With early chances for Jesse Randall and Kailan Gould thwarted impressively by Phoenix goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, the spectators had to wait until the second half for the floodgates to open.
George Ott opened the scoring for the home side with a scrappy goal poked home from close range in the 50th minute, before Paulsen kept his side ahead with a phenomenal point-blank save to deny Randall minutes later.
Phoenix Reserves doubled their lead through a thunderous strike from Thomas Raimbault in the 75th minute - less than 10 minutes after coming off the bench.
Three minutes later, Riley Bidois wrapped up the points for his side after a through ball split the HBU defence, leaving the 18-year-old to calmly slot home past a helpless Scott Morris.
Morris said avoidable errors cost the travelling side in an "unbelievably frustrating" loss.
"We dominated for large parts, but silly mistakes and brief lapses caused us to go behind," he said.
"Three-nil definitely doesn't represent the context of the game, as we had the majority of chances, but unfortunately just couldn't do the thing that wins you games - put the ball in the back of the net."
Despite suffering five straight losses, summer signing Jesse Randall - who remains the only Hawke's Bay player to find the net this season - Bill Robertson and Fergus Neil all featured in the league's November team of the month.
Scott Morris and Karan Mandair have also been stand-out players in a somewhat lacklustre squad.
Mandair said capitalising on chances has been the side's biggest downfall this season - conceding 13 (all in the second half) and only netting twice.
"I think 3-0 was a little harsh - we dominated large periods of the game but couldn't capitalise on our chances," he said.
"We are low on confidence and just need a result to go our way and get the momentum from it."
Hawke's Bay United next face Waitakere United at Bluewater Stadium, Napier, at 1pm on December 20.
