Wellington coach Ricki Herbert believes his team's 1-0 victory over Sydney on Saturday was a major step in securing an A-League finals berth.
The Phoenix are back up to third place on the standings thanks to Paul Ifill's 13th-minute winner at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Defeat leaves Sydney outside the top six and with a tough draw ahead in the remaining four matches of the regular season.
"The thing that's fascinating about this league is that you never know and it will go down to the wire. You'll have six or seven teams challenging for a home game,'' Herbert said.
"I know how they (Sydney) must be feeling tonight. They had their chances and we had to dig deep. It was a superb defensive display by the boys. It was about being resolute."
"We had to stop the losses quickly and it was all about getting the three points. Yes, it was a big one for us.''
Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka said his team will not give up on their slim finals hopes, despite their gloomy situation.
"We lost the battle but we won't give up the season,'' Lavicka said.
"We've got four games to go and we'll do or best. We won't give in."
"It was quite a good performance tonight but we are missing quality in the penalty area. We had a big motivation to do it tonight but they counter attacked quickly and were always dangerous."
"We applied plenty of pressure but came away with no goals and no points."