Goals and technical creativity are nice but sometimes in football - and most sport for that matter - a decent dollop of guts goes a long way.
Tauranga City United found that out at the weekend as, a man down and under the pump in their Northern League division two derby against Matamata Swifts, they battled to a 0-0 draw to extend their unbeaten run to four games.
Although the hard-won point has done nothing for City United's league standing - they are still fifth, six points behind leaders North Shore United - it has proved there is some substance to back up their silky skills.
Tauranga had two options available - fight or flight - when midfielder Jordan Culpepper earned a questionable straight red card on the half-hour.
Leaping for a header with Swifts defender Ged Parkinson, referee Gerard Boyce judged Culpepper had led with his elbow.
If there was contact with the elbow, it was certainly minimal and most of the spectators at Matamata Domain were left bemused with the decision.
Tauranga chose to fight, run, harry and hound Matamata, with the back four in particular gritting their teeth and digging in and with keeper Dale Schischka also called on to make a couple of vital saves.
Central defender and skipper Mark Van Der Salm said they would gladly walk away from the clash with a point, although perhaps the biggest gain was in the how the stalemate was achieved.
"Considering the circumstances, the boys dug deep out there for 60 minutes. We were stretched a fair few times in that second half but I simply can't fault the boys. We were knackered but then someone would make a 20-yard run to shut a Matamata player down, and that's where it counted and that's the way we got away with a draw today.
"It was a gutsy effort and at the start of the season that's perhaps what we lacked. The last few weeks we've played some great football but this is the first time we've been tested with our desire. We were forced to dig deep mentally and the boys stood up."
The Swifts will be kicking themselves for their failure to utilise their numerical advantage. Although hardly tested at the back, Matamata struggled to make inroads, with Jack McNab hitting the upright in the first half and skipper Jon Allen also producing good saves out of Schischka. Left-sided presence Stu Watene, Matamata's best on the park, blazed a volley wide from an acute angle in the dying minutes.
Several of the Matamata players were at Tauranga's game the previous week, when they ran rings around Warkworth in a 3-0 win. Matamata didn't afford Tauranga the same respect, closing down midfield, with Josh Nelson in particular coming in for some rough treatment.
Van Der Salm said they expected a bit of off-the-ball treatment, although the game was largely incident free, despite Beale also dishing out three yellows cards to go with the red.
"Maybe we are perceived as a bit of a soft touch [by Matamata] - they wouldn't be the first team to do that.
"I think some teams look at us and see young, small, technical players, and to be fair I'd probably do the same so I can't fault Matamata if that was their intent."
Van Der Salm said they would talked about rejigging their formation at halftime to try and cover Culpepper's absence in midfield, but coach Merv Montgomery backed the defensive quartet, plus the running of Isaac Bright, Nelson and Connor Irvine, to hold Matamata at bay.
"We didn't want to drop a striker back into midfield to stem the flow. Henry [Hahn] and Tommy work brilliantly together up front, and Merv called on us to work harder in defence and midfield and collectively make up for the man lost.
"We are fit, and at Tuesday and Thursday's trainings there was a lot of intensity and hard work going in and today was the reward. Knowing a lot of the Matamata players we knew they'd never give an inch and it turned into a pretty even battle."
City United return to Links Ave at Mt Maunganui this Saturday (2.30pm) for their Chatham Cup first round clash against Metro.