Soccer: Classy win early gift for Kingz

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Christmas came early for the Football Kingz with a well-deserved 3-0 away win over the Marconi Stallions in the Australian Soccer League.

And the good cheer could get even better today with a promise from Kingz chairman Chris Turner that outstanding wage payments will be met.

"We have a cashflow problem," Turner admitted again yesterday. "But we have worked through it with our sponsors. The funds we need will be transferred on Monday. We are very, very disappointed at suggestions of a player revolt."

Turner said the Kingz were looking ahead, not back, but they would not appoint their chief executive until the New Year as they had yet to prune the 28 applications to a shortlist.

"We will do that as soon as possible, but there is a lot happening at the moment."

High on their planning agenda is Friday night's home game against the lowly Melbourne Knights. Victory at North Harbour Stadium could take the Auckland-based side close to the top six.

"We are looking at a number of things for Friday's game," said Turner. "We should know by Tuesday what is going to happen. We are keen to put the emphasis on family entertainment."

The players gave the club the best possible fillip with their victory at Marconi Stadium on Saturday night.

Player-coach Wynton Rufer took up the challenge to lead his team from the outset and his class was quickly evident as he led an orchestrated assault on the Sydney side, who went into the game five points ahead of the Kingz.

A well-worked move between Rufer and Fred de Jong put the Kingz ahead in the 36th minute. Ivan Vicelich played a long ball to Rufer, who headed on to the charging Dino Mennillo and he headed home.

The Kingz, who enjoyed 61 per cent of the possession, continued to press and were rewarded in the 64th minute when de Jong got between a Marconi defender and goalkeeper Michael Turnbull to head home a well-struck Marcus Stergiopoulos cross for his fourth goal of the season.

Satisfied his job had been done, Rufer went off a couple of minutes later - being replaced by Chris Jackson - but later had the satisfaction of watching substitute Riki van Steeden (on for de Jong) score within 20s of entering the game.

Van Steeden added the finishing touch from a cross from fellow-substitute Jonathan Perry for an 85th-minute goal.

It was only the second time in 11 games the Kingz had got through without conceding a goal.

While Marconi created 16 scoring opportunities, they rarely stretched the Kingz defence and goalkeeper Jason Batty had a relatively quiet time in keeping his castle intact with another accomplished display.

The challenge for the Kingz this week will be to improve their home record. They have not won at home in almost two months and have managed just five points in five outings on this side of the Tasman.