R10 v CCM | Sat 10 Dec | 7.35pm | FMG Stadium/Good George Brewing

Wait till you see his goal. He hit it perfectly.

Dont get sick of seeing it.

Magnivincent!

Nothing we can do about it though.

Also, how good is Jacob Fudgeing Tratt! Our signing of the season for mine, maybe bar Rossi.

He's quick, he can defend, he gets forward when necessary, picks good passes and he's only going to keep getting better.

He and Watto were my MOTM, but worth noting that Roly turned up for the first time this season, and I'm sure it isn't a coincidence that Ernies just left.

There's a tee shirt/banner in that.

Vince Lia is one of the clubs all time greatest servants

It is a disgrace that so called supporters bad mouth his efforts

They can stick that 25m screamer fair up their ass

They never did/have/can do better in football than Lia. 

He's also our only foundation player, reguardless of anything else he deserves to retire at the team.

This is true, but it doesn't make him a good player. Anyway, tell your son he did well last night. Have a good day Mr Lia Sr.

Royalties FTW!!!

Good time in the zone last night. Pity the game wasn't promoted more around town (But from things ive heard, that have more to do with the city council than the nix). 

Good performance from the team in the end. When i saw the line ups and formation, i though that not having a mid field was an interesting way of getting around our problematic midfield.  

First half, i though we stunk down the right. Tratt was diving in and getting caught out. Lia was coming into help, but also jumping in and getting beaten. The flow on from that was that we weren't pick the runners through the middle. And even though we were up thanks to Kosta/Watson, I didnt think it would stay that way. But the way we camped deep on our 18 and gave them little space to play into and this killed their attacks and they didn't offer up much. Big raps need to go to Rossi and Dura for organising our shape. because they kept every one in line, also Parkhouse did a good job on Ferriera(sp?)

The second half was much better. The big change for me, was the quickness in our passing. In the first half we had krishna, kosta, gui and Roly all taking 4-5 touches every time they touched the ball. This slowed down our attacking movement and enabled CCM to put some real pressure on us. This often resulted in us making a poor pass or losing the ball. While in the second, all players mentioned above were involved in crisp, 1 or 2 touch moves. Even if it wasnt going forward, our ball movement was making life easier for us. I hope to see more of that. Tratt also came good and was making very good runs down the right and linked well with whoever was in front of him at the time. 

Other thoughts:

I love attending games at a stadiums built for football matches. it is just a way better experience. for example, the period in the first half when Roux was getting attended to and we started chanting at Mossy. He cracks a smile, gives us a wave. You can interact with players because we are near them. 

Other highlight was the wee boy at the front who was constantly 'dabbing'. Now i dont quite get it myself, but this kid was 'dabbing' like crazy every time the nix did anything good. Very funny to watch. 

Bring on next weekend!

I really admire Tratt's determination to make a difference. It was he who sprinted the length of the field to slide Kosta's through ball across for Roy to tap in. Bloody good effort, many other fullbacks would see that we already had four attackers racing up field and just leave it to them.

Good fun in the zone last night. Yes agreed it was really good to have that interaction with the players close. "In Wellington it never rains" got laughs from the Hamilton locals as the drizzle drifted down. Vinnie's goal will live long in the memory.

Bit OTT?

Just realising how many chances we had. Insanity. Watson hit left post, right post and the bar. Kosta chipped the keeper only to have it slide past the post, as did Gui later. Roly forced an amazing save out of Necevski for a shot that was definitely going in. We bottled a few counters we should have done better with. Could have been so many more.Watsin likes smashing shots into blocks too!!

Sorry, it was a great goal, but it doesn't mean we should all agree that Lia is the man to take our midfield forward.

I think he's very good in the right system - but I don't think we've found that for 2 seasons now.

You don't have to apologize  for you opinion.

It was probably one of the best goals of the season, but I seem to remember many games that he has cost us.

So how are those metrics looking?

Traveling circus with very little local promotion. 

Being held on the same day as the Waikato Cup Race meeting. 

A pathetic turnout of 5300

looked more like 53

wasn't much bigger than that Feverish.

Would those involved with the Can can at Speights please take a bow, it helped out the stag do guy with his list.

There must have been about 5k under the cameras.....

I think the attendance figure was about right. 

Yeah. You're right. Waste of time even trying. Should just stay in Wellington and play in front of 5 or 6K there when we aren't winning and the weather's crap. 

Parkhouse impressive on Saturday night. Contained Ferreria who has on occasion torn us a new one. He seems to be improving week by week as a Left back. Will Doyle struggle to regain his spot?

Westpac is unavailable because it's being re-turfed, they had no choice but to take a couple of games on the road right now, I don't know why we're taking a game to New Plymouth in feb though.

When the Bar Manager asked "Who was Dancing on the table?" 

 Ian - "It wasn't me, it was him"

Parkhouse will be a good player to bring off the bench even if he doesn't start for us.

WELLINGTON Phoenix, we're not the Kingz or Knightz

If the locals do not know that there is a game on, how the f**k are we going to get decent crowds? 

If fans from Auckland can't be arsed traveling 130km to a game how the f**k are we going to get decent crowds?

I sincerely hope that there is a decent crowd  in Auckland, but I'm not hopeful (Mt Smart is probably too difficult to get to!), I stand by my prediction of 5000 paying customers & the rest being giveaways!

A contributing factor to low crowds in Wellington is we do not get a decent run of games at HOME to build momentum (or when we do get a 3 game home run, they are in the same friggin week! ) 

Westpac being re-turfed takes 3 weeks before you can play on it. The last sports event on it was supposed to have been the Nix v Victory on November 19, which was postponed due to the earthquake. The only event since then was the Keith Urban concert on December 4. The turf wasn't pulled up until the monday after this concert. It seems as though the Keith Urban concert was given more preference than two Phoenix games.  I'm sure the Phoenix could have negotiated to get at least one of the december games played in Aussie.

Any time you get 5k, no matter where you play, has to be disappointing for the club

How many turned up from Wellington and how many came from Auckland?  Hatter is on the money.

... and there's no ground available.

I don't have a car and couldn't get a lift and there weren't buses going back the same night, you rude git.

Can people realise that Jag lives in Hamilton  Pukekohe and was being sarcastic. (The internet needs a sarcasm font)

EDIT: Been advised I had the wrong location for where Jag lives. All the same area when you get north of Taupo :P

If there wasn't a game in Auckland a week later you'd expect more of an Auckland crowd to come down. No advertising, bad press for a week, and two games within an hours drive of each other in a week all added up.

Still a piss poor effort from the Tron.

(source)

Umm, I don't live in Hamilton....... just sayin'.