The Football Kingz and South Melbourne concluded their respective disappointing National Soccer League campaigns in thrilling fashion at Ericsson Stadium on March 16, the visitors downing the home team by the odd goal in nine in an absolute roller-coaster ride of a match watched by a paltry crowd of just 1262.      It could be said of the Kingz that this was an accurate portrayal of their entire four-year life in a ninety minute cameo! In that time, there has never been a dull moment with the Kiwi club, on or off the park, and the general nature of this clash bore that fact out remarkably well.      There were chances galore at both ends of the park in a match which, as the 5-4 scoreline suggests, was not one which coaches would appreciate, as defensive play took a back seat to entertaining the masses.      Just five minutes in, Michael Utting produced the first of numerous saves he was to make, thwarting a fierce close-range volley from Michael Baird following a free-kick. From the resulting Con Boutsianis inswinging corner, both Vaughan Coveny and Patrick Kisnorbo were just inches away from turning the ball home for the opening goal of the game.      The Kingz responded with a fine left-flank raid in the ninth minute, which featured a slick one-two between Andy Vlahos and Mark Beldham. The former barrelled down the left before whipping in a splendidly weighted cross to the far post, where James Pritchett - soon to succumb to injury - let fly with a rasping volley which screamed past Dean Anastasiadis' right-hand post.      After Pritchett's premature departure, Souths came storming back onto attack, Mehmet Durakovic picking out the overlapping Fausto de Amicis with a fine ball from deep. The wide-man swept past one challenge before letting fly from inside the penalty area, only for Utting to produce another stunning save from his seemingly limitless repertoire.      Still the visitors pressed, Vince Lia and Sam Poutakidis working an opening on the right which the latter made the most of, particularly with the clever off-the-ball running of Baird to assist him. This created the space from which Lia shot, but his effort was struck straight at Utting.      Cue a Kingz counter-attack, which petered out upon reaching Anastasiadis, who inexplicably cleared the ball straight to substitute Jonathan Perry with the goal gaping. Why Perry never let fly with the 'keeper stranded is anyone's guess, but he opted to pass the ball, which eventually arrived at the feet of Jeremy Christie, who cracked a twenty-five yarder wide of the mark.      After such a sizzling opening eighteen minutes, a brief respite was to be expected, but in the 26th minute, Harry Ngata slipped a pass through for Beldham, who forced a smothering save from Anastasiadis despite the presence of two defenders deep inside South's penalty area.      Another Kingz raid on the half-hour brought the first goal of the game. A clumsy foul twenty yards out from goal saw referee Simon Micallef signal a direct free-kick for the home team, a chance Mauro Donoso was intent on capitalising upon. And how! His sumptuous free-kick arced over the wall and sailed into the net beside the diving Anastasiadis' left-hand post - Kingz 1-0 … but it wasn't to stay that way for too long!      All of six minutes, to be precise. Poutakidis crossed from the left for Boutsianis, who was beaten in the air by Hiroshi Miyazawa. Lia latched onto the partially cleared ball, and clipped in a cross for Baird, who steered his header wide of Utting to level the scores.      This was the catalyst for a dramatic final nine minutes of the half, in which Souths scored twice more, and saw Utting smother a twenty-five yard grasscutter from fellow All White Coveny.      But the man called 'Horse' by his Souths' team-mates had already found the target by the time this save was made.      In the 39th minute, a slick move by the visitors saw Baird play the ball into the path of the charging Poutakidis, who slid the sphere into the overlapping - and outstanding - Massimo Murdocca's path. His cross was beautifully weighted for Coveny to expertly steer home with a classic full-length diving header, despite the best efforts of Utting to keep it out.      2-1 to South Melbourne became 3-1 on the stroke of half-time. And it was almost inevitable, given his background in having left the Kingz without having played a game for them, that the scorer of the best goal of the day would be Boutsianis. He stepped up to the plate with a sublime free-kick, which arced into the net from all of thirty yards on the angle - a quite superbly executed set-piece.

Nine minutes into the second spell, Souths increased their lead to 4-1. Coveny thundered home a penalty after Lia made the most of an opportunity to take a tumble in the penalty area as Chris Jackson challenged him - if there was any contact made by the Kingz midfielder on this occasion, one can only assume he has a third, invisible leg! The last time these teams met in Auckland on the last day of the season, in 2000-01, the Kingz took the lead, only to slump to a 6-1 hiding. This was heading much the same way at this point in time, but a dramatic turnaround in fortunes was to take place in the next twelve minutes. A rasping Ngata drive from twenty-five yards sizzled past Anastasiadis' left-hand post on the hour, which sparked a storming comeback from the Kingz, who struck twice in two minutes half-way through the second spell. The first came in the 64th minute, thanks to the persistence of half-time substitute Mark Atkinson. His doggedness in winning the ball in the air didn't appear to count for much, as it fell to Poutakidis, but his clearance landed perfectly at the feet of the other interval change for the Kingz, Raf de Gregorio. He took a couple of strides before smashing a shot goalwards, the ball striking the leg of Poutakidis and spinning viciously past the stranded Anastasiadis and into the opposite corner of the net - 4-2. Within seconds, there were chances in both penalty areas, the ball zooming across both goalmouths inside sixty seconds with no-one able to get a vital touch on it to alter the scoreline. The Kingz clearance of Souths' raid culminated in Vlahos charging into the visitors' penalty area, where he unceremoniously upended by Durakovic in what was likely to be his last NSL appearance. The tripped player picked himself up, dusted himself down, and smashed the spot-kick home against his old club - 4-3, and all on for young and old with twenty-four minutes still to play. Within two minutes, it could so easily have been 4-4. Perry released Beldham down the right, and his cross found Ngata arriving at pace in the penalty area. But the ball simply wouldn't stay down for him to unleash the quality of shot necessary, and Anastasiadis gleefully grabbed the ball off his toe to thwart what would surely have been the Kingz comeback to end them all. With their vocal local faithful urging them on, the Kingz kept pressing, but it was Souths who were next to celebrate a goal, ten minutes from time. With the home team looking for an equaliser, they were becoming more and more vulnerable to the counter-attack, and on this occasion, Souths made it count - Coveny set up substitute Peter Buljan with the easiest of chances to make it 5-3. Incredibly, the Kingz came straight back, and three minutes later, the scoreboard operator was active for the ninth time in the match. Substitutes Perry and Atkinson combined on the right to present Beldham with the chance to run at Souths' retreating rearguard, and from twenty yards, he unleashed a miscued shot which deceived Anastasiadis and cannoned into the net off the base of his near post. 5-4 - surely 5-5 wasn't on the cards? No, much to Souths' relief, although they had the best chances of the last seven minutes of the season, both of which saw Buljan denied in fine fashion by Utting, who, over the course of the campaign, would have to rank as the Kingz Player of the Season - without his efforts, a second successive wooden spoon would likely have been claimed weeks ago. As it was, eleventh was the Kingz lot in 2002-3, statistically an improvement from their disastrous campaign of twelve months previously. For Souths, seventh place was their lot at the end of a season which saw both teams in the top five at the half-way mark in the competition, only for both teams to fall off the pace in dramatic fashion - the Kingz especially so - during the second half of the campaign. For both clubs, the time is nigh for some fine-tuning and general tinkering with their make-up. And you can be assured that both the Football Kingz and South Melbourne will be prominent movers in close-season activities, both on and off the park. Kingz:          Utting; Miyawaza (Atkinson, 46), Taylor, Anthopoulos, Donoso; Pritchett (Perry, 12), Jackson (booked, 78), Christie (de Gregorio, 46), Vlahos; Ngata, Beldham Souths:     Anastasiadis; Iosifidis, Durakovic, Kisnorbo (booked, 21); Lia, Poutakidis (Pace, 67), Boutsianis (Tolios, 88), Murdocca, de Amicis; Coveny, Baird (Buljan, 74) Referee:     Simon Micallef