Soccer: Kingz in deserved win over Marconi

By BOB PEARCE

The Football Kingz gave one of their best performances of the season and were rewarded with a 1-0 victory over Marconi at North Harbour Stadium last night.

It was only the second victory since Kevin Fallon took over as coach.

Their defence, with new signing Robbie Hooker outstanding, was very secure, and up front, with a little bit of luck, they could have scored four goals rather than the lone Paul Urlovic strike in the 40th minute.

There was a no-nonsense approach right from the start by the Kingz and some of the early tackles let the Marconi players know they were in for a battle.

But there was to be no early goal to repay the Kingz commitment.

The closest was a long-range free kick in the 15th minute which floated tantalisingly over the bar with Marconi goalkeeper Michael Turnbull backpedalling furiously.

At the other end, Michael Theoklitos had to touch a shot from Chad Gibson over the bar before going off injured midway through the half with a recurrence of the hip injury which had threatened to keep him out of the game.

His replacement, James Bannatyne, was soon in action as Marconi started to find holes on the left of the Kingz defence.

Their best chance came in the 35th minute when a high cross from the left got behind the defence and Brendon Renaud's shot hit the upright and bounced clear.

Up front for the Kingz, Paul had clearly rattled the defence with his speed to the loose ball and he was a little unlucky not to earn a penalty from referee Peter Green when he appeared to be illegally impeded by a couple of defenders.

But in the 40th minute there was no mistake about the Kingz goal. George Goutzioulis split the defence with a long pass and Urlovic collected at speed and coolly slotted the ball into the net.

And just before the halftime whistle Andy Vlahos almost added another from a well-struck freekick from the edge of the penalty area.

The Kingz began the second half as they had the first, pressuring Marconi on the ball and chasing down everything in midfield.

In the 64th minute Andy Vlahos outflanked the defence on the left, but Goutzioulis blasted the ball over the bar. Marconi's frustrations started to build and the referee handed out yellow cards for some agricultural tackles.

In the 85th minute Campbell Banks could have made it 2-0, but with only the keeper to beat he hit the upright and Turnbull was able to regather.

He had another chance three minutes later when he met a Vlahos cross on the volley but hit the bar with the goalkeeper beaten.

There were three minutes of added time and the closest to a goal came when Marconi almost put the ball in their own net.