Soccer: Kingz happy with top-six chance

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The Football Kingz won by a couple but it should have been more as they over-ran a workmanlike but generally disappointing Canberra Cosmos 3-1 in their 14th-round national soccer league clash at North Harbour Stadium last night.

The win, only the second at home for the Kingz, lifted them back into eighth place on the league table and kept them within sight of the top six playoffs.

"We have to be happy with three points," said Kingz assistant coach Shane Rufer. "We did okay but we have to be more ruthless with that last pass if we are going to put real pressure on the opposition.

"We changed it [the game plan] completely and it seemed to work fairly well. We got Ivan Vicelich and Robbie Middleby forward on the flanks and that helped. Sure, we could have, should have, won by more but they worked hard for each other and that's what I asked for."

From the outset the Kingz took the initiative but early attempts by Fred de Jong and Vicelich failed to find the target.

In the 31st minute a long ball from goalkeeper Jason Batty found Vicelich. He headed to Dino Mennillo who pushed on to Aaron Silva for a pinpoint finish.

For Silva, in his first start since the game against Wollongong on November 13, it was a memorable return. He scored the Kingz goal in their third-round 1-0 win over South Melbourne - their last win at home.

He had another half-chance early in the second spell when he gathered a good ball from Harry Ngata but Cosmos 'keeper Angelo Konstantinou pushed away for a corner.

Silva was back in the action a minute later when he controlled a long through-ball before snapping a cross towards de Jong.

In the race to get back and cut it out, a Cosmos defender, under pressure from de Jong, appeared to kick the ball into his own goal but referee Mark Shield awarded the 50th-minute goal to the Kingz striker.

Che Bunce then headed home a Chris Jackson 68th-minute freekick for 3-0.

Four minutes later Lee Jones was sent off for a clumsy challenge on Paul Roberts and later de Jong was booked for a tackle on Harry James, who was lucky to survive a first-half tackle from behind on Vicelich after being booked for an earlier challenge.

The visitors rarely had the Kingz under pressure and they did not get a goal back until the 83rd minute when, from a slow-motion build-up, substitute Michael Musitano side-footed home a ball which had been pumped behind the defence.

It was still far from the complete game by the Kingz against a sluggish opponent but gave them something to build on when they meet high-flyers Carlton - without de Jong (after his fourth booking) and Jones but with Wynton Rufer back - in Melbourne on Friday night.