Soccer: Kingz face big task to keep season alive

By TERRY MADDAFORD

It is not going to get any easier for the Football Kingz.

Shattered, surely, by their 5-3 loss to Marconi Stallions, a team they should have beaten, in Sydney on Saturday night, the Kingz now face the might of National Soccer League favourites Perth Glory at North Harbour Stadium.

With just six days to turn it around before Friday night's game against a Glory side brimming with confidence after thumping defending premiers Wollongong Wolves 3-0 for a third straight win, Kingz coach Mike Petersen faces a major salvage operation.

Against Marconi all the bad habits were there: poor defensive options, too much ball given away (often under no pressure), a lack of go-forward and players struggling to live up to pre-season reputations.

Again, only Paul Urlovic and Andy Vlahos - when he was able to play an attacking rather than a defensive role - showed much.

Second-half substitutes Harry Ngata and Levent Osman did add some spark but in the end that was not enough against the young Stallions.

With an ever-diminishing squad from which to put out a side, Petersen's options remain limited, but things must be turned around, and quickly.

The Kingz are already eight points adrift, and their season could quickly slip away.

After Perth, they are away to Wollongong and Sydney United, have the bye and then play Melbourne Knights, also away.

There must be some soul-searching off the field as well.

Too many players already give the impression they are happy to pick up their not-inconsiderable pay-packets but not so keen about putting in the hard yards at training or on match day.

The opening minutes against Marconi were reminiscent of much of the sloppy first outing against Brisbane.

Failure to retain possession created unnecessary pressure and Marconi quickly grew in confidence.

After an early chance when the ball smacked against the post, Marconi took the lead in the 24th minute when Norman Tome was unchallenged in heading home a James Afkos cross.

Four minutes later the Kingz were in tatters. Royce Brownlie, left free, had no trouble beating the Kingz goalkeeper, Michael Theoklitos.

Wynton Rufer gave some hope but his header from a Vlahos corner hit the post. The post was again the saviour at the other end as Afkos struck.

After Mark Burton had squandered a glorious chance in front of goal, Urlovic was rewarded for his hard work in the 69th minute when he capitalised on some sloppy defending to again show good control and score.

That joy for the Kingz, celebrating their second goal of the season, was shortlived.

Four minutes later Marconi won a throw. In attempting to clear, Hiroshi Miyazawa turned the ball over to Shane Webb, who volleyed home.

In a case of anything you can do, so can I, Osman returned the compliment at the other end with a well-struck volley.

Showing some fight, the Kingz were rewarded four minutes from the end when Rufer was brought down just outside the penalty area.

Markovski smacked a first-time shot which gave Marconi goalkeeper Michael Turnbull nothing to do except pick the ball out of the net as Markovski celebrated his 110th NSL goal.

At 3-3 and with their second point in the bank, it should have been simply a case of counting down the clock.

But referee Simon Micallef found another four minutes of injury time, during which substitute Sasa Radulovic fired the ball through Theoklitos' legs for a scrappy goal and Kevo Gulessarian capitalised on some more sloppy defensive work to score.

The Kingz must quickly get it sorted out, find the players they need and show they are better than their one-draw, two-loss start to the season suggests. That will not be easy.