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Wellington have increased the pressure on Melbourne Victory coach Grant Brebner by thrashing the out-of-form A-League club 4-1 in Wollongong.
Beleaguered Melbourne Victory coach Grant Brebner said he wouldn't resign after the ailing A-League glamour club's horrendous run continued with a 4-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix.
Wednesday's drubbing for Victory came amid speculation that the club had already talked to Tony Popovic about becoming their next manager.
Phoenix scored twice in each half, with the win moving them up two places to eighth while continuing Victory's horror season.
It was The Melbourne side's fourth straight loss, during which they have leaked 17 goals, and their sixth defeat from their last seven fixtures.
Speculation continues to mount about Brebner's position with former Socceroo Robbie Slater tweeting that he had heard the Victory board had already spoken to former Perth and Western Sydney coach Popovic, who was sacked by Greek club Xanthi last month.
Brebner insisted he wouldn't walk away from the club despite their dire situation which has them four points adrift at the bottom of the ladder with just two wins.
"As a player in a difficult situation and now as a head coach, one thing I'm committed to doing is making sure that I work 100 per cent along with my staff to get us out of it," Brebner said.
Victory enjoyed some good passages of play in the first half and had more shots, but were denied by two fine saves from Oli Sail.
He pushed away an Elvis Kamsoba drive and produced a phenomenal reflex save to deny Ben Folami from close range
"We didn't play like a team that were devoid of confidence. We didn't play like a team that didn't go out there to win the game," Brebner said.
"We just made some terrible decisions in and around the penalty box that cost us dearly."
Phoenix played some incisive and attractive football, which delighted coach Ufuk Talay.
"We played some very good football today," Talay said
"The most important thing for us was scoring four goals, that would boost the confidence."
Wellington's opening score after 11 minutes came from a devastating counter attack and was one of the best team goals witnessed in this season's A-League
Reno Piscopo, David Ball and Ulises Davila played perfectly timed passes to set up Tomor Hemed, with the Israeli firing in his third goal in his last three games.
They doubled their lead with a more contentious goal from Ball after 36 minutes.
He netted after the ball came off the elbow of teammate Alex Rufer, though Brebner had no issues with it under the laws.
Phoenix almost increased their lead in the 49th minute when Victory goalkeeper Matt Acton made a super stop, tipping a James McGarry shot onto a post.
Any hopes of a Victory revival were snuffed out when Davila's super 62nd minute strike from the edge of the area arrowed into the net.
Six more minutes elapsed before Clayton Lewis, who hit the bar In the first half, scored his first A-League goal for Phoenix.
Kamsoba pulled one back in the 76th minute, but it was scant consolation for his well-beaten club.