Temporary though it may be, New Zealand’s Football Kingz soared to the top of the Australian National Soccer League table on October 27, after recording a club record 5-1 victory over Newcastle United at Fortress Ericsson in front of around 7000 jubilant supporters. The scoreline doesn’t tell the full story, however, for if Newcastle had had their shooting boots on, the scoreline could have been anything! The visitors enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, and could have been ahead as early as the second minute. A poor clearance by debutant Kingz goalkeeper Julio Cuello - his performance encompassed the awesome and the awful, and all points in between! - was pounced on by Peter Tsekenis, who prodded the ball forward for Mark Wilson. Despite the fact that the midfielder was coming back from an offside position, play continued, and his shot was tipped over the top by the Argentine newcomer. Newcastle were rocked in the seventh minute, however, as the Kingz scored with their first attack of note. Levent Osman, rock-solid in defence throughout for the home side, sent the ball forward in search of Tim Stevens. Under pressure, he succeeded in heading the ball to United’s All White defender, Chris Zoricich, who promptly guided the ball back into the path of his countryman. Stevens didn’t need prompting, and smashed the ball home inside Brad Swancott’s near post before the ‘keeper had a chance to react. The Kingz were quick to build on this advantage. After Paul Urlovic and Andreas Bluhm had respectively fired high and wide of the target, the scoreline doubled in the eighteenth minute. A clash of heads between Bluhm and Tsekenis saw both players sporting golf-ball-like protrusions on their foreheads. After treatment, the German played on, seemingly oblivious to the damage. Not so, the Australian, who was carted off, to be replaced by Glenn Sprod. Within forty seconds, the substitute had found his way into Neil Fox’s notebook with a decidedly robust challenge, one of a number in the match. Chris Jackson’s resulting free-kick was flicked on by Stevens to Urlovic, whose shot on the turn was parried by Swancott. Stevens scampered onto the loose ball, and tucked home his fourth goal of the season from close range - 2-0. Within seconds, Newcastle should have reduced the deficit. Cuello flapped at an Andy Roberts cross, but United couldn’t capitalise on the chance. The ball was cleared to Esala Masi, who crossed to the completely unmarked John Buonavoglia, some eight yards out and with the goal at his mercy. His effort hit the crossbar, and the Kingz breathed again. Both teams were producing some tidy flowing movements, but particularly the Kingz, whose growing confidence was clearly evident. The midfield trio of Bluhm, Ivan Vicelich and anchorman Harry Ngata were offering all manner of openings to their colleagues, and Jeff Campbell made the most of one in the 23rd minute. His raking crossfield pass picked out the impressive Aaron Lines, whose teasing cross was volleyed narrowly over the top by Bluhm. Newcastle responded with a couple of smart moves of their own. Roberts broke down the left and provided a low cross for Buonavoglia, who, under pressure, hit the sidenetting in the 26th minute. Seconds later, the same source provided another chance, this time delivering a deep cross to Peter Juchniewicz, whose volley sizzled inches over the crossbar to culminate a cracking move. The visitors weren’t out of the game by any means, and, buoyed by the inconsistent offerings of Cuello when it came to dealing with high balls, they probed repeatedly, and forced a series of corners before the interval. Juchniewicz’s deliveries were invariably in the zone, but the Kingz scrambled the vast majority of them to safety, save for one. Antony Surjan gathered this particular clearance, and floated in a delightful 36th minute cross for Zoricich. With Cuello stranded, he slipped his shot past the upright with the goal yawning in front of him. The second half saw Newcastle starting strongly once again. Wilson’s cross from the right found Roberts, who was up in support of the attack once more. Juchniewicz doubled round his team-mate, and duly received a pass which he appeared to lose control of. The ball was rolling nicely for the better-placed Buonavoglia, but Juchniewicz went for glory, and sent the ball over the crossbar. Buonavoglia, a goalscorer of no little note in this competition, turned provider for the overlapping Roberts in the fiftieth minute. His low cross zoomed into the zone, and Kingz fans started having heart attacks! There, prone on the deck, was Cuello, the ball whizzing by in front of him. "No worries!", said Osman, who duly cleaned up. Five minutes later, the Kingz cracked home a third goal. And a cracking goal it was, too! Ngata, outstanding again, gathered possession just inside United’s half, turned his marker and stroked the ball forward to Urlovic. He turned past Todd McManus, thundered past Zoricich and motored forward, the

goal in his sights. Blocking the way was Swancott, but Urlovic was too clever for him, coolly slipping the ball under the goalkeeper to notch his first goal of the season. At this point, the Kingz opted to introduce some fresh legs, with Dennis Ibrahim and Aaron Silva taking over from Stevens and Bluhm, who had graced the game with some delightful touches, sore head notwithstanding. Despite the scoreline, Newcastle were not done with. Buonavoglia’s pass to Wilson saw the midfielder smash a twenty-five yarder goalwards, which Cuello saved superbly at full stretch low to his right. Another change for the Kingz soon followed, although why Ngata was withdrawn from the fray defied belief. The captain is a key man in the Kingz armoury, directing operations, both positional and tempo-wise, from his control zone immediately in front of the back three. In this match, he had been outstanding, making his early exit all the more difficult to digest. It offered the visitors a sniff of a chance to reassert themselves on the game, too, and, despite being 3-0 down, Newcastle went for it. On came Vasko Trpcevski and Daniel McBreen minutes later, and within two minutes of entering the arena, the former had Cuello scrambling to pluck a teasing cross-shot from beneath his crossbar. The goalkeeper’s clearance found its way to Silva, who fed Campbell wide on the right as the Kingz counter-attacked. His inviting cross to the near post picked out Urlovic, whose 72nd minute volley screamed inches past the post as Swancott debated the merits of coming for the ball or staying on his line. Back came Newcastle, and with fourteen minutes to play, they were gifted a goal. Wilson was afforded acres of space on the right on this occasion, and combined with Masi to send the ball towards Surjan. Cuello came for the cross, but missed it completely, and McBreen was quickly on hand to tap home from a tight angle - 3-1, and game on! Buoyed by the strike, the visitors poured forward in search of a second. Roberts’ cross was headed clear by Riki Van Steeden, but only to Juchniewicz, who evaded a challenge before firing over the top. Seconds later, Buonavoglia was denied what looked a clear penalty when he was impeded in the area. The frustrated striker then combined with Masi to pave the way for McBreen to have a go at goal in the 82nd minute. The substitute’s clever dummy fooled everyone, and gave Trpcevski all the time in the world to pick his spot beyond Cuello. Sadly for the replacement, the goal at which he was shooting has never been located half-way up the banking at the northern end of the ground! The Kingz response to this late flurry was clinical - two goals in the last six minutes. Lines was inspirational in both strikes, sweeping the ball across to Campbell to instigate the first of them in the 84th minute. Campbell’s cross saw Silva win an aerial duel to flick the ball into Urlovic’s path, and the young man who scored four goals in twenty-four games for the Melbourne Knights last season, struck his second in three matches for the Football Kingz with aplomb aplenty. Ibrahim, denied a clear run on goal earlier on by a very close offside call, was the recipient of a Lines cross seconds after Urlovic’s goal, but sent his volley on the turn over the top, as calls of "We Want Five!" began emanating from the Bloc 5 Brigade. Before their demands were satisfied, however, Cuello added another chapter to his intriguing debut performance by superbly narrowing the angle to thwart Roberts four minutes from time, as the Kingz defence suffered another lapse in concentration. With sixty seconds left, the Football Kingz rounded off their victory with a fifth goal, which, while bringing about a somewhat flattering 5-1 scoreline, given the opportunities Newcastle squandered, nonetheless propelled them to the top of the table for the first time in their brief history. Chris Jackson, relishing his new defensive role, turned defence into attack with a probing pass for Urlovic. He took on three opponents before slipping the ball through to Silva, who was denied by Swancott. The goalkeeper recovered quickly to thwart Lines, as he attempted to convert the rebound. The ball ricocheted back to the midfielder, whose inviting cross was tailor-made for Silva to open his account for the campaign, and last season’s leading goalscorer for the Kingz duly did so with a diving header to crown a chance-laden game in fine style. Kingz:          Cuello; Jackson, Osman, Van Steeden; Campbell, Bluhm (Silva, 56 (booked, 66)), Ngata (Perry, 66), Vicelich (booked, 33), Lines; Urlovic, Stevens (Ibrahim, 56) Newcastle:     Swancott; Dodd, McManus (Trpcevski, 69), Zoricich (booked, 32), Roberts; Wilson, Tsekenis (Sprod, 17 (booked, 18)), Surjan, Juchniewicz (McBreen, 69); Buonavoglia, Masi Referee:     Neil Fox