Soccer: C'mon boys, give it all you've got

The Waikato FC players are on a promise as they prepare for Sunday's elimination final against Waitakere United.

"Declan and I have promised the lads we will carry them on to the bus after they have run themselves into the ground," said Waikato football manager James Pamment this week. "But that will only be after they have gone around and picked the Waitakere players' hearts off the ground."

For Pamment and coach Declan Edge, Sunday's game at the Trusts Stadium is just another chance to show they are a determined bunch of guys prepared to die for each other.

"We don't care what the odds are," said Pamment. "All we try to do is win football games - not impress people. We are a tight group who work hard."

He, Edge and others they trust have continued to build a dossier on Waitakere ahead of this encounter.

"We have watched their last two games and can see a difference in the way they play," said Pamment. "They have gone from being a team, like Team Wellington, who have tried to play the 'beautiful game' to playing pretty much like everyone else in getting the ball wide.

"Against Napier last week we won in the end by being patient. We expected the game to open up after an hour - it did - and we were ready. I expect it could be much the same again this time."

The battle within the battle between Waitakere striker, and Golden Boot co-winner, Keryn Jordan and Waikato centre-back and captain Che Bunce will be crucial.

"Jordan is an outstanding footballer. If they get quality ball to him he will obviously be a danger. Both he and Che will take this battle personally, knowing the result could hinge on it."

Waikato can point to their strong away record as a reason why they are in with better than a bolter's chance. They have lost only twice away from home in 11 outings.

The one blight on their record has been the inability to score goals. In 21 round-robin matches they have scored just 25.

"We haven't scored a lot of goals which has been disappointing given the number of opportunities we have created," said Pamment. "We haven't had a natural goalscorer."

Waitakere coach Chris Milicich is looking for something better than his team managed against Otago United on Sunday.

"I wasn't overjoyed at times. We had some very ordinary patches when we weren't hitting the tackles and were giving the ball away by not being accurate," said Milicich. "We will need to be more clinical.

"Waikato will come here full of fire and brimstone. We have to want to get out and play football and take our chances. If we get involved in a dirty scrap we will lose.

"But, having said that, we have lost only one of our last six and that was to Auckland City. Encouragingly, we are starting to score goals. We have scored seven in our last two and haven't conceded, which is pleasing."

Waitakere have a one-win, two loss record against Waikato.