Football: Miramar Rangers wallop Havelock North Wanderers 7-0 with Team Wellington attack

Wanderers player Ben Foxall takes on Miramar Rangers in the 2-0 loss in Havelock North in April but yesterday it was tough going playing away in Wellington. Photo / Duncan Brown

Ask Bruce Barclay and he'll tell you there's no sugar coating a flogging in the beautiful game.

But that doesn't mean the Building King Havelock North Wanderers assistant coach wasn't going to try to lessen the bitterness in the pill after his troops succumbed 7-0 to Miramar Rangers in Wellington yesterday.

"Believe it or not, I'm going to try to sugarcoat it," he said after the round 12 Ultra Football Central League clash at David Farrington Park.

Barclay felt the visitors had their moments of accomplishments but someone had lit the hosts' fuse as well.

"They were really smarting after last weekend against the Rovers so they were pretty upset about losing that one," he said, after league leaders Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers beat the Rangers 3-1 at Park Island, Napier, last Sunday.

The Rovers kick off at 2pm at Bluewater Stadium against Wellington Olympic today.

At the after-match function, the Aleem Shiek-captained Miramar expressed their satisfaction with how their foragers were clinical at the coal face.

Englishman Ross Allen scored a hat-trick of goals in the 13th, 38th and 80th minutes, as the hosts went into halftime 3-0 up.

Jack Henry-Sinclair (35th minute) and Scott Hilliar (49th) got on the ref's scorecard and substitute Quinton Kipara (73rd, 90 + 3) claimed a brace of goals.

Barclay said it wasn't much consolation for the last-placed villagers but it paid to know they were up against a frontline of Team Wellington.

"These guys are champions. You're talking about [ex-Rover] Angus Kilkolly, Jack Henry-Sinclair and the boy from Gurnsey [Allen] and they're a quality team."

He said the Chris Greatholder and Dion Adams-coached Havelock North had their moments of 10 to 15-minute pressure passages where they had looked good.

"They [Rangers] would then go to the other end of the field and have a couple of minutes of endeavour and put us to the sword so sometimes you've just got to say, 'Well done to them and we'll live to fight another day'," he said of the villagers who were coming off a 4-2 victory over Wellington United last Saturday and are focusing on the bigger picture of winning enough games to stave off relegation in their debut season in Central League.

It reminded Barclay of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen's response after a bad performance.

"He had said you can spend a lot of time dwelling on it or just flush the dunny and move on, don't ya?"

Barclay said the Wanderers would do more harm reflecting on the flogging rather than
focusing on what's in front of them.

Asked who will win the Fifa World cup in Russia, he hoped it would be Belgium, Argentina or Portugal.

"The dreamer in me still wants England to have a good run as well ... but to make a long story even longer - Germany to win only because the tournament is in Europe," he said.