Spectator Heaven, Coaching Hell ! - Part Two by Jeremy Ruane On September 27, 1997, Three Kings United overcame Petone 7-5 in the WSANZ Knockout Cup Final. It was a dream encounter, a veritable feast of attacking football, the sort of game for which spectators crave, but about which coaches cringe. The headline ‘Spectator Heaven, Coaching Hell’ was born that day, one of those attention-grabbing efforts which, given the paucity of high-scoring encounters in top-level games seen these days, I though I would only get to use on that one occasion. Just after four months after its conception, it is with great pleasure that I retrieve it from the memory banks and put it to good use for a second time. The reason? Waitakere City 9, Napier City Rovers 5 - the final score from the clubs’ National Soccer League encounter at Ken Maunder Park on January 31, 1998. Without a doubt, it will go down in the annals as one of the most remarkable National League encounters in the history of top-class soccer in New Zealand. Indeed, it has smashed out of sight the previous record (set in 1986 - Gisborne City 7, North Shore United 4) for most goals scored in one National League game. But most remarkable of all, in those first forty-five pulsating minutes in particular, was the quality of football played by both teams. To offer some indication of how action-packed the game was, when jotting down notes of the incidents during matches, there are occasions when I struggle to fill one-and-a-half columns in my centreline shorthand notebook. This match saw me accumulate double that tally! In other words, stand by for an epic!! Latecomers would have missed the first incident, as Mark Paston flung himself to his left after just seven seconds to deny Minoah Masi’s sizzling drive. It proved to be the perfect teaser for what was to come. Perry Cotton and Paul Halford both had scoring chances for Napier in the first ten minutes, but neither attempt was on target. Come the eleventh minute, the net bulged for the first time in the match, and it was a superb opening goal. Carl Jorgenson and Paul Hobson ignited the attack, with Tony Laus and Nik Viljoen next involved as Waitakere rampaged down the right. A switch to Masi, coming in from the left, saw the Fijian slide by a couple of challenges before setting up Laus, who slammed home from twelve yards. Napier were level within ninety seconds, Tinoi Christie’s twenty yard drive totally deceiving Duncan Martin, Waitakere’s goalkeeper, as it bounced its way into the corner of the net. Parity was short-lived, however, in more ways than one. Another whirlwind Waitakere attack resulted in Laus’ diving header from a Masi cross being blocked on the line. The rebound was pounced on by the former All White striker, who could not believe his eyes as, with Paston beaten, Andy Rennie played goalkeeper. Geoff Gray thundered home the rebound, by which time referee Derek Rugg had already blown his whistle and, after consulting his assistant, Ian Hiscox, awarded a penalty. Gray thumped the ball home from the spot in due course, but not before Napier had been reduced to ten men, Rennie’s handling offence ending his afternoon’s work seventy-five minutes earlier than intended! Many words have been used to describe Napier’s football down the years - you can now add resilient to the list! For in the twentieth minute, back they came again. Martin Akers flicked a dropping ball on for Rupert Ryan, who played it wide for Christie. The All White raider carved open the defending champions’ right flank before drilling in a low cross which Ryan, the league’s leading goalscorer, slid home from close range to put the unbeaten league leaders back on level terms. End to end action ensued in the next one hundred and fifty seconds. Terry Torrens fired a twenty-five yarder inches past the post; Martin tipped over a Jeremy Brown snapshot; a captivating individual burst down the right by Masi resulted in him firing across the face of goal and just wide of the far post. Bang on the 23 minute mark, City scored yet again. Paston’s goal-kick, following Masi’s near miss, was headed forward by Ryan Dawkins. Viljoen gathered the ball and scampered down the right before whipping the ball inside. Jorgenson, up in support, met the ball on the run and fair thundered it home inside Paston’s near post from ten yards - a cracking finish which put City 3-2 up. For eight minutes! Again Napier dragged themselves up off the canvas to strike back at their rivals. Halford struck a gorgeous twenty-five yard free-kick over the wall in the 31st minute, and the curling, spinning shot was too good for Martin to get anywhere near - 3-3! Back stormed Waitakere, with Neil Woodhams seeing his twenty yard screamer tipped onto the crossbar by Paston, who, despite conceding nine goals by the full-time whistle, kept out over half as many again with some memorable saves. Next it was the turn of Viljoen to chance his arm, and he did so on four occasions in the final twelve minutes of the half. He displayed great skill to beat three players in the 33rd minute, but his shot flew across the face of goal. Five minutes later, a fine diving save by Paston foiled the striker’s twenty yard drive. In between times, Viljoen put Waitakere in front for the fourth time in the match, and he did so with an absolute snorter! Woodhams careered down the right again, looked up and spotted Viljoen running to the near post. He lifted the ball into the danger zone, and the youngster controlled it on his chest before pivoting to unleash a ferocious volley over Paston’s despairing dive and into the top far corner of the net. A fabulous goal. Another soon followed from the All White marksman, seconds after Paston had brilliantly tipped away a twenty-five yarder from Hobson. Napier, attempting to clear from the resulting corner, lost possession to Cameron Miller just outside the area. He slipped the ball through for the unmarked Vikjoen to smash home into the far corner four minutes out from the interval - 5-3. And there could have been more goals before the break! Another riveting raid seconds later featured Woodhams, Hobson, Viljoen and Woodhams again. Across the ball flew to the far post, where Gray rose highest of all, only for Paston to deny him with another great save. In stoppage time, Martin blocked a Halford drive as Napier once more looked to breach Waitakere’s defences. The sound of the half-time whistle prevented them from doing so for another ten minutes at least, and offered players, officials and spectators - about 500 of them - alike, the chance to pause for breath at the end of forty-five helter-skelter minutes of free-flowing football. Surely it was too much to expect the players to produce a second spell which even began to approach the standard of play seen in the first? "We’ll do our darndest to oblige", seemed to be the collective response of the twenty-one individuals, as within three minutes, the scoreboard had altered again. It was probably the softest goal of the lot, too, with Hobson’s corner picking out Dawkins some twelve yards out from the line, and level with the far post. His header goalwards bounced ... and bounced again ... and bounced in by the far post, despite the numerous attempts of players from both sides to divert it from its chosen path. A three goal margin is normally a winning one for any side, and when Jorgenson rifled home Waitakere’s seventh of the day in the 55th minute, after Kane Lynch had released Gray down the left, you knew that the duck-egg which appeared under the ‘L’ column next to Napier City Rovers’ name was going to be replaced by a ‘1’ on the next league table! But Napier kept battling away, and Akers’ 62nd minute effort needed two attempts by Martin to keep it out. Two minutes later, the already outrageous scoreline changed once again in the home team’s favour. Lynch surged forward before conceding possession to Masi. The speedster careered around the prone body of Paston but left himself in a position where he was unable to direct the ball home. Gray duly obliged - 8-3. At this point, Waitakere’s groundsman, Tony Barnett, raced off to the woodshed to grab a hammer and nail, and made the appropriate alterations to the scoreboard. Had he not done so, and had the home team gone on to amass double figures, there would have been no hook upon which the ‘1’ could be hung!! Meantime, Gray missed a glorious chance to complete his hat-trick, blazing way over when scoring appeared the easier option as Paston, the last line of defence, advanced to cut down his options. The league leaders, despite the tale of the scoreboard, never once gave up, and when Ryan scooted through the over-eager City defence to do full justice to Halford’s measured through ball, a ‘4’ was hung up next to Napier’s name. Dawkins blocked a Ryan shot in the 76th minute, after the ‘Route One’ approach had been applied via Akers’ flick-on of a Paston clearance, while five minutes later, City had a man sent off - from the bench. Steve Cain’s excessive - and unnecessary - criticism of referee Rugg’s application of the Laws of the Game, as he booked promising City youngster Nicky Farac for a tackle from behind, saw the home team’s coach complete his observation of the match from the comfort of the carpark! Miller blocked a Cotton corner on the line, as Napier pressed for a fifth goal, and the rebound, headed goalwards by Che Bunce, was somehow kept out by Martin as the shadow of his left-hand upright loomed large in his line of sight! Back came Waitakere, with Liam Mulrooney weaving his wizardry on the right. He proved too good for Paul Calder, the young defender upending the City man in the penalty area. Gray took great pleasure in notching his third goal of the game, his second from the spot, to make it 9-4 to City. A game which you, quite simply, could not afford to take your eyes off, lest you miss something, had yet another couple of twists in it before the finish, both of which featured Akers. In the last minute, Cotton stole the ball off Farac, broke down the right and crossed for the striker. His diving header flashed just across the face of goal. But he was already on the scoresheet, having completed the scoring in this memorable encounter four minutes from time. It was a coolly taken goal, too, Martin completely bemused by Akers’ lobbed effort which sailed into the far corner of the net to give Napier five for the day. On any other afternoon, that would have been more than enough to clinch three points. But Waitakere have been threatening to go goal-crazy for a number of weeks now, and January 31, 1998, was the day that promise came to fruition. 9-5 - follow that! Waitakere:     Martin; Dawkins, Torrens, Lynch (booked, 12); Woodhams (booked, 36) (Mulrooney, 64), Jorgenson, Hobson, Masi (Farac, 75 (booked, 81)); Viljoen, Laus (Miller, 25), Gray. Napier:         Paston; Gilbertson (Oliver, 71), Rennie (sent-off, 15), Caton, Calder; Halford, Brown (Bunce, 46), Cotton, Christie (Batty, 78); Ryan, Akers (booked, 12) Referee:    Derek Rugg