Soccer: Cosy world of coaching in NZFC

Waitakere United player/coach Neil Emblen (pictured) and Waikato FC player/coach Che Bunce have a healthy respect for each other's teams. Photo / Dean Purcell

It wouldn't happen in the English Premier League. Waikato FC coach Che Bunce, his wife and family, will be Neil Emblen's house guests tomorrow night before Sunday's last New Zealand Football Championship round-robin outing for their respective teams.

As player/coaches of Waikato FC and Waitakere United and teammates at the New Zealand Knights in the bad old days, they have plenty to talk about. They are the only two coaches in the NZFC who have the added playing responsibility. There the comparison ends.

While Emblen has had Waitakere at or near the top all season, Bunce has been down with the cellar dwellers. Waikato did bounce back from a 5-0 first-up drubbing by Auckland City to beat Hawkes Bay United a week later. Since then, until a late-season rally for a couple of deserved wins, there were lean pickings for the Centennial Park-based team.

"We have stayed in regular contact since our Knights' days," said Emblen. "As we are both new to the coaching/management side, we have chewed the fat about the roles and our experiences.

"As we and our wives have become friends and we both have children, I saw this as a chance for us all to get together although I hardly think you would ever see Wenger and Ferguson doing it.

"I still have the utmost respect for Che and his team. They have had a very good second half to their season results-wise. With ex-Waitakere players Sean Van Rooyen and Michael Gwyther having good seasons and with the transfer window-signing of another Waitakere player in Jeff Campbell, we can definitely not go into this game thinking it will be easy.

"Having said that, it is a game we are still expecting to win to keep our unbeaten home run going and to keep Auckland City under some pressure as they head into their two catch-up games."

After the frustration of the wasted trip to Papeete last weekend, Emblen must regroup.

He is without injured skipper Jake Butler, who is struggling with an ankle injury. Butler is also sitting on three yellow cards and Emblen does not want to risk another as that would rule him out of the first leg of the semifinals.

Midfielder Zane Sole is set to come into the starting XI - a just reward for some bold showings in the youth team and some superb work in training.

But it is up front the real pressure comes on.

By his standards Roy Krishna, the outstanding player in last season's championship, has been strangely subdued this term. He is better than that and this is the chance to show it.

While it must be conceded he has at times come in for unwarranted attention, he must shrug that off and show the class expected from an international striker.

Youngsters Ryan de Vries and Dakota Lucas have been in exceptional form in the youth league and are pressing for more playing time at the higher level.

At the back Emblen might again shuffle the pack with Tim Myers absent, leaving Aaron Scott, Jack Pelter, Jason Rowley, Neil Sykes and himself to fill the four spots.

Auckland City travel to play Hawkes Bay with all the incentives they need to win.

It promises to be a special occasion for veteran striker Grant Young who will join the exclusive 100-game club. It is also the chance for him to close the gap on the all-time scoring record held by injured City teammate Keryn Jordan at 62. Young is four back.

Most matches are key in the playoff race - none more so than the game in Porirua where Team Wellington will seek to continue their record of never having lost to Canterbury United.