A day that started off badly for Auckland Football Kingz when their flight out of New Zealand had to turn back because of a faulty door, ended in triumph when they hit the ground running at their meeting with South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday. Kingz raced to a stunning two-goal lead before the quarter-hour, then held off a pressing South Melbourne to emerge 3-1 victors.
Kingz' third goal, coming at a time when the game could have gone either way, was highly controversial, and effectively put an end to South's chances of garnering even a single point from the match.
Kingz assistant coach Shane Rufer said his team's day had started at 3:00am Melbourne time, but their preparations were so adversely affected that the players were getting clothed and bandaged in the bus on the way into Bob Jane.
"We had our team-talk on the bus on our way to the game players were getting strapped, and there were a couple of injections, all that kind of carry-on.
"It's not an optimal preparation," he said, clearly a master of understatement.
You wouldn't have known it such was their whirlwind start. Kingz' first attack after just three minutes earnt a corner which was whipped in by Lee Jones into a crowded six-yard box. Riki van Steeden rose highest to head it past South keeper Chris Jones with a forest of players unable to block it from crossing the line. Kingz were being favoured by a strong wind which bent the ball on its way in, and the tall South defenders failed to deal with it.
Ten minutes later, Kingz extended their lead. Marcus Stergiopoulos made ground up the left wing then sent in a far-post cross to an unmarked Jones who had time to head back across goal to where Aaron Silva - himself only marked if using the loosest of definitions - was able to head past the now stranded Jones.
This was not the start South were planning on.
"We made things hard for ourselves by conceding two goals so early," said South coach Ange Postecoglou after the game. "We put some pressure on them, we had some chances, but the third goal obviously killed that off."
But the two-goal lead was due reward for Kingz' approach to the game, and stung the South players into action. Goran Lozanovski and Andy Vlahos were South's prime-movers down the wings. Lozanovski crossed for Robert Liparoti from the left only for Liparoti's header to go narrowly wide, but it was Andy Vlahos on the right who brought South back into the match after the half-hour.
Vlahos stole down the left, making ground and cutting in to reach the corner of the Kingz penalty-area before letting loose a left foot shot low past Kingz' keeper Mike Utting.
Seven minutes later, Lozanovski combined with Jim Tsekinis down the right with Tsekinis sending in a cross to Vaughan Coveny at the near post. Coveny's shot was going in but for a goal-line clearance from Van Steeden.
It was not a game for the faint of heart - both teams were committing serious resources to their attacking moves, creating an open and well-balanced match.
There were interesting one-on-one battles across the park - none more keenly fought than the duel between Lozanovski and Stergiopoulos directly in front of the grandstand for the first-half, and bringing all the elements of a Victorian-era melodrama to the more excitable of its inhabitants. Stergiopoulos and Lozanovski took it in turns to be the aggressor and the aggrieved, but finally it was Lozanovski who wore the patience of referee Mathew Breeze overly thin, earning himself a caution just before the end of the half after felling Stergiopoulos who would otherwise have raced clear.
Veteran Kingz striker Fred de Jong and Liparoti were also waging a personal battle within the wider contest, but although there was less fire, there was no less endeavour.
John Anastasiadis thought he'd netted the equaliser midway through the second half, but he'd been flagged for an earlier offside in the move involving a through-ball played to Coveny. For his protests he was cautioned. A few minutes later he had a headed opportunity, but found it safely gathered by Utting.
But South's pressure was to no avail, and Kingz extended the lead with their controversial third after 73 minutes. Kingz captain Harry Ngata scored into the top corner from close in after a move that seemed to have a double offence. Firstly, as hard-working midfielder Ivan Vicelich played Ngata through, it seemed that Ngata was a metre offside and now facing only Jones. Jones came out to close him down, got a hand to the ball, but it fell again to Ngata whose arm appeared to touch it before he blasted home.
"I'm not going to talk about referees," said a manifestly disheartened Postecoglou after the game.
"It happened quite quickly, it's something to look at again," said Rufer. "But the ball's in the back of the net and the referee's given the goal."
The South players surrounded Breeze in a vain attempt to have the goal disallowed, and the less mature of the home support disgraced the club by throwing bottles onto the pitch. The resultant stoppage provided the significant component of the seven minutes added time beyond the regulation ninety.
But whether it was seven or another seventy, South seemed unable to claw their way back into the game, such was Kingz' approach to the match. Anastasiadis had an opportunity as he sped through well into added time, but his shot from the edge of the penalty-area sailed high over Utting's cross-bar.
The Kingz' flight problems meant a game that was originally due to kick off at 6:00pm was postponed until 8:00pm, as their rescheduled landing wasn't due at distant Melbourne airport until 5:45pm. Special customs arrangements meant that the Kingz party were whisked through the channel normally reserved for flight crew, but even then their bus didn't reach the ground until after 7:35pm. As a consequence, the delayed kick-off was further delayed, with the game not finally getting underway until 8:15pm.
South Melbourne also had their troubles, fielding a line-up which taxed the fans' ability to recognise all the players in the fourteen. Suspensions of Michael Curcija and Steve Iosofidis, the Socceroo absence of Con Blatsis who made a return to South America sooner than he might have guessed, and continued injury absence to captain Paul Trimboli, defender Fausto De Amicis, and midfield dynamo David Clarkson, meant six first-team regulars were missing. Their absences gave opportunities to Ritchie Alagich as a starter, and Anthony Magnacca, Adrian Cuzzupe, and Rade Culibrk on the bench.
"It just seems like an excuse (to blame the loss on the absence of half his side), so I'm not going to make any. We weren't good enough, so we lost," said Postecoglou. "I thought we put a team out there good enough to win it. Auckland deserve the credit."
"I thought the Kingz showed good character," said Rufer. "Things had been quite disrupted players' wages, and a new sponsor coming in buying eighty percent of the club.
"We can match teams physically, and now we've got a bit of self-belief that we can play away from home and win. That will all come from playing in this league and playing more games," he said.