Nix v Tards Sat 27th 6:00pm

I was sitting next to the box where the reserve players sit, they were all there. Except Simon Elliott. Maybe he has gone home?

Maybe he was avoiding the reporter from the Doom Post.

Call of the day:

"Brebner struggles without Intralot on his chest"

Hearfield 4 - Melbourne content to give him all that space he got on the right and not a sniff of a chance generated.

Happy with a draw coz halfway through the second half I thought we were in for a 1-3 defeat.

Good.

I feel sorry for Greenacre, he hasn't started.
and I do really like Greenacre.

I only watched brief highights but boy was our defending shocking on the goals. On the second one our back 4 looked like traffic cones!

This. He injected players when we needed something. Not when it was too late and we're playing desperation football. He's given them a little more time to settle in and get going and it worked. We could have stolen it at the end there. Granted we played poorly in patches but I think the last 30-35 minutes was mostly good and a lot of that was credit to the subs.

Yeah same old sh*t again, that 2nd goal was especially bad. Alot of  people are jumping around like pussies, stoked that we didnt lose. To me a draw is as good as a loss, especially at home.

good call, he has in the past seemed to like to use effectively pre-planned subs but this season he has tried to make subs to chase games which is a good thing.

Yes, thats what i thought, a left sided winston.

2nd goal was awful, noone was marking Kruse, left the gate wide open for him to waltz through and take a fee shot......most of us were dnacing wth relief that we escaped with the draw I think.

Considering the guy was probably so nervous last night he hardly got a wink of sleep I thought he did well. He will have learnt a lot from that game. Really good prospect.

And at the Four Kings tonight.........

I agree - possibly the most entertaining football I have seen the Nix play all season. The two goals were a bit loose and both came down the left, a position where Musa seemed a bit nervous in the entire first half (he is a natural CB after all). Musa did impress second half though - fantastic aerial ability in particular. BUT plenty of attacking options and chances, and the bench (depth?) was fantastic, Melbourne were truly lucky to only concede two - if we keep improving the way we have been over the last home games, we'll be alright.
djtim30002010-11-28 01:38:21

how do you know this?

football manager of course

Agreed. Just finished watching the replay and we completely controlled that 2nd half - and not because Melb were playing poorly either. At one point with about 25 to go the commentators were complaining that we lacked urgency, yet I was pretty happy with our play because in contrast with most previous games we were (a) keeping the ball with good build up and passing, and (b) closing them down quickly when we did lose possession.

man a lot of people giving disco an earful, i thought he is starting to play like he did last year, had a decent game

I am not worried by tough selections!!! Bring it on!

Agree with all of that StopOut. The last 20 minutes was all Phoenix. We were actually passing through the midfield and Ricki made good choices with the substitutions.

In the recent home loses you could see the Phoenix players slump as the opposition team scored and upped tempo for the win.
Not last night though.Despite once again being a goal down the Nix persisted.
Its been great to see Musa and Rojas in action. Musa is a positive player, needs to sort his defensive positioning in that LB role.(.that's where the Melbourne goals both came through), but some wonderfully accurate long passes, huge throw-ins and aerial strength and headers all plusses for someone playing his first ever pro game.
As for Rojas, incredible to see the young attacking Phoenix player running directly at the opposition like that! It sure got the crowd going. With more game time we will hopefully see him back himself to finish.
 Drawing the yellow card for Muscat..Priceless! (No nutmeg, but told you so )
 It bodes well for the Phoenix ...and potentially the All Whites as players of the future.
(Imagine Kosta and Marco unleashed up front for the AW's!!)
Standouts for me last night were the effectiveness of all of Ricki's subs and the workrate of Paul Ifill.Now he's scoring goals again he's a different player.Great to see him back in form.

Would be a nice innovation that...a column in the table for nutmegs, bonus points awarded
RedGed2010-11-28 11:07:29

Musa showed that he has potential, but got caught ball watching a couple of times, and probably isn't quite up to starting at this level yet.

Hearfield showed why his future is not as a winger/forward as some would like to think. He defended adequately, but going forward he has no ability to beat a player with anything except for pace. Also, if he does go round a player he is incapable of delivering the ball into a dangerous area in the box, runs down blind alleys far to often, and turns over ball.

Ifill's goal was an amazing piece of brilliance. By far the best in the league with the ball at his feet at the top of the box.

Kids behind us at the match yesterday talking about shirts off @ 80 mins.

Calling YF the "firm" for the Nix and how they were like hooligans. I think it was a p!sstake...

Might have to invest in a new corner flag after what Archie did to it.

very pleased with the subs! finally, he puts some on before the 60th minute - Ricki - pat on the back to you. :D

Consider it done.

Thanks Wellington for the 5 days spent here. Good weather and some decent football, a bit sad that I didn't get to see News on the D-floor at the avenue 

Thought that Hearfield had his best game for a long, long time. Probably helped by the fact Melbourne only attacked Musa's side basically all game but still. valeo2010-11-28 13:27:24

Sorry guys, it was my fault we only drew, I wasn't at the game.
Is Rojas off contract at the end of the season? If so, please resign him, Ricki.

A bit of an aside - it was great to see a decent contingent of Victory supporters last night - adds to the atmosphere if there is an opportunity for a bit of banter with traveling fans.

During warm ups, Musa did look a little at sea not knowing what to do, he hasnt been involved in the game day squad before has he?

He kept drifting in leaving space on the outside and it cost us a couple goals, and did seem to hesitate putting in tackles during the first half. I thought at half time he might be subbed off. His second half was much better defensively.

On the plus side, he looked to distribute the ball well, good in the air, and has a handy throw in.

He showed enough to think he could be a good player for us in the future, Center Defender or Defensive Mid but not at Left back.

As for Rojas, whoever nominated him for the scholarship, can we have a couple more like that please?

Interesting side note...

We had four extras over from Nelson with us for the game.  Two footy playing young lads under ten and their less footy oriented parents who were nevertheless keen to see what the Nix and the fever were all about.