Soccer: Kingz pay dearly for missed chances

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The memories of the Football Kingz' 6-1 thrashing last season were wiped out as the Kings played out a scoreless draw with South Melbourne last night.

The home side had slightly the better of the Ericsson Stadium clash, but their failure to take one or two clear scoring chances denied them their first win of the new NSL season.

As scoreless draws go, this was one of the better, with play sweeping from end to end in a free-flowing match.

From the outset there was more urgency from the Kingz. What a difference a week, and one player, can make.

The lack of confidence and go forward, sadly missing first up against Brisbane, gave way to a determination to pick up coach Mike Petersen's attacking philosophy.

Then, there was Hiroshi Miyazawa.

The Japanese defender in his first outing for the Kingz quickly showed skills well honed in the J-League and NSL.

The 30-year-old, socks down and all business, gave the stability the central defence was crying out for.

But at times he, too, was stretched as a gaping hole between the midfield and defence allowed the visiting strikeforce to race into space and strike fear of uncertainty for goalkeeper Michael Theoklitis.

But Theoklitis was lucky to survive beyond the 17th minute when, as the last line of defence, he charged outside his area and brought down Peter Buljan.

The normally trigger-happy Auckland referee Derek Rugg went for a yellow card when a red, for a professional foul, could have brought no protest.

Rugg later balanced the ledger when substitute Wynton Rufer was brought down, but his legitimate claim for a penalty was ignored.