Tauranga City United play down big clash hype

Tauranga City United's fight to get out of the Northern League's lower reaches hit a substantial marker tomorrow at Mount Maunganui, although if you're listening to the side's coaches it's just another game.
Tauranga, second in division two, host high-flying league leaders Mt Albert-Ponsonby at Links Ave (kick-off 2.45pm) in the weekend's big clash of the two unbeaten titans.
MAP come to Tauranga on the back of a 5-4 win over Ngaruawahia that has left them some seven points clear of the chasing pack. Tauranga were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at lowly Western Springs, a result that has left co-coach Grant Turner cautious about hyping tomorrow's game into something too big.
"The boys have trained really hard and well this week and tomorrow's a big one, there's no hiding from that, but we're a long way to go before the end of the season - 17 more games - and our approach has been this is one game and one challenge on that road.
"Mt Albert, though, are the form side and come here having won all their games, so tomorrow's a good baseline and will give us a measurement of where our season's at."
They won't say it, but Turner and co-coach John Whitley will have done some homework on their Auckland rivals. They'll be hoping not having to spend three hours travelling will work wonders for their side, who haven't been at their most fluid on the road yet this season, typified by last weekend's offering where they needed a second-half goal from livewire midfielder Tom Crawford to snatch a share of the points.
"We started badly last weekend - that first 45 [minutes] was awful and we never got out of the bus again.
"We gave Western Springs a lot of respect, and to be fair they'd sacked their coach mid-week and brought back a lot of older players to the side who were passionate about doing well and we were on the back of that.
"They were a lot hungrier than us, but we bombarded them in the second half and they defended well."
Turner and Whitley have something resembling a full squad to choose from, and have held off finalising their playing XI until game day. Former skipper Tom Livesey needs surgery on a knee injury picked up in pre-season and will be out for at least a couple of months, although Mark van der Salm (ankle) and Josh Nelson (knee) are back training, with Van der Salm a possibility to see some action tomorrow.
Hisbiscus Coast and North Shore, locked in a mid-table log-jam, clash tomorrow, with Fencibles hosting Cambridge. Mangere take on Western Springs, Waiuku and Papakura lock horns in the South Auckland derby, and Warkworth head south to Ngaruawahia.