Football: Wood credits All Whites win to quick start

All Whites striker Chris Wood. Photo / Getty Images.

All Whites' captain Chris Wood says his side took full advantage of a rapid-fire first few minutes to earn victory over Oman on Friday at the Al Seeb Stadium in Muscat.

The All Whites went ahead in just the fifth minute before professionally going on with the job to secure their first win since a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in September of 2013.

Wood, who scored his 14th goal in his 39th All Whites appearance, said the early lead was vital.

"We started off very well and it was nice to come out of the blocks firing quickly," Wood said.

"We had a few opportunities down the left and Henry was looking very sharp which was really good. We got the ball in behind and it was nice to get off to a flying start with a quick goal which I'm sure gave all the boys confidence and we kicked on from that."

The Leeds United striker said after going ahead it was pleasing that his side were able to cope with what was thrown at them by a team unbeaten in five 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers this year.

"The Oman side did cause us problems, especially in the first 20 minutes when they started creating chances down the left, but we adapted well and the defense did brilliantly."

Wood, himself just 23 years of age, said the squad's growing pool of young talent made their mark in a performance which shows promise for the important year ahead.

"It's nice to see the young blokes coming through. They did brilliantly today, they didn't look out of place.

"It's great to see that we can have that mentality to see out a game. With a lot of young players normally you can't do that because they don't understand or haven't had to do it too many times in their career but they stepped up well and they saw out the game.

"We're building towards the Nations Cup and that's when we need to be hitting form so we're looking like we're on the right track and the win today was brilliant against a strong Oman side."