There's three weeks to go in the A-League regular season, they currently sit third on the table and three more points should secure them an all-important spot in the top four, although finishing third would be even better.
The reason the Phoenix want to be in the top four is simple: home advantage for the playoffs.
In the first week of the post-season, the third-ranked team meets the sixth, while fourth plays fifth, with the winners progressing to within one game of the preliminary final.
If the Phoenix claimed third place they could potentially earn two home games before they would have to track across the ditch for a knockout game in Australia - provided they keep winning.
The Phoenix's formidable record at Westpac Stadium is well documented, and with an in-form Paul Ifill on the roster there are few teams who would be volunteering to travel to Wellington to keep their season alive.
On Saturday, the Phoenix play the Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park and considering the Heart sit in fifth place - five points adrift of Wellington - it would be an ideal time to put more distance between themselves and the chasing pack.
Central Coast lead the league on 45 points, with Brisbane second on 42. With the Phoenix three points further adrift on 39, coach Ricki Herbert wouldn't rule out a top-two spot come the end of the season.
"I think it's there,'' Herbert said. "Whilst it's there you need to be focused on it. So I think both of those positions are kind of up for grabs. Central Coast haven't picked up too many points over the last few weeks.''
Herbert said the overall aim during the next three weeks was just to be inside that top four so they could play at home in the knockout rounds.
"I think it's always going to give you an edge and we are pretty good at home so hopefully we stay in that top four. It'd be great.''
Following their clash with the Heart, the Phoenix meet Melbourne Victory next Friday night and the side will spend the week in Australia; a tactic which served them well earlier in the year when they registered back-to-back road victories over Gold Coast and Newcastle.
Following their Melbourne sojourn they round out the regular season with a home game against the Central Coast Mariners on March 25.
Herbert confirmed the only addition to the travelling squad from the 15 who beat Gold Coast on Sunday would be left back Tony Lochhead, who missed the 2-0 victory over the men from the Glitter Strip due to illness.
He will likely slot straight back in to left back - a role played by Vince Lia during the win over Gold Coast - which creates a decision for Herbert.
Does he drop Lia to the bench and leave Alex Smith and Tim Brown to patrol the middle of the park, or push the more creative Smith to the pine?
Smith and Brown have formed a nice combination in the past, and offer more for the Phoenix in the centre of the midfield as opposed to Lia and Brown.
"He's made it very hard,'' Herbert said of Smith's form. "He's done great since he's been with us. For somebody who's on short-term contracts week to week then maybe a little bit of an extension till the end of the year he's really put his hand up. He wants to be part of the A-League and I think he'd dearly love to be part of the Wellington Phoenix in the future.''
