Soccer: Sparks fly but Kingz grow up

By Terry Maddaford

Eight booked, two sent off and more freekicks than you could poke a stick at - welcome to the world of professional soccer.

To their credit, the Football Kingz learned the lessons well and put what coaches Wynton and Shane Rufer tagged a "disgraceful first half" behind them to storm home and snatch a dramatic 3-3 draw with Wollongong Wolves in their Australian Soccer League clash at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night.

The equaliser - a classic in the sixth minute of added time - rubbed it in the noses of the surviving nine Wollongong players, who were penalised for the inordinate time banished players Esala Masi and David Huxley took to amble from the field after crude tackles from behind.

In stretching their unbeaten run to three games, the Kingz showed plenty of bottle against a team who wanted to play by their own questionable rules with scant regard for the game or their opponents.

The return in Christchurch on Saturday week, the second of four matches between the two sides this season, promises to be a battle royal, with Wollongong just a point ahead in the league and desperate to struggle out of their mid-table spot.

The Rufers, while mindful of the need to pick up points, are more determined to get the basics right.

"They slept in the first half. It was a disgraceful performance," said Shane Rufer who watched his team slump 0-2 at the break.. "If players can't get even the basics right - like wearing the proper boots so they don't slip over - we have problems. They came in with their heads down at half time.

"We told them to forget what had happened and start from 0-0. They came back well and in the second half gave the people what they deserve. The result, and a point, in the end was okay but there is still a long way to go."

Shane Rufer pointed to the fifth-minute booking of striker Aaron Silva for kicking the ball away as an example of ill-discipline which by season end could be costly.

The Kingz' other bookings - Fred de Jong for dissent and Harry Ngata for retaliation after being tackled from behind - were tame compared with the stuff meted out by the visitors.

They had four booked for fouls and one, goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi, for time wasting after the Kingz scored their second goal. Add in two dispatched for their crude challenges and the visitors were under pressure.

The change to an earlier start time obviously had an effect on the Kingz. They certainly had not switched the lights on when Matt Horsley beat a flat-footed defence to put the Wolves ahead after just 2m 50s.

Referee Matthew Breeze then took centre stage, dishing out three bookings and awarding a dozen freekicks before the game was 20 minutes old.

Che Bunce, one of the better Kingz players, headed off the line as Masi snapped a 36th-minute shot. Three minutes later Paul Reid hit a first-time shot from a Stuart Young cross for 2-0.

The revitalised Kingz needed less than six minutes of the second spell to get one back, when captain Ngata sent a long ball to Silva, who crossed neatly to de Jong who beat a flying foot to crash home a header.

The fouls by the Australians kept coming - former All White Neil Harlock among those booked - but the visitors shrugged off another couple of bookings to go out to 3-1 when Masi turned Jonathan Perry inside out before angling a shot which gave unsighted goalkeeper Michael Utting no chance.

The home side got one back in the 78th minute - after Masi scythed Ngata from behind and was sent packing - when, for once, they capitalised on a set play.

Ngata swung in a freekick which Bunce sent on to Dino Menillo at the far post from where he completed the task..

Two minutes later Huxley joined Masi in the showers after he crudely hacked Chris Jackson from behind.

Eleven against nine should have swung the game firmly the way of the Kingz.

But still a goal to the good, the visitors got all their players behind the ball, leaving few avenues for the Kingz.

One touch of class was enough, however, to grab that late point.

Substitute Marcus Stergiopoulos sent a 40m ball to de Jong who nonchalantly gathered and played the ball deftly to another substitute Lee Jones - in the action for less than four minutes - who charged and booted home the screamer.

There was still time for more before Breeze finally called it off after seven and a bit minutes of added time. The Kingz were happy to celebrate a point while the visitors dejectedly trooped off ruing the one they had let get away.