Slick City stick it to Tasman
Richard Anderson wants his team to be hard to beat.
So, naturally, when the Tasman United coach watches his team lose 4-0, his emotion is one of disappointment.
However, when the opposition is six-time Stirling Sports Premiership champions Auckland City - a team that dismantled the defending champions Team Wellington by the same scoreline the week prior - the fact that Tasman were beat was certainly no shock, perhaps even to a man who sets out to win every game and sets those high standards.
Anderson hopes Tasman do not experience another scoreline like that, unless of course they are on the winning end.
But he still felt like Tasman could have done a better job of stemming the flow of goals at Kiwitea St on Saturday as Auckland made relatively light work of the premiership newcomers in round two.
‘‘It was the manner of the goals I was disappointed with,’’ he said after the game.
‘‘The scoreline for us was a little bit sour because it didn’t feel like a 4-0 game. We were disappointed that the goals we conceded were soft goals, avoidable goals and by the same token it’s disappointing that we didn’t go up before we were 1-0 down.’’
Instead it was Auckland that opened the scoring through Emiliano Tade on the six minute mark before Ryan De Vries doubled the advantage 17 minutes later as the hosts took full control of the game.
Joao Moreira stepped up to take a first half penalty when Alfie Rogers was brought down in the box but the usually clinical Portuguese striker missed the target and therefore was unable to extend the lead.
But it didn’t take long for Auckland to kill the game off in the second half, Darren White knocking Fabrizio Tavano’s corner kick past goalkeeper Coey Turipa to make it 3-0 after 58 minutes.
Moreira then made up for his penalty miss by scoring the team’s fourth when Tasman were reduced to just 10 players, 18-year-old centre-back Bertie Fish sent off for his second bookable offence.
Tasman’s tactic was to punish Auckland on the counter attack and at set-pieces, and although they earned numerous freekicks and corner kicks, Anderson felt like they did not capitalise enough in that area.
‘‘I don’t think we were as efficient and as clinical as we would have liked at the set-pieces. It was literally that final contact that was missing and not getting a good enough connection on the ball when it was required.’’
He said Fish ‘‘should feel lightly aggrieved’’ to have been sent off, suggesting both yellow cards were soft.
Anderson made a range of alterations to the starting 11 for Saturday’s game, Turipa coming in for Tom Fawdry after missing their 2-2 draw with Canterbury United due to injury, and James Hoyt replacing Ifill. Turipa had a busy afternoon while Hoyt looked lively down the wing.
Tasman will now look ahead to their third consecutive away game, but one that is very much a winnable fixture, facing the Wellington Phoenix reserves at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.