Hardy campaigner Harry Ngata was the toast of the Football Kingz at North Sydney Oval on September 27, scoring all four of his side's goals as the New Zealand team battered Northern Spirit 4-1 to take the overnight lead in the 2002-3 National Soccer League, early in the competition's second round.      In trouncing their trans-Tasman rivals, the Kingz laid to rest their North Sydney Oval hoodoo, never having won there in three previous attempts. Indeed, they had only beaten Northern Spirit once in their six NSL clashes prior to this one, but it took just three minutes of this encounter for the Kingz to start making in-roads on evening up that particular ledger balance.      For that is the length of time it took the Kiwis to open the scoring. Andy Vlahos switched play to Mark Atkinson, playing on the right flank to accommodate central midfielder Raf de Gregorio, whose King debut was short-lived - he departed the fray in the 34th minute with a broken nose.      Atkinson cruised forward before delivering a beautifully weighted cross to the far post, beyond Vlahos and Patricio Almendra, who had also darted into the penalty area. Behind the pair of them was Ngata, completely unmarked. With the minimum of fuss, the former Hull City striker drilled the ball home unerringly inside the near post of the completely exposed Paul Henderson, and the Kingz were on their way.      Northern Spirit didn't know what had hit them! And, but for an eleventh minute opportunity for Hamilton Thorp, which was created by Vuko Tomasevic but cleared by Jonathan Perry before the shaven-headed striker could react, they were barely in the match as a competitive force for at least the first half-hour of the contest.      Chilean international Almendra was quickly proving himself a thorn in Spirit's side, and in the thirteenth minute, he engineered an opening for Vlahos which saw the Kingz lone Australian directing an unchallenged header at the diving Henderson, who was gaining scant support from his shell-shocked defence.      Spirit were ruthlessly exposed again five minutes later, as the combination of Almendra's deft touches and measured cross, coupled with Vlahos' darting run to meet the ball at the near post, prised open the home team's defence once more. But instead of shooting, Vlahos unselfishly rolled the ball into the path of the late-arriving Ngata - from four yards, he couldn't, and didn't, miss!      It says a lot about Spirit's performance to this point that their claims for offside were far more animated than anything else they had produced in the first eighteen minutes, Henderson's efforts excluded.      The goalkeeper was to distinguish himself twice more before the half-hour mark, saving a couple of sizzling long-range efforts from Almendra, while looking on as a third shot from distance struck by the Kingz playmaking striker sizzled narrowly past the target. Vlahos, too, had Spirit's shot-stopper hopping around in his goalmouth when lashing a mistimed volley into the side-netting from fifteen yards eight minutes before the break.      By this time, Northern Spirit had produced their best move so far, a 27th minute solo raid from former Scottish international Ian Ferguson. His swerving twenty yard drive was parried to relative safety by Michael Utting, Jonty Richter and Thorp both failing to follow the lead of their experienced team-mate with the rebound.      Thorp had a goal disallowed for offside four minutes before the interval, and was instrumental in two other raids just before the break from which Spirit went close to pulling a goal back.      Simon Bell played a one-two with the striker prior to the midfielder's right-footed twenty drive yard being well smothered by Utting, while a Noel Spencer clearance to Adam Kwasnik, rampaging down the right in stoppage time, culminated in a cross which arrived just too late for the burly figure of Thorp, who had arrived at pace on the far post just before the ball did.      Faced with an uphill climb at 2-0 down going into the second spell, Northern Spirit's cause took on Everest-like proportions just six minutes into the half, when Kwasnik was sent off by referee Angelo Nardi for violent conduct, the Kingz other debutant on the night, substitute Johnny Foundoulakis, his unwilling victim.      But as so often happens when faced with adverse odds, the ten men began to enjoy the better of the exchanges against a Kingz side which appeared content to sit on what, at 2-0, is invariably a dangerous lead. Utting parried Thorp's 52nd minute volley, after

Tomasevic had picked out the striker, while a twenty-five yard free-kick from substitute Robbie Trajkovski flashed across the face of goal eleven minutes later, just beyond the fast-arriving Bell, as a few Kingz players began to find themselves engaging in conversation with referee Nardi for all the wrong reasons. Spirit's players weren't exactly angelic by comparison - there were eight bookings, all told - but little sympathy was afforded Almendra in the 64th minute, when he was booked for diving. Kingz coach Ken Dugdale immediately told substitute Paul Urlovic to start warming up, and inside eight minutes, the otherwise well-performed Chilean striker, who hit the roof of the net on the hour with a thirty-yard free-kick, was acquainting himself with a seat on the sideline, his indiscipline his undoing. After Vlahos had had a headed goal disallowed for offside twenty minutes from time, and John Hutchinson had sent a twenty-yard drive sizzling across the face of goal after Bell had done the donkey-work, the pendulum began to swing back in the Kingz direction. Ngata picked out Vlahos on the left eleven minutes from time, and the striker twisted and turned his way into the penalty area before unleashing a rasping drive which Henderson turned onto the post. Three minutes later, Vlahos was at it again, jinking and feinting this way and that inside the penalty area. Veteran NSL defender Alex Tobin took the bait - penalty. And no doubts as to who the taker would be, either. Up stepped Ngata, no stranger to taking spot-kicks for the black-clad Kingz. This was not his finest effort, however. Indeed, Henderson was decidedly unlucky that he didn't keep the ball out - it crept under him and into the net to complete Ngata's hat-trick. At 3-0, the game was up for Northern Spirit, and after Hutchinson had brought the best out of Utting with a fierce twenty yard drive, they did get the consolation goal they sought in stoppage time - Tomasevic cracked the ball home off the underside of the crossbar from the penalty spot, after Thorp was judged by Nardi to have been felled inside the area by Jonathan Taylor, who was vehement in protesting his innocence, but to no avail. That made the final score 4-1, and it is appropriate that this report concludes with a description of the Kingz final goal of the game, as opposed to what was the final tally, as it was an absolute snorter!! With Spirit pressing for a goal as the second half wore on, they were increasingly vulnerable to the counter-attack, and in the 88th minute, the visitors finally took advantage of their opponents' lack of numbers in defence. Ngata led the three-on-two charge, surging forward from inside his own half as Spirit's remaining defenders back-pedalled furiously. Furious is perhaps the most appropriate word to describe the former All White's strike, once he reached the edge of the penalty area. The ball seared into the top right-hand corner of Henderson's goal like a guided missile to crown the Football Kingz biggest-ever on-the-road victory in emphatic fashion. It was a goal which earned Ngata a few milestones, too. He becomes only the third Kingz player to score a hat-trick, as well as just the twenty-sixth player in the league's history - and the first New Zealander - to notch four goals in an NSL game. The little matter of assuming the mantle from Paul Urlovic of being the Kingz all-time leading goalscorer, with seventeen strikes to date, seems trivial by comparison, but doubtless means just as much to this fiercely competitive former Kingz captain, whose loyalty to the cause is underlined by his having been with the club since day one. Yes, "Hitman Harry" certainly gave Northern Spirit what four on this occasion! Few in the 3289-strong crowd, on this showing, would begrudge him the pleasure. Spirit:          Henderson; Wilkinson ((Fisher, 73), Spencer (booked, 48), Tobin; Richter (Trajkovski, 60), Ferguson (booked, 35), Hutchinson, Tomasevic (booked, 90), Bell; Thorp (booked, 66), Kwasnik (sent off, 51) Kingz:          Utting; Perry, Miyazawa (booked, 63), Taylor; Atkinson (Van Steeden, 80), Jackson, de Gregorio (booked, 19) (Foundoulakis, 34 (booked, 70)), Campbell; Almendra (booked, 64) (Urlovic, 72), Ngata, Vlahos Referee:     Angelo Nardi