SOCCER: Rovers stretch lead

ANENDRA SINGH
When it's tight on the sports field there's a dire need to stretch.
In soccer, the way to loosen a tight defence is to play out wide to wingers whose ensuing crosses often create numerous opportunities for strikers to have shots at goal.
Napier City Rovers did so with aplomb during their first home game of the Central League competition at Bluewater Stadium, in Park Island, yesterday, to claim three points.
Wellington United didn't and paid the price in their 4-3 defeat. The visitors did not play constructively most of the 90 minutes, instead opting for adventurous speculators to their Moroccan striker, Hicham Kamri, who scored a hat-trick of goals.
The 34-year-old, who has been working as a telecommunications engineer in the capital city for the past year, had Rovers defenders Jonathan Taylor, Marama Thompson and Regan Cameron on their toes.
Rovers coach Matt Chandler told SportToday: ``He [Kamri] was very good and we didn't look after him as well as we'd like to have.'
With the calibre of ex-All White Taylor and national secondary school representative Thompson, Chandler expected better from his defensive line-up after their second win from five matches of the season, including a draw in the 10-team league.
Wellington coach Ross Durrant was ``pretty dirty' on the result but put their loss down to the first three minutes of each half and their act of ``charity'.
Durrant's camp felt a 3-1 victory to Wellington would have been a fairer result but in the same breath took their hats off to the Rovers, especially striker Andrew Abba and midfielder Stuart Wilson.
The act of charity was midfielder Victor Zaia's blunder in the 85th minute that gifted Abba the ball 28m from the goalmouth and allowed the nippy Solomon Islander to place a ground ball in the left corner past a defenceless goalkeeper, Dale Warburton.
Ironically, the Zaia brain explosion was one of the few times the visitors chose to use the sidelines to attack, but the midfielder, instead of using his teammates within knocking distance, backtracked towards his goal and made a sweeping cross.
Rovers struck first in the 7th minute from Andy Pickering but Kamri equalised three minutes later.
Wilson nudged the hosts 2-1 ahead from point-blank range on the far post in the 25th after a well-timed cross from William Stanger.
Kamri again levelled terms in the 32nd minute after latching on to a through ball from Richard Gray to plant a screamer from an acute angle past a rising Shaun Peta in goal.
It wasn't until three minutes into the second half that Wilson broke the deadlock from inside the 18m box with a deft strike.
In the goal of the match, Kamri positioned himself in anticipation of an aerial clearance from Thompson's header 30m out. He chested the ball before volleying it to the top of the net for yet another equaliser.
Cameron made some fantastic crosses to a lethargic Pickering who, unfortunately, didn't do justice to them. He should have been substituted earlier.
Teenager Abba has to work on his upper body to ensure he doesn't become a pushover for burly defenders.
He spent a fair bit of his time on the ground.