Soccer: Final ignominy for rock-bottom Kingz

The Football Kingz' horror season came to an inglorious end with a 5-2 defeat by the Olympic Sharks in Sydney yesterday.

The victory secured third place for the regular season for the Sharks.

But it left the Kingz bottom of the table, with no confirmed owner or coach for next season.

And yet for much of the game the Auckland-based team were very competitive.

They fought back from 2-0 down to draw level and should have been level again at 3-3 only for Paul Urlovic, who had come on as a substitute, to have a penalty saved by Olympic goalkeeper Clint Bolton.

The Sharks, beaten 2-1 by the Kingz earlier in the year at Ericsson Stadium in Auckland, made no more mistakes and scored two late goals to put the issue beyond doubt.

Their star was Ante Milicic, who scored twice in each half, and came close on several other occasions.

The Kingz' goals both involved Campbell Banks.

He outmanoeuvred Bolton to score the first just before halftime, and he provided the second for Andy Vlahos soon after the break.

Vlahos and Mark Burton displayed some nice touches and Chris Jackson was totally committed in everything he did.

But the Sharks, even at half pace, looked a class better.

Young Lindsay Wilson, recently signed by PSV Eindhoven in Holland, was off the field injured for five minutes but returned to show the pace which has secured him a start in Europe.

Kingz coach Kevin Fallon, whose contract expires in June, sat alone in the dressing-room after the match, uncertain about his future at the club.

"I'm going home to have a good long think about it.

"It's been a testing season for me," Fallon said.

He agreed that the match illustrated the Kingz' season.

"With the penalty I saw 3-3 and we were in it. That was a bad miss."

Fallon admitted the team again conceded some "outrageous" goals, with the defence often outdone for pace.

The Kingz finished a miserable season with just three wins from 24 games.