Soccer: Last chance for home win

John Adshead will feel like a gunslinger walking into the Last Chance Saloon when he wanders across North Harbour Stadium tonight.

The New Zealand Knights coach's six-shooters are down to the last couple of bullets. One will, like nine before, be another blank, the other ready to fire.

For weeks Adshead has been promising to deliver a home win before the end of the A-League season.

Tonight's shootout with runaway leaders Adelaide United is the last hope.

"I picked a right one for that," joked Adshead at training this week. "And, we know to have any chance we have to do one hell of a lot better than we did last week."

While Adshead will take his spot on the bench as the apprehensive outlaw, a few metres away Adelaide coach John Kosmina will play the sheriff's role content in the knowledge his side have done it almost all right, all season.

Describing the 4-1 loss to Perth Glory as "crap", Adshead is determined to see a return to the better days when the Knights were at least competitive.

With contracts up for grabs or - just as likely - to be tossed out with the waste paper, the players are keen to impress.

"That's not surprising but it's not what I, or they, need to be doing. There is such a keenness to impress, they are all trying to do more on the ball," said Adshead. "All along we have asked them to play an 'easy, early' style. They didn't do that against Perth.

"In the five games before that we had a good run of disciplined performances. It's about playing to system. We haven't defended or attacked as a team. "We are seeing a sense of urgency from the players as they look ahead," said Adshead. "That's not what we want."

Kosmina has no such concerns. Winners of the minor premiership with three games in hand, the South Australian side have been the quiet achievers in this inaugural season.

While the big-spending clubs cast their coaching net far and wide - but without, in many cases, results to match - Adelaide stuck with who and what they knew and have been duly rewarded.

On paper, it did not figure as the strongest side. But do not bother trying to tell Kosmina or his players that.

They have simply turned up week in, week out and played solid football, losing only three in 19.

To be fair to the Knights, they have made United work, losing 1-0 in matches here and in Adelaide. Reality though is somewhat different, with that gap much wider than the scoreline dares suggest.

Adshead will not be drawn too deeply on what is around the corner, preferring to wait until after next week's last game away to Melbourne Victory. It is known there will be changes - quite sweeping if indications out of the board meeting a little over a week ago are to be believed - but not yet.