Soccer: A night of old recalls bad memories from last year

The tone in Paul Nevin's voice takes on more than a hint of resignation when the subject of the Knights' reputation is broached.

"Of course the New Zealand public will think we're no better than last year," the Knights boss lamented the morning after watching his side get torn apart 5-0 by Queensland on Friday night. "We have undone all of the good work we achieved and we are right back to where we were."

After signs that the much-maligned club might have turned the corner after a decent pre-season campaign and an historic home win against Adelaide a fortnight ago, the Knights have now leaked eight goals in two games without managing to find the back of the net themselves.

On Friday night they were back to their bad old ways, when they capitulated against a ruthless Queensland outfit and the 5-0 defeat was the heaviest in the club's history under the Knights name.

They were well in the game until the 55th minute, when Knights defender Sime Kovacevic conceded a soft penalty, but the floodgates soon opened much to Nevin's horror.

"It was frightening," he admitted. "That second goal drained the confidence out of the side and the guys seemed to go through the motions. We need to turn things around against Sydney [on Thursday night] otherwise it's a downward spiral - but I won't allow that."

Thursday's home tie against the defending champions now carries critical importance for a club struggling for credibility here and across the Tasman. Football Federation Australia have made it clear they would be prepared to revoke the Knights' five-year licence if their results didn't improve from last season.

"I think it's largely psychological because I know these guys are good enough to compete," Nevin implored.

Although the defence has been badly exposed in the past two games, the problems are arguably more problematic at the other end, where they have scored only one goal in the league proper and a total of only four in 10 games under Nevin.

They have been hamstrung by injuries, particularly to striker Dani Rodrigues and Jonas Salley, but their inability to score tends to put more pressure on the defence.

"If we were were scoring goals, there would be a different mentality in the side but it affects the defence because they can only hang on for so long," Nevin said. "We need to score another goal and hopefully that will get us going."

Gregory Duruz and Adam Casey should be back from injury and illness repsectively for Thursday, but Matt Carbon (groin) is still out and Salley (ankle) may miss another four weeks.

Salley's absence is a big blow to the balance of the side and Nevin has been looking at bringing in a midfielder on a short-term contract. But, he admitted, it's unlikely anything will be sorted out in time for Thursday.

The Knights need to sort themselves out, and quickly, or it will soon turn into another long season. And nobody wants that.