A rampant Melbourne Victory put Wellington Phoenix to the sword and surged into the A-League Men's top six, with a Nikos Vergos hat-trick powering a 5-1 win at AAMI Park.
Public enemy number one among supporters amid an early-season slump that saw Victory sit bottom of the table and him languishing without a goal, Vergos netted his first A-League hat-trick in Monday's demolition and now shares the Golden Boot lead alongside Macarthur's Harrison Sawyer.
Heading beyond teenage keeper Eamonn McCarron, who was making his starting debut, in the first half before using his right foot to grab a third in the 47th minute, the Greek striker could have had more had he not spurned two gilt-edged chances late in the first half.
After being publicly challenged to deliver by his coach in November and even being briefly benched, Vergos' return to goalscoring form has correlated with Victory's three straight wins, and for Diles it was an inevitable and deserved turnaround.
"It's a result of hard work," Diles said of his leading man. "He hasn't changed his attitude, he hasn't changed his application, and he hasn't changed his work ethic.
"I've always been confident that things will turn, it (was) only a matter of time."
With Santos and Keegan Jelacic joining Vergos on the scoresheet, and Josh Rawlins and Juan Mata providing key assists, the win ensured Victory will end 2026 in sixth, vaulting a point clear of cross-town foes Melbourne City.
"It's a great way to finish off the year," said Diles. "There's a lot of work ahead of us still, because we're still not where we want to be.
"We're in a better place than we were a month ago, and in a month, we want to be in a better place again."
His job potentially saved by the 2-1 win over Adelaide that began their current streak, pressure has eased on Diles heading into the new year.
However, the thrashing has ratcheted it back up on Wellington boss Giancarlo Italiano, who was frank in assessing his side's defending as "comical" on Victory's second-half goals.
Wellington currently sit 10th with the A-League's worst goal difference and could be last by the time they next play.
"Losing doesn't make it easy, but I feel pressure, irrespective," Italiano said. "If I came in here and I didn't (feel) the backing of the players…I would have left. But I feel like I've got the buy-in from the majority of the players."
