Good to see the Phoenix in New Plymouth, I've always thought Yarrow's could be a decent football stadium - Only holds about 20,000-22,000, and is a lot closer to the action than many grounds around the country.
Yellow Fever were brilliant. I was standing to the right of them on the terrace/grass close to the lighting tower. Great atmosphere, good banter and heard nothing but positives from the locals I was standing with, several of whom had only come down, not because they are avid football supporters, but because as you may have seen on TV or if you are familiar with New Plymouth - The ground is located in a residential area.
I was a bit disappointed at the crowd number - 5185. I was optimistic of a 7,000-8,000 figure which I think would have been outstanding for a regional game. Alas, I know a lot of people (who I would consider sports nuts) who headed out of town to go to concerts/festivals, and just get away to the smaller coastal bach towns up Tongaporutu, Mokau and Raglan for what has proved to be a cracker of a weekend. What I'd also like to say about the lead up to the match throughout the week - Where was the promotion? Whether this falls on the Nix PR team, the NPDC or a combination of both is what I'd like to know, either way it was pretty poor stuff. I saw and heard almost nothing about the game apart from a revolving billboard that I saw each day as I pass it on the way went to work. Sure you get the odd tidbit stuff on facebook, twitter and all that, but if the objective is to grow the game and the club's profile around NZ, then unfortunately I didn't see much of it in place.
Slightly bemused at the lack of entertainment/activities in the concourse area. Definitely something that could have been done better. I've gone to several rugby matches for the ITM cup and they've had fan zones, special marquee bar areas, guest speakers, bouncy castles, face painting, food stalls, photo booths, competitions etc etc - basically everything that draws the attention of families with young children and the youth who have attention spans of a knat. Those of you who attended yesterday will have seen a drab grey concrete space devoid of anything much really going on. It's not really normal for any sort of sporting event to be left that bare and 'sterile' - Just my opinion, but as a local I hope this sort of stuff is good feedback to the powers that be.
For those of you that were also a little bemused at the lack of eftpos facilities for food and drink - this is usual. I was assuming that there would be ATM's, like there usually is for any sort of sporting event, so that did catch me a little short. It did get an unusual response when I asked a friend who works at the stadium on behalf of the NPDC who said 'I guess they didn't expect so many people to turn up' so I'm assuming the council was low balling crowd estimates and whether they thought it was actually a 'decent' turn out by their standards.
Pretty poor result, some good moments, although I thought our possession wasn't utilised effectively, no real go forward and a lot of passing across the backline and midfield without looking to go forward which is something that needs to be addressed urgently. No point in having a lot of the ball and doing sweet fudge all with it! As much as this pains me thought the defence was at 6's & 7's most of the night, and it could have easily been 5-6 which would have been a real shame, got caught out of position all too often and just seemed to be off the pace on the night. Thought our best was Smeltz (when he was on the field) and Mossy. Kosta really needs to sit down for a week or two, he's got pace and strength on the ball and a lot of tenacity but apart from a few decent crosses and the opportunity he had at 3-1 down when he jinked past a couple of WSW's and had a good attempt on goal, he did pretty much nothing else except dribble at players unsuccessfully and gave the ball away frequently. Krishna had a bit of a nothing game as well, although that was probably more down to his lack of any real service, as he did try and put himself about.
Watson in for Smeltz next week, Kosta on the bench. Give Weemac a start if he's fit enough to get through an hour or so. Aim for Thursday - Defence - get your head in the game, play smarter and don't over commit to attacking. Midfielders and strikers, less pass around do nothing hoping for a mistake type football. I wish our style of play would be mixed up a bit more and have some impetus to go more direct if they need too. Would make it less predictable for the other teams who have likely worked out that a high, fast press against us is likely to result in a turnover especially in that midfield area.
Still think it's unlikely we'll roll Sydney, but I'd be happy with a point, or a smash and grab 1-0 :)
