacre, lunged ahead of Jets defender Ljubo Milicevic at the near post and produced a typically classy finish.

The Phoenix took a deserved lead into the break. Ifill and Leo Bertos were the main attacking threats while the ninth-placed Jets struggled to make an impact.

Mark Paston was rarely challenged in goal with the back four performing soundly. Ben Sigmund was particularly impressive, cutting off several attacking raids.

The Phoenix had more clearcut chances in the second half and Ifill was denied a double by an outstanding reflex save from Jets stopper Neil Young, who was also on hand to thwart a long-range effort by Bertos.

But the Jets pressed hard for an equaliser and deep into injury time they should have got one, only for Fabio Vignaroli to botch an open goal.

It wasn't a pretty game, more a war of attrition, but the Phoenix deserved to win.

Meanwhile, Central Coast Mariners proved themselves the hottest team in the league after handing the North Queensland Fury an embarrassing 5-1 flogging in Townsville, with striker Nik Mrdja scoring a double.

It followed a 4-0 win against Melbourne Victory, and took Lawrie McKinna's fourth-placed team to within four points of leaders Melbourne, who beat Brisbane 1-0 at Suncorp Stadium courtesy of an early Archie Thompson header.

Adelaide striker Matthew Leckie scored deep into injury time to earn his side a 1-1 draw with 10-men Gold Coast United in Adelaide on Friday night.

- © Fairfax NZ News