Soccer: Kingz pinch win in tedious contest

By TERRY MADDAFORD

It was never pretty but in the end the Football Kingz took a deserved 1-0 win over the Marconi Stallions in Wellington last night.

It was the first win in three outings in the capital for the Auckland-based side and one which kept their slim national soccer league play-off hopes alive.

After more than 85 minutes of very ordinary fare, the Kingz snatched a goal that was enough to break the hearts of the visitors who had obviously crossed the Tasman intent on a draw.

In the end it was the Wellington combination of Wynton Rufer and Harry Ngata who organised the vital goal.

Player-coach Rufer had a shot which Marconi goalkeeper David Aceski could only parry. The ball dropped and Ngata, who had been in the action for less than 10 minutes, was on hand to provide the finishing touch for his second goal of the season.

For the crowd of 10,420, it was really the only highlight of a disappointing match which produced few shots in anger.

The Kingz enjoyed a huge advantage in the possession stakes, forced many more corners and had more shots on goal than their opponents, but only occasionally did they look like scoring.

Again, they played too many balls across the park or back, when they could well have taken the initiative by getting the ball forward against a defence-packed Marconi side.

Julio Cuello, back in goal for the Kingz for the first time since early November, had a armchair ride behind a Kingz defence which was rarely under pressure.

The Kingz are back on the road next week with an away game against the Melbourne Knights.