Phoenix Horrible

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said he had made a mistake in watching the Wellingto Phoenix game against Adelaide in the hope pf gainimg managerial inspiration for the forthcoming Division 1 campaign. "The Phoenix lost 3 - 0 and were shocking" said Hall "and frankly I could have subbed on and made a bigger impact". Hall said the game showed the pressure of being a football manager and getting a team motivated. "I'm lucky really with Rovers that some of the players come naturally hyped up"said Hall "it doesn't usually take much to get a discussion going between me and George during a game, and he's lucky I don't usually understand a word of what he says in the heat of the moment". Hall said if the Phoenix neded a pre-match pep talk before their next match he'd be happy to send his Chairman down to say a few words. "I'm sure Goerge would put a bomb under them"" said Hall "they wouldn't want to come back to the dressing room having lost three nil that is for sure".

Moss Shocker

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall confirmed he was available for immediate call up after watching a shocking performance from Glen Moss as the Phoenix went down to Melbourne at the Ring of Fire. "They seemed to have a bit more water on the pitch than we do down at the Shed of Dreams and Moss made a few errors"said Hall "perhaps he needs to come down and watch Rovers and see what diving around on concrete feels like". Hall said that carpet on concrete was the perfect way to harden Moss up for the remaining A League fixtures. "What I find interesting about indoor keeping is that if you survive the fall onto the concrete floor then you forget about the carpet burns you get whilst doing it" explained Hall "and once in a while when you bend your finger back, you can at least have the joy of the carpet turning from red to green so you can see it". Hall said Rovers would welcome Moss coming down for a bit if toughening up. "We will give anone advice in this team"said Hall "no one is too big to be brought down to earth".

Rovers Outclassed

The return of Pete Roberts to the Rovers line up did not prevent a loss to Harp Shooters at the Shed of dreams. ""We have no excuses for this one"said Rovers Manager Steve Hall "we had a pretty strong line up out for the game, we had a lot of possession and territory, but we weren't good enough to put them away". Hall said Harp Shooters play a defensive quick break style that proved highly effective against Rovers. "We need a few more goals for all our efforts, but we tried to get too close and didn't shoot enough from distance" said Hall "perhaps Ben White would have made a difference but most likely it was the lack of a stable line up that is impacting on us the most". Hall said there was no doubt the teams at the bottom half of Division 1 had improved a lot over the second half of the season. "There are no easy game in Division 1 now"said Hall "we just got beaten by all the teams in the lower half after beating two of them in the first round".

Final: Rovers 3 Harp Shooters 6

Rovers Return

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall confirmed this afternoon that Pete Roberts would be one of several players to return for the rematch against Harp Shooters for the wooden spoon. "We've suddenly got Matty (pictured) and Pete back, and John, Eddie and Dan are all available"said Hall "so we probably have the strongest line up for some weeks". Hall said it wasn't exactly a case of revenge over Harp Shooters, he was treating it as a pre-season friendly. "Ok so it will be sweet if we can get one back over them and I assure everyone I'll be playing in goal" said Hall "but it is the grading games now that matter more and we need to win those to stay in Division 1 for next season". Hall said he was looking forward as well to the Phoenix game later today for inspiration. "I think you can get recharged watching a bit of football"said Hall "I've already watched three Premier League games and the highlights, so the world doesn't seem such a bleak place today".

Punished

"I don't want to talk about it" said Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall as Rovers were today whipped by Ten Left Feet. "We would go a long way to find a worse game than that" said Hall "we started brightly enough but we didn't build from the back very well and the distribution wasn't too flash". Hall said playing himself out field hadn't worked that well. ""I was a bit knackered from lack of recent outfield experience" said Hall "but I don't think I got a ball to feet from the back all day, so I appreciated that I need to get back into goal so that we can get some quality ball delivered up front". Hall said it was interesting that the defence thought the attacking was at fault. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion but as manager I know I'm right" said Hall "at the end of the day we need to get back to positions we know and I know this squad has it in them to beat Ten Left Feet again, but full credit today as they took us to the cleaners". Hall said he needed to rebuild the squad to ensure more depth was available. "I'll be taking a look at Robbie Keene (pictured)" said Hall "on the tele".

Final: Rovers 2 Ten Left Feet 10

Scraping For Left Feet

Zephyr Rovers Manager conceded this evening that Rovers wouldn't be launching a serious attempt to win the Division 1 plate. "We've won in before and unfortunately we've loss a bit of enthusiasm in recent weeks and will have to rebuild for next season" said Hall "we only have three squad players members available for the match against Ten Left Feet and we're even short of rings ins at this point". Hall said he decided to use the play offs as part of the pre-season build up and would try new players out as he identified potential new squad members. "Pete Roberts says he's only a week away from a come back" said Hall "but we're going to be hit with no recognised goal scorer this week and with Matty (pictured), George, John, Ben all out, I'm not giving us much of a chance". Hall said he would take the unusual step of playing outfield for the match. "I know I'm best at keeper because I can organise the team best from back there" said Hall "but these are desperate days so I'll give it a crack". Hall said it was a short term change as "the team will miss my distribution from the back". Hall said keeper was by no means as easy as it looked.

No Time To Revisit Goals

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall (pictured) rubbished media speculation that Rovers would review its ambition to be the best club in Wellington by 30 June 2030. "I've talked to the Chairman and we think it is a goal we can not only achieve, but which with better luck on the availability front we might have got close to this season" said Hall "we certainly learnt it is a squad game and you can't win the season with five or even seven players". Hall said Rovers had had a tough season with keeping consistent starting line ups. "We've been forced to blood new players and there is no doubt we could use a bit more goal scoring grunt right now"said Hall "Matty is currently taking too much on himself and he needs a foil to both take the heat off him as well as score a few goals themselves".
Hall said first class strikers with proven goal scoring records could approach the club and would be given a trial in the new season.

Close But No Cigar

Zephyr Rovers disappointingly bowed out of this seasons Division one semi-finals after a loss to lowly Harp Shooters. "We had the team to do the business but we didn't do it" said Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall "we had a really off day with our shooting and I think about seven shots went narrowly over the bar". Hall said with so many players having missed chunks of the season, it was hardly surprising that Rovers had a disjointed look to them for the match. "We needed support for Matty and with John just having come back from overseas, and the likes of Pete Roberts still out injured, we just didn't have the usual spring in our step". Rovers were 5 - 2 down before a late come back which almost saw a draw rescued. "We would have got through with one more goal so that is how fine a point it is" said Hall "there was so little in it in the end and we went out on goal differential which is bitterly disappointing". Hall said all that was left for the season it seemed was character building. "I don't mind admitting I hate losing" said Hall "and this was gutting in the circustances".

Phoenix Final

Zephyr Rovers Chairman George Nash (pictured) and Manager Steve Hall attended the final of the A League pre-season tournament at the stadium tonight. "We had a pre-match conference at the Thistle "said Nash "and of course we talked about our chance of taking three points of Harp Shooters to qualify for the finals". Rovers are looking short of players for the match but should be able to field five regulars. "We know Harp Shooters play a defensive formation"said Nash "they never seem to score many but they have a very solid defence who can frustrate you". Nash said he learnt little from the Phoenix match but was impressed by the penalty taking. "If Rangers ever need specialist penalty takers then these guys might get a game" said Nash "and of course I want to take the penalties for Rovers if we ever get one".

Cao Kid Returns

John Cao (pictured) will be back from his northern hemisphere trip for the game this Friday against Harp Shooters. "We'll have all of the contingent that went overseas back for this one" said Hall "but funnily a lot of the guys who played the middle part of the season won't be". Hall said that he was looking into permanent recruitment of new players but with a busy schedule he hadn't had time to do the usual scouting to see who was available on the market. Ï must admit I've watched a few lower league indoor teams and thought about flogging some of their players" said Hall "but usually we pick up players who are known already to the team". Hall said he wasn't that concerned how players arrived at the club. " If I get an e mail from the Internet to say someone wants a trial then we'll take a look at them for sure" said Hall "providing they have a track record that suggests they'll fit into the team and be able to play at Division 1 standard". Hall said a goal scorer had to be the priority. "We're pretty good defensively when we have our best line up"suggested Hall "but we need to get more goals in the net".