Central League Round 05

Team Taranaki in heart-stopper

IT'S a good thing Craig Graham already has grey hair.

"Our first quarter was ugly and I was very disappointed with the way we played. We let in a stupid goal and we couldn't string passes together . . . nothing. It was totally the opposite of how we have been playing. I gave the boys a real rev-up at halftime."

Taranaki could not have got off to a worse start yesterday, with Stop Out's Sam Higgins beating a confused defence to head the ball into the net after only 10 minutes. Taranaki turned over any hard-won ball with some sloppy passing, never looking capable of mounting an attack. The visitors were rewarded for a second time, 13 minutes after the break when Jerry Chunga made a long break and rifled the ball to Alec McDonald, who chipped the ball over Taranaki keeper Michael Reive.

Taranaki should not have left the equaliser so late, with Tyson Brandt and Hiroshi Tomonari both having golden chances to score in the final 10 minutes. Brandt had only the goalie to beat, but sent the shot wide, while Tomonari's header narrowly missed.

Dare we mention Leon Birnie's return to active duty? After two years, either on the sideline or limping off in his latest comeback attempt, Birnie is indeed playing for Bluewater Napier City Rovers in the Central League and doing rather well.

So as we look for ways in which to be positive about Saturday's 2-0 loss to Western Suburbs at Endeavour Park, one is that Rovers' star striker, cum assistant coach, again came through unscathed.

"I'm loving being out there," Birnie said to SportToday.

"I've been out for such a long time and I'm pretty happy with where my form's at. I'm definitely not as sharp as I was when I was fully fit but, no, I'm pretty pleased with everything.

"I've played four or five games now and I haven't really felt my knee or my foot. It's obviously too early to say that the injury problems are fully behind me, but things are feeling pretty good at this stage."

By Birnie's own admission, Saturday's performance wasn't Rovers' best thus far. But it was far from a catastrophe.

"I mean we played all right, just not as good as we have been," he said.

"But we've played all of the top-three teams now (Lower Hutt City, Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs) and all have been away. And what have we got now? Seven points from a possible 15 and we'd have been stoked with that at the start of the season.

"I think Matt (Chandler, Rovers head coach) and some of the other boys were saying that we lost to them 7-1 here last year, so it was definitely an improvement on that. Their first goal came from a half-pie shot that went in off the bar and the second goal was from a corner that deflected in off one of their players.

"We probably had the best of the game, but didn't really convert our chances. The main thing for us, though, is that there's a really good spirit among the team, even just off the field as much as anything, and we know we'll be much tougher opposition for those teams when we play them here in Napier."

Birnie is right. Throw in Gisborne City and Rovers have played all the big guns, bar Olympic who sit just behind the big three in fourth place. Rovers lie fifth, but with last-placed Taranaki in town on Sunday, they have a royal chance to jump back into the thick of things.