Gary Hooper is swarmed by Phoenix team-mates after scoring his first goal for the club.

Prior to Sunday's controversial defeat to Melbourne City, Wellington Phoenix striker Gary Hooper had never experienced the joys of VAR.

So it was quite the introduction for the former Celtic and Norwich City man, when a handball howler potentially cost the Phoenix their first point of the A-League season.

"It was my first game [with VAR] and in my first game they got it wrong," he said.

GETTY IMAGES Phoenix players plead their case with referee Ben Abraham.

Phoenix defender Louis Fenton was judged to have handled the ball from a cross despite replays showing it struck his chest, resulting in Craig Noone's second half penalty.

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Stunned that Video Assistant Referee Craig Zetter upheld referee Ben Abraham's on-field decision even with the luxury of multiple replays, Fenton let his feelings known in a post-match interview with Fox Sports, dropping numerous F-bombs as he pleaded his case to presenter Archie Thompson.

Despite initial fears from the club that he would be fined, Fenton has escaped any sanction for his bad language.

GETTY IMAGES Gary Hooper looks to get in behind City defender Josh Brillante.

Hooper said it was super quiet in the Phoenix changing room immediately after the match as the nature of their 3-2 defeat hit home.

"Everyone knew it hit his chest and in the end we lost the game and couldn't do much about it. It was quite low in the camp but now we've got to get back on the training pitch and it's a big week ahead of us."

18-year-old Ben Waine, who became the Phoenix's youngest-ever goal-scorer by netting in stoppage time, said the VAR controversy took the gloss off what should have been one of the proudest moments of his young career.

"It's mixed emotions really. Obviously I'm really excited to score my first professional goal and to be the youngest is a really nice achievement personally, but it's about the result at the end of the day and it kind of overshadowed it in my opinion," Waine said.

GETTY IMAGES Phoenix striker Ben Waine pokes the ball into the back of the net in stoppage time.

"After the game from people's responses, obviously our team's not the only ones thinking that, but in a normal game with a normal ref there's going to be errors, everyone makes mistakes. Obviously it's a shame that it's happened to us but we've just got to accept that and move on now.

"I don't really know what else to say about it but hopefully it comes around the next couple of weeks."

Despite the decision going against the Phoenix on this occasion, Hooper believed VAR still has a place in football and urged his team-mates to put the incident in the past.

"When you look at what happened to us at the weekend, it got it completely wrong. Even on normal play you can see it just hits his chest and you can tell by the player's reaction, it said it all really," Hooper said.

"It's going to be the talk until next week really. It's a big mistake but we've got to try and move on from it because we've got a big game on Sunday, probably the biggest game of the season for us."

Hooper made a strong impact in his first start, scoring the Phoenix's first goal by heading home from a Reno Piscopo corner-kick.

"I was excited to score. Any first goal for any club is good but we lost the game so it don't really matter," he said.

Although he was substituted at halftime as Ufuk Talay continues to ease his marquee man into action, Hooper said he felt he could have played on in the second half but was understanding of his coach's decision.

"I think everyone would say they could go on a bit more but it's the manager's decision, protecting me, protecting my legs and I think in the end I think it was the right decision to slowly build me up over the next few weeks.

"My last game was in May and I have only been training with the team for a few weeks now so I've got to ease in. I do a lot of fitness on the training pitch but when it comes to gameday it's not the same as training so I've just got to ease in."

The Phoenix could be without Fenton for Sunday's clash against Melbourne Victory, where they will be looking to avoid an unwanted record of five losses to start a season. The right-back injured his shoulder against City and is due for an MRI scan to assess the full extent of the damage. The injury has forced him to withdraw from the All Whites squad for their friendlies against Ireland and Lithuania.