Soccer: Knights get back their optimism

NZ Knights 0 Central Coast 1

There are 20 days to go before the New Zealand Knights line up for their first match against the Queensland Roar in soccer's new A-League.

And despite a 1-0 defeat to the Central Coast Mariners at North Harbour Stadium in a Pre-Season Cup game on Saturday night, coach John Adshead has regained the optimism which evaporated in the pathetic 5-0 loss to the Roar a week earlier.

"There was a much better commitment and you can build on that," he said yesterday. "We picked up no new injuries and if I can have a fully fit squad with 10 days to go I will be happy."

The injury-depleted Knights started on Saturday with just youngster Jeremy Brockie and reserve goalkeeper Glen Moss on the bench. Brockie made a token appearance with a couple of minutes to go, as the 11 starters, including Joshua Rose with a touch of flu, battled solidly for 90 minutes.

The only goal came in the fifth minute when the Knights conceded a silly corner when a backpass went astray. They failed to clear the corner kick and Damien Brown scored from close range.

From then on the Knights gave as good as they got. Strikers Xiaobin Zhang and Sean Devine chased down the long balls that were pumped forward and had several chances to equalise.

The best fell to Zhang when Devine floated over a perfect cross from the left only for the long-haired 20-year-old to miscue his header in front of an open goal.

Zhang had a similar chance in the dying minutes of the game but this time Mariners' goalkeeper John Crawley made a good save.

The 2269 fans, who gave the Knights a second chance after the previous week's disappointment, will still be reserving judgment but there were several positive signs in this performance.

Goalkeeper Danny Milosevic was at fault with the goal but made several good saves and seemed to grow in confidence. In front of him Ronnie Bull, John Tambouras and Cole Tinkler - the sole Kiwi to start for the home team - kept their shape in a defence weakened by the loss of captain Danny Hay by suspension.

The Mariners spread the ball wide and had pacey front-runners in Brown, Nick Mrdja and Andre Gumprecht. But they were no more accurate in their shooting than the Knights.

Big Neil Emblen was sharper this time in the Knights' midfield but he still looks cumbersome and he is not alone in lacking the speed and quickness that has been evident in both the visiting Australian sides.

Adshead is enthusiastic about several of the players who have been unavailable through injury.

Midfielders Zenon Caravella and Naoki Imaya are apparently very skilful but the biggest need at the moment is for a goal-scorer, and striker Simon Yeo scored 21 league goals for Lincoln City last season.

The Knights did beat the Mariners on one score: the numbers on their backs were easy to read. The visitors' white figures on gold shirts were indecipherable under lights.