48 hours: Kingz still worth a look on their day

By TERRY MADDAFORD

It wasn't a journey of anything like John Mitchell-type proportions. More like a short trip.

Heading out to Ericsson Stadium to watch the Football Kingz play high-flying South Melbourne on Saturday night I was asked why.

Why bother going to watch a match for which you already know the outcome?

Given the Kingz season-long form, it was hard to argue. The TAB odds generously backed such conjecture.

Arriving at the ground - and there was parking aplenty - it was obvious the fans had voted with their feet. They stayed away. A concert in the park apparently held more hope and entertainment value than watching some ragtag mob who had won only twice in 21 outings this season and gathered just nine of a possible 63 points.

The Kingz had conceded at least a goal a game. In only four games had they scored two or more goals.

Again, the question hung in the air, why bother?

Hope lives eternal.

And for those who did make the journey/trip, it was as close to a magical mystery tour as one could imagine.

On one hand, a team going into the round 22 encounter in third place and looking to consolidate - thereby ensuring a more comfortable path through the play-offs.

On the other, a team struggling on and off the field and with memories of a season-worst 6-0 hiding at their last meeting still ringing in their collective ears.

A no-contest surely.

Yeah right. But not one even the most loyal of the Kingz faithful would have dared predict.

Souths left their game plan, and just about everything else, at home.

The Football Kingz were there to play. Souths were just there.

The home team won possession from the kick-off and had the ball to themselves for the opening 10 minutes, and were rarely forced outside opposition territory.

For a visitor from Mars, trying to establish which was the championship contender would have been a classic conundrum.

The Kingz turned in the kind of performance the club could have done with from day one. There were no 50-50 balls. The odds were 60-40 their way from the first whistle to the last.

The visitors were a tentative, shell-shocked rabble, who showed little to suggest they will be about when the silverware is handed out.

Playing against their old club were Marcus Stergiopoulos, Levent Osman and Michael Theoklitos along with one-time signing Con Boutsianis and New Zealand-born captain Vaughan Coveny, so the visitors had all the incentive they needed to show their paces.

But they never got out of (s)low gear against a bunch of fresh-faced kids who combined well with some cagey scrappers to make it one-way traffic and show that, on their day, the Football Kingz are worth the price of admission and a genuine footballing talent.

Too little, too late sadly.

Jason Rowley, 21 starts and one appearance off the bench in 22 games this season, typified the home team's effort. He chased, harried, and simply kept at it for 90 minutes - an inspiration his team-mates picked up on and copied.

There were no passengers. Just a committed effort by a team long ago written off as "hopeless".

Without the off-field upheavals who knows what they might have achieved?

Coach Mason remains simply "Tommy". More performances like that and he might qualify for saintly status.

There was no pain on the trip/journey home, just the satisfaction of having seen a decent game of footy.

Sadly that was counterbalanced a couple of hours later when the New Zealand Breakers failed to show the same bottle down the stretch and went down to the Sydney Kings in a game of basketball which too had promised plenty but, for one reason or another, came up a trifle short.

High point

John Daly. The big fella takes a one shot lead into today's final round of the Buick Invitational. There would be almost universal approval should he hold on for his first PGA tour triumph since 1995. Also, obviously, the Football Kingz.

Low point

New Zealand Cricket's one-day international schedule which had no game over the weekend thus denying many fans the chance to see two of the world's best teams in action, either live or on television.