So should coach Brett Angell be starting his assistant in the do-or-die televised match this Sunday?
"Look, everyone put their hand up today ... I want to play. I mean it's a semifinal, who doesn't want to play?" a grinning Ifill said, revealing he always fancied himself to start but, by the same token, appreciated Angell's position.
"He feels I'm an impact player so that's fine," he said, happy to glean the coaching side of things.
Did Angell make midfielder Zane Sole a sacrificial lamb in starting him yesterday when he rested Birhanu Taye and defender Martin Ramos Canales, who also were considered high-risk semifinal players for sitting on three yellow cards?
Sole, who picked up his fourth yellow card six minutes after kick-off, is out of the semifinal.
"I don't think it was a risk but you'll have to ask Brett that one," Ifill replied, adamant referee Nick Waldron's yellow card simply wasn't one.
"I think he's very unfortunate because he played really well today and we'll miss him in the next game," he said but added that it was also a good opportunity for others to savour playoffs game time.
"Hopefully we can make the final and he'll be back to play there."
Ross Willox made his debut in the engine room and Ifill felt at 17 he had a bright future.
He fancied Bay's chances at home in the playoffs.
"We know a lot about Wellington and they know a lot about us so it'll be another tough game," said Ifill, after Bay United had overwhelmed the O-League campaigners 2-0 away in the previous round.
Yesterday's game was scruffy but while Bay should have put the game to bed earlier, it must have been hard to motivate players in the 32C heat.
Striker Tom Biss kept a scoring habit when he drove a ball from inside the 18m box on the right flank to put the hosts ahead 1-0 in the 12th minute.
But the visitors struck back three minutes later, 1-1, when ex-Bay striker Sean Lovemore scored probably his easiest goal of the season seconds after Mason-Smith butchered a chance at the other end of the park when he overran the ball with one defender to beat.
Biss was unmarked and Gibson ventured out of his goalmouth.
In the 19th minute, Fabien Kurimati put in a deft cross to Biss from the goal line but the striker's ill-timed header didn't do it justice.
The second half went through the motions when captain Finlay Milne headed a ball into the net in the 61st minute but, amid howls of protest, referee Waldron scratched the goal and flashed the centreback a yellow card for a hand ball.
In the 60th minute Gibson made a great save from a Biss shot near the upright but injured his leg.
The winning goal came in the last minute of added time when Ifill sucked in defender Samuel O'Regan with his trademark swivel to draw a penalty kick and duly converted it as Gibson dived the wrong way.
Bay goalkeeper Joshua Hill celebrated his 21st birthday on Saturday with parents, Paul and Patricia Hill, from England, watching him play yesterday.
