SOCCER: Defensive mindset fails for United

Urging the Bluewater Stadium faithful to ``come back to the classroom ... umm, I meant the clubrooms, actually'', ground announcer Paul Thompson apologetically boomed on a microphone yesterday.
A penny for Thompson's thoughts but in many ways his well-timed faux pas had echoed the thoughts of many frustrated fans who trudged back home after Hawke's Bay United succumbed 2-nil to Team Wellington in Napier.
``If you want whiteboard lessons then I'm sure we can do that for you too ... ,'' Thompson had tried to humour grinning spectators who had turned up in probably the best numbers for some time to watch the Bay in a New Zealand Football Championship on a balmy day.
In some ways, to understand the problems of Bay United requires one to try to make sense of how the Wellington Phoenix drew a winning game 1-all against the Melbourne Victory at the Cake Tin on Friday night.
Against an opposition with a man sent off for a lion's share of the A-League match, the Nix enigmatically adopted a defensive mindset.
That negative influenza bug seemed to have bitten the Bay boys yesterday as they tended to be content with sitting back to defend but that left little to be desired as Wellington roamed the flanks to stretch them out with consummate ease at times.
On a winless and goalless 2009-10 season until yesterday, Wellington coach Stu Jacobs said the victory was a huge relief.
``The key word for us today was desperation, really, channelled into right areas,'' Jacobs said after two second-half goals put the Bay out of their misery.
Midfielder Darren Cheriton headed in the first goal almost within a minute of substitute goalkeeper Shaun Peta entering, after a great cross from the left flank saw leftback Matt Hastings, who had a solid game, came up short on the far post in the 70th minute.
Substitute Richard McLay put the result beyond doubt in the 88th minute when he received a well-timed pass from All White centre-mid Andy Barron before pushing it past Peta, who came charging out of his goal and slid in the hope of narrowing the angle to the unprotected goalmouth from about 25m out.
``We've been playing okay but just haven't been putting our chances away. That's been the story of our last three games,'' said Jacobs, who felt self-belief had reversed their fortunes.
``We have good players who aren't going to turn into bad players overnight. It was getting them to understand how we wanted them to play without becoming too structured.''
National under-20 striker Roddy Brown, who came on in the 77th minute, impressed as he calmly secured possession to provide impetus up front.
To be fair, the Bay also created opportunities but lacked sheen in finishing. In the third minute Leon Birnie missed a sitter from close range, albeit off a miscued Chris Greatholder shot.
Midfielder George Barbarouses' worm burner from 20m out beat Wellington goalkeeper James Bannatyne in the 31st minute but the ball cruelly clipped the left upright and ricocheted out.
In the 51st minute, Hastings intercepted an adventurous Brazilian cross from the Wellington defence in the opposition half, beat Hastings and ran into the box before flicking to striker Chris McIvor whose shot clipped the left upright.
But the Wellingtonians were equally off the boil.
Jyler Noviello skewered an opportunity from almost point-blank range in the 28th minute rather than unselfishly putting it across to an unmarked Cheriton near the right-hand upright.
Nine minutes later, Andy Barrow turned the ball in beautifully from the goalline, beat a defender and went around keeper Richard Gillespie but made the grave mistake of trying to blast it from 8m out when a simple placement would have done the trick. It caught the crossbar and bounced back into play.
Several cornerkick attempts from both teams went begging.
Keepers Gillespie, James Bannatyne and Peta made some match-defining saves and young midfielder Andy Bevin put his hand up too.
Bay head coach Matt Chandler said they took a risk to play an ill Gillespie.
``It's a risk we had to take and when he played he actually was very good but, unfortunately, he was ill and only lasted as long as he could. In the end I had to bring him off because that's what he wanted,'' said Chandler, adding poor decision making and inexperience defensively proved costly.
``We had two chances that hit the post and they had two chances and they scored. They were more clinical then we were,'' he said, claiming they weren't a bad team as Team Wellington kept their record of not having lost a match at Bluewater Stadium.
Striker Andrew Abba lacked his usual combination with fellow Solomon Islander Joachim Rande, who had been sick most of last week and hadn't trained.
It sounds like a worn-out record, but floating aerial crosses to a vertically challenged strikers with blistering speed doesn't do much for them either.
Perhaps injecting Port Hill player Magnus Hansson might have been a better substitution for Bevin in the 67th minute. Leon Birnie was also short of a canter midway through second half.
Wellington players Cole Peverley and Chris Davies looked familiar on ``foreign'' turf .
Peverley and Barbarouses exchanged a few handbags in the 18th minute but referee Kevin Stoltenkamp sorted them out.
The loyalty of Bay fans will be tested in the next home game against big guns Waitakere United on December 20.
Nevertheless, before that the Bay team have a litmus test away this Sunday afternoon against a rampant Young Heart Manawatu who boast this season's golden boot leader and Vanuatu international striker, Seule Soromon, who, ironically, warmed the benches for the Bay franchise most of last season.