HAMISH BIDWELL
Whoever christened football the "beautiful game" certainly didn't have last night's nil-all draw between Bluewater Napier City and Waitakere United in mind at the time.
But for Napier coach Charlie Howe and the team's embattled fans, the result was greeted with the kind of joy normally associated with a
5-0 thrashing. Such has been Napier's lot this season, that a clean sheet and a point from a match against the New Zealand Football Championship leaders was every bit as good as a win.
Howe happily admitted that it had been an ugly game to watch but with his side haemorrhaging goals this season, he felt he had no option other than packing his defence.
"I thought it was a good game and that maybe we could have stolen it at the end, but we just didn't want to concede any more goals," Howe said.
"I thought we did really well and we've got to be happy with a point, because at least that gives us a chance. In this league every game and every point is important.
"I thought the back three were tremendous and I think getting a point makes everyone feel better because we were just sick and tired of conceding goals."
Howe was dead right in his assessment of his back three. Nick Hyde, in particular, did an oustanding job of bottling up Waitakere dangerman Jeremy Christie, while captain Jonathon Taylor and Matt Adams were generally sound.
For a side that prides itself on playing fluid one-touch football, Napier's tactic of sitting seven or eight men behind the ball and then whacking it long was an interesting one. And despite its effectiveness, even Howe said it may be shortlived.
"We still like to play attractive football but we had to stop what was happening. You've got to be practical and in the end it was just nice to get something out of the game." Especially with regulars Leon Birnie, Jimmy Cudd and Craig Dean all missing last night due to illness and injury, he said.
Without their league-leading goal scorer Keryn Jordan, who was out injured, Waitakere lacked any real attacking edge. And with defensive midfielder Wayne Atkins cleaning up the crumbs for Napier, the visitors were rarely able to shoot from distance either.
In fact the closest either team came to scoring was when each nearly had woefully overhit free kicks fortuitously fly in.
