It wasn't pretty - assistant coach Shane Rufer aptly described it as "laborious" - but the three points resulting from their 1-0 win over Sydney United at North Harbour Stadium on February 4 were greatly welcomed by the Football Kingz, as they maintain their bid for a play-off place in this, their first season in the National Soccer League. In all honesty, the Kingz should have won by a far greater margin, but profligate finishing was too often their downfall in this encounter against the bottom-placed side in the competition. The other disappointing aspect of the Kingz performance was the prominence of sloppy passes which punctuated proceedings. Many a promising move broke down as a result of a pass to a team-mate sorely lacking in conviction and, occasionally, direction. The impression gained from this oft-witnessed wantonness was that of a team which, because they were playing the competition's cellar-dwellers, thought they merely had to turn up to collect three points. Collect them they ultimately did, but you can guarantee the manner in which the points were garnered will see a few pertinent words being uttered to their charges by the Rufer brothers at training this week. Deprived of the services of the suspended Chris Jackson and Robbie Middleby, not forgetting their first victim of wanderlust, Dino Mennillo, the Kingz began the match like a house on fire, Marcus Stergiopoulos' scintillating run from halfway, enhanced by one-twos with Wynton Rufer and Aaron Silva en route, culminating in his 48th second shot from the edge of the United penalty area being blocked by the massed ranks of the visitors' defence. It was to be the only opening of consequence in the first twenty minutes, both defences dominating during this period of thrust and parry football. Eventually, a mistake was made, Jonathan Perry's imprecise pass the source, which gave Ante Moric the chance to thread a pass through for Zvonko Usljebrka in the 21st minute. The freshly shaven-headed figure of Michael Utting was equal to the task, however, the Kingz 'keeper saving with his legs. Seconds later, Utting was in no man's land as he attempted to reach Joe Moric's measured cross from the right, Mario Jermen the target, following fine initial work by Nahuel Arrarte. The striker guided his header wide of the far post - a real let-off for the Kingz, given the goal was gaping. After their first minute foray, it wasn't until the 38th minute that the Kingz offered their next worthwhile strike on target. Ivan Vicelich and Fred de Jong secured possession on the left, and the latter swept the ball across the park to Perry, who promptly rewarded Rufer's surging run forward with a slide-rule pass. The striker startled Steve Tolios with an early curling shot on the run which hit the outside of the United 'keeper's near post. Back came Sydney, both captain Tom Pondekjak and Usljebrka being denied by Utting in fine style before the interval, while de Jong and Rufer headed over the crossbar at the other end of the park prior to referee Con Diomis' half-time whistle. The second spell began in the perfect manner - a goal six minutes into it to set up the rest of the match. Perry's free-kick from the right arrowed into the penalty area, and Vicelich met it perfectly with his head, deftly steering the sphere wide of the diving Tolios into the left-hand corner of the net to suitably crown a solid personal performance in a midfield role in which he has played on just three occasions. United, encouraged by their first half forays which had brought the best out of Utting, went hunting for an equaliser, and gained further encouragement to do so from the Kingz defence, whose penchant

for playing 'keep ball' in their own defensive third of the pitch, complemented by the aforementioned idiosyncracy of under-hitting passes, was beginning to irritate many in the 3,687-strong crowd, who were looking for their team to build on their lead, rather than merely sit on it. Sloppy passing in the 54th minute by the Kingz rearguard allowed Pondeljak a chance to punish such indifferent football, and but for the vital tackle executed by Riki van Steeden, who was making just his second start of the campaign for the home side, the well-performed United captain may have done so. Three minutes had elapsed when Silva was guilty of the miss of the match, firing wide of an open goal having rounded Tolios, after Stergropoulos had slipped him through United's defence with a precise pass. Just after the hour, the Chilean was in again, this time after de Jong and Vicelich had done the donkey-work to allow Rufer to thread the ball through United's rearguard. This time, Silva's shot was heading for the far corner of the net, only for Tolios to fingertip the ball to safety. There was action at both ends inside sixty seconds in the 67th minute. Pondeljak prompted the raid towards the Kingz goal whch saw Utting produce a splendid salmon-like leap to thwart Arrarte's looping header, the 'keeper quickly sparking a Kingz counter-attack which saw Silva scampering away down the right. His cross picked out Rufer, who you would have put your house on to score with just Tolios to beat. The goalkeeper stood his ground well, however, his save at the feet of the acclaimed striker keeping his side in the match. In the 71st minute, Silva set his sights on the frame of the goal behind Tolios once more, retreating defenders notwithstanding. Seemingly, team-mates haring up in support with nary an opponent within cooee of them were out of his visual range too, for with Rufer screaming for the ball in yards of space on his right, Silva went for glory himself, and fired a tame shot well wide of the target, much to the quite justifiable exasperation of the player-coach. While Silva acknowledged his short-sightedness on this occasion, United busied themselves with the task of charging up the other end of the park, led once more by Pondeljak. Nick Bosevski was the ultimate beneficiary of this raid, only for Utting to parry his well-struck twenty-yarder then, with Vicelich's assistance, recover to deny the substitute as he homed in on the rebound. Within seconds, Silva fired wildly wide once more, Rufer and de Jong having combined to supply their striking partner with another opening. A couple of minutes later, their replacements, Levent Osman and Stu Riddle, engineered a chance, which came to nought when the latter overran the former's low cross from the right. Back came Sydney, with Pondeljak again to the fore, ably aided by Bosevski, whose well-struck shot in the dying minutes was blocked to safety by van Steeden, who, with Lee Jones, was the pick of a Kingz defence which, by virtue of this result, recorded just their third clean sheet of the season, and condemned United to their thirteenth defeat in twenty matches - a sad statistic for the Croatian-influenced club to boast, given they have finished in the top six in each of the last six NSL campaigns. Kingz:  Utting, Bunce (booked, 59), Jones, van Steeden, Perry, Ngata, Vicelich, Stergiopoulos, Rufer (Riddle, 72), de Jong (booked, 34) (Osman, 72), Silva (Kenyon, 80) Sydney:  Tolios, Maric, Jurilj, Palapanis (booked, 37), Arrarte, A. Moric, Pondeljak, Rastall, J. Moric, Jermen (Savoca, 68), Usljebrka (booked, 24) (Bosevski, 56 (booked, 56)) Referee:  Con Diomis