Dragons draw a headache for champions

By Bob Pearce at Douglas Field
nzfc.co.nz

Waitakere ears were ringing after their 1-1 home draw with bottom-placed Canterbury United at Douglas Field on Saturday.

Coach Chris Milicich stalked across the field to the dressing room and gave his team a piece of his mind after they had wasted a 1-0 halftime lead with a second-half performance that was the worst possible rehearsal for their World Club Cup campaign next week.

“I felt our second-half performance was a disgrace. We just let people walk past us. The first half we dominated and should have put three or four past them. I don’t care that we’ve had three tough games in a week. You’ve got to defend properly.”

“Nobody will miss out on the trip to Tokyo but some of them won’t be playing. I just don’t trust them.”

It was no consolation that YoungHeart Manawatu and Auckland City also lost as Milicich counted the game as two points thrown away. In fact, he was somewhat lucky to be ruing the loss of two points as it could have easily been three after Waitakere’s dismal second spell.

Canterbury had a string of reasonable chances that they couldn’t convert, with striker Michael Fifii hard to contain but wayward in his shooting. With a brisk breeze behind them in the first half Waitakere began much as they finished in their defeat of Auckland City midweek.

Canterbury were bunched in defence and offered little in attack. It was no surprise when after 13 minutes  Benjamin Totori played a one-two with Daniel Koprivcic, rounded a defender and stroked the ball into the net. There were more chances for the home team as Adriano Pimenta at last began to show some of his Brazilian reputation. But there were also worrying signs for Waitakere as the defence failed to clear a couple of promising Canterbury attacks and penalty box pinball could have produced a goal against the run of play.

Canterbury seemed to take heart from holding the champions at bay and they were the ones who made the running in the second half. Tom Lancaster shot just wide in the 67th minute and three minutes later the Southerners were level. Goalie Richard Gillespie, hero of the win on Wednesday, failed to hold a shot and Gareth Turnbull was presented with the simplest of headers.

Fifii three times used his speed to split the Waitakere defence but he couldn’t find the shot that would have deservedly won the match.

Right at the death a wild kick by Gillespie fortunately fell safely when it could well have been very costly.

“I think we could be the more disappointed of the two sides,” said.

Canterbury coach Korouch Monsef. “We were good value today. I was expecting we’d be more under the gun than we were.”Michael Fifii plays very much off the cuff and he can be a real handful. It was a pity he didn’t bring his finishing game.”