A good no-nonsense no-frills win for the Blues in Auckland. The last time an Aussie team visited North Shore stadium they came away with a 3-0 win and so it continued yesterday.
Conroy and Moreira upfront for the Blues with Thompson and Jonesy on the bench. I think Conroy has been bought in for no other reason than to keep Jonesy on his toes and it'll be interesting to see what shape they both end up in come season's end.
Otherwise it was fairly predictable, with Atkinson moving to midfield and Deans coming in at the back.
The Kingz attack and defence looks reasonable, but their midfield will let them down big time. You cannot play Stergiopoulos as a playmaker in this league and expect to get away with it. And er, I thought Batty in goal was made of sterner stuff - that wasn't him surely.
Tricky muffed a golden chance early on, but Moreira scored 2 before half time. He turned in a low cross at the near post and then took his sweet time beating the keeper and slotting home following a long pass out of defence.
The Kingz had a penalty - Micallef was doing his best to ensure it would be a close game - but Jackson (I think) muffed it.
Marth scored after Moreira dribbled a player outside the box and sent in a lazy cross which was put in across goal. Not a particularly good goal at that either.
Douglas came off injured in what may be a recurrence of his calf injury and the look Conroy gave Jonesy after being subbed was 'interesting'
Next game at the new-look Olympic Park replete with Bier garten and standing area behind goals. Could be a good one.