New Zealand U-23s - Quali Whites

Auckland - New Zealand's U-23 footballers endured a night that could best be described as character building, as part of a nine-man New Zealand 'A' side that lost 6-0 to the Saudi Arabia National Team in Melbourne on Friday night.

After restricting the Saudis - down under to meet Australia in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night - to three goals on Monday night, the addition of four overage players to the U-23 side was expected to help bridge the gap.

But the presence of Cole Peverley, Aaron Clapham, Jason Hayne and Cole Tinkler was never able to be fully leveraged once the side was reduced to 10 men after just 7 minutes.

Michael Eagar went hard and late in on a tackle, catching more leg than ball, but the quick dismissal still seemed a harsh punishment for the team Wellington midfielder.

Undermanned in defence New Zealand 'A' conceded twice in three minutes to be 0-2 behind after little more than 15 minutes, and while early substitute James Musa helped strengthen the back line, the Saudis netted again to be 3-0 ahead at the break.

Playing a full national team preparing for a do-or-die World Cup qualifier was always going to be a tough ask for the primarily locally sourced U-23 squad but with ten men it was largely one way traffic.

The deficit stretched to four nine minutes into the second half and a quick fire pair of yellow cards to Andrew Milne reduced the Kiwis to nine men for the final 24 minutes in which the Saudis added two more goals for good measure.

The New Zealand U-23s begin their Road to London at the Oceania Olympic Qualifiers in Taupo from March 16-24