The Football Kingz headed to Sydney for their one hundredth National Soccer League fixture this week with high hopes of marking the occasion with a victory, and consolidating their top-six placing at the end of the fifteenth round of action.      But their hosts at Edensor Park on December 29, Sydney United, had other ideas, and at the end of an at times insipid, unimaginative encounter, prevailed 1-0 to bring to an end a three-game losing streak, and take their opponents' place in the play-off positions.      Yet all appeared to be going to plan for the Kingz in the first ten minutes of the match, as they settled quickly and had early claims for a penalty ignored by referee Peter Green, Harry Ngata going down under the aerial challenge of Paul Bilokapic - himself celebrating his two hundredth NSL game in this match - as they contested a Mark Atkinson cross.      It didn't take long for the alarm bells to start ringing in the Kingz rearguard, however. An eleventh minute blunder by Jonathan Taylor was pounced on by the impressive Anthony Doumanis, whose early angled ball through for Louis Brain presented the youngster with an early opportunity, and a close-up look at Kingz goalkeeper Michael Utting, who saved at his feet.      Sydney had barely a minute to wait, however, as the visitors gifted them possession once more. This time, Hiroshi Miyazawa was the guilty party, slicing a clearance straight to Brendan Santalab, who was to prove a thorn in the side of the Kingz defence for the duration.      His pace took him clear of Taylor on this occasion, before he checked and laid the ball back into the path of Doumanis, arriving at pace on the edge of the penalty area. Utting stood not a prayer as the midfielder's rising drive crashed into the top right-hand corner of the net to open the scoring.      Taylor had the opportunity to make amends for his earlier error just three minutes after the goal, when giant United goalkeeper Vanja Ivesa fumbled Andy Vlahos' thirty yard free-kick. But the big man quickly got down to block Taylor's shot from the rebound, and the Kingz best chance of the half came to nought.      The remainder of the first spell saw the home team enjoying the better of the exchanges, to the delight of the 2943-strong crowd, and this despite the Kingz having the greater share of possession - their use of it served to highlight the absence of the injured Patricio Almendra, whose imagination and creative flair were sorely missed in this encounter.      But they had little to show for their efforts, save a couple of off-target efforts from the lively Santalab, and a glaring miss from Mile Jedinak five minutes before half-time, Doumanis having slipped the hard-running midfielder through with just Utting to beat, only for Jedinak to poke his shot past the 'keeper, but past the post as well.      The second spell saw Santalab going close within seconds of the kick-off - only a timely block by Miyazawa on the edge of the penalty area prevented the striker from catching the Kingz cold. The visitors retorted with a tidy move featuring Ngata, Mark Atkinson and Mark Burton, whose fifteen-yard effort fizzed across the face of goal.      Back came United, Santalab again instrumental in

all that was good about their attacking play. His through ball presented Brain with another chance five minutes into the half, but the youngster curled his shot straight at Utting, who was relieved to see Taylor produce a timely challenge four minutes later to thwart Doumanis in the act of shooting, after Santalab had broken down the right and picked out his team-mate with a measured cross. Ngata was proving his worth in the target-man role for the visitors, but all too often moves petered out around him through a combination of good defending by United and inaccurate passing or shooting by his team-mates, although one particular seven-pass raid, culminating in a Raf de Gregorio drive, is deserving of special mention for its quality - other Kingz attacks throughout the majority of the second spell paled in comparison. Santalab and Doumanis were always a threat for the home team, however, with Brain an able assistant. The last-mentioned engineered a chance for Jedinak which the midfielder fired over under pressure from Atkinson sixteen minutes from time, soon after which came the surprise withdrawal of Doumanis - with him went United's attacking impulses. Jeff Campbell, on as a subsitute for the ineffective Paul Urlovic, was quick to take up the baton, and prised open United's defence in the 79th minute with a slide-rule pass onto which Vlahos latched. The stocky striker rounded the advancing Ivesa, who reacted by tripping the Kingz player, as he was about to roll the ball into an empty net. Referee Green didn't hesitate in pointing to the penalty spot, but about the professional foul by the goalkeeper, he took no action, when a strong case for a yellow card, if not a red one, was clearly evident. Given Ivesa saved Vlahos' spot-kick seconds later, one can only wonder what the outcome would have been had the goalkeeper received his marching orders. Instead, the Kingz were left to rue a penalty miss, and a fine save at the feet of de Gregorio by the giant custodian minutes later, after a strong run from deep by the midfielder culminated in a slick one-two with Burton which took de Gregorio through the heart of a by-now-shaky Sydney defence. Both de Gregorio and, in particular, Gabriel Mendez were fortunate not to receive a second yellow card apiece from the referee in stoppage time for needless infringements, both having been booked earlier in the game, while substitute Daniel Watkins blazed over with virtually the last kick of the game, after Santalab had somehow engineered an opening along the byline following a late corner. With their win, Sydney climb into fifth place, while the Kingz drop out of the top six, and head to Perth - their third away game in succession - without de Gregorio, whose booking in this match was his fourth of the campaign. Sydney:     Ivesa; Barrett, Cacic, Bilokapic; M. Santalab, Jedinak, Doumanis (booked, 45)  (Watkins, 77), Mendez (booked, 53), Pavic; Brain, B. Santalab (booked, 90) Kingz:          Utting; Perry, Miyazawa, Taylor (Young, 75); Burton, Atkinson, de Gregorio (booked, 26), Jackson, Vlahos; Urlovic (Campbell, 60), Ngata Referee:     Peter Green