Auckland will be encourage by their best performance yet under new coach Pedro Moreira, even if they didn’t add to their lone win three weeks ago. They sit fifth.

Saturday’s match at Go Media Stadium in Auckland kicked off an hour later than scheduled at 6pm, after lightning and thunder arrived in the area seven minutes before the teams were due out for their warm-ups.

There was briefly a glimpse of sunlight – and a rainbow – as the two teams emerged from the tunnel, before the bad weather cleared for good for the second half.

The rain had a major impact on proceedings, with neither team able to trust their passing for their footing and players slipping and sliding everywhere.

Phoenix coach Chris Greenacre stuck with the same starting XI from their win over the Newcastle Jets last weekend – their third in a row to start the season.

Moreira made three changes – Dan Normann in for injured Jake Brimmer in midfield, Callan Elliot for Lachie Brook on the right, and Sam Cosgrove (back from suspension) for Jonty Bidois up top.

Phoenix midfielder Kazuki Nagasawa blew a golden chance to open the scoring after 13 minutes, when the ball fell to him in the box after a period of head tennis, only for him to shank his left-footed shot well wide of the goal.

Auckland looked far better in possession than they had in the opening three rounds of the season, helped by a tweak from Moreira that had Hiroki Sakai tucking in as a third centre back at times and Elliot and Francis de Vries providing width.