Soccer: Knights hunt elusive goal

The New Zealand Knights are itching to find the back of the net, but manager Paul Nevin isn't planning any radical changes for the visit of A-League soccer rivals Adelaide United tomorrow.

The Auckland-based club opened their new campaign with 0-0 draw with Newcastle last weekend, making it just three goals that they have scored in seven matches, including the pre-season.

Goalshooting practice was on the agenda this week, but Nevin indicated that the focus remained on ensuring the Knights' own defence was hard to break down.

"It's the same as before - it's about making ourselves difficult to beat," he said.

"We created chances last week. Unfortunately we hit the bar again."

The Knights did come closer than the Jets to scoring last Sunday, Jonti Richter striking the woodwork in the first half.

With strikers Dani Rodrigues and Noah Hickey still out with injury, the home side are likely to operate again with Sean Devine as a lone target up front and relying on support from midfield.

Nevin said he would look at changing the system if the Knights weren't creating opening, but they were.

They were getting players forward and into the box, and it was a matter of putting the ball in the back of the net, he said.

Rodrigues is expected to be sidelined for another two to three weeks with a hamstring strain, while Hickey is close to returning from a knee injury.

The other player on the injury list, defender Matt Carbon, is unlikely to be back from a groin problem for another three weeks.

Adelaide, the Pre-season Cup winners and last season's minor premiers, arrived in Auckland on the back of a surprise 2-0 loss to Melbourne last weekend.

Nevin said that outcome showed how close the league would be and he was expecting to face a highly motivated United side.

"There's pressure on Adelaide," he said.

"They need to come away with a result, otherwise it's two losses and they'll have lost to last year's bottom-of-the-league team."

In their pre-season clash in Adelaide four weeks ago, United edged out the Knights 1-0 and Nevin was expecting another tight battle at North Harbour Stadium.

"We're not going to blow teams away 3-0 and teams are not going to beat us 3-0," he said.

"Hopefully, we take out chances. If we win 1-0, I will be absolutely delighted."

Nevin's delight would also mean a monkey off the Knights' back. They have yet to taste victory at home, having gone through the whole of the inaugural A-League season without a win.

Kickoff is at the earlier than usual time of 12.30pm.

The match will be followed by the Chatham Cup final between Auckland club Eastern Suburbs and Wellington's Western Suburbs.

New Zealand Knights: Danny Milosevic, Darren Bazeley (captain), Greg Duruz, Che Bunce, Neil Emblen, Richard Johnson, Scot Gemmill, Sean Devine, Jonti Richter, Jonas Salley, Malik Buari, Adam Casey, Michael White, Sime Kovacevic, Michael Turnbull.

Adelaide United: Daniel Beltrame, Richie Alagich, Angelo Costanzo, Michael Valkanis, Ross Aloisi, Carl Veart, Fernando, Greg Owens, Travis Dodd, Aaron Goulding, Nathan Burns, Robert Cornthwaite, Shengqing Qu, Robert Bajic, Jason Spagnuolo.

- NZPA