Phoenix Friday Night

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said this afternoon that he looked forward to making his own assessment of the Wellington Phoenix on Friday night at the stadium. "I know George says the standard of the league is about the same as his old pub team" said Hall "but I thought I'd go and have a look for myself as I've heard more positive reports from everyone else who went to the first match". Hall said it was important to study other teams even in the eleven a side game as they might give pointers to how the Rovers could improve their performance. "They have four Brazilians and I have an inkling if Rovers had four Brazilians we'd be likely to be going quite well right now" confessed Hall "so I'm thinking of asking George to practice his Brazilian skills this week to add a bit of flair to our midfield".

Quiet Week

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said today that there was no competition game for Rovers now for two weeks but a friendly game would occur next Monday in lieu of the scheduled match against Infinity who have pulled out of the competition. "I'll tell the boys to keep up their regular exercise schedule this week and hopefully they'll run for an hour or so every evening and keep in shape" said Hall "and the club will consider paying for lettuce leaf if anyone wants to go on a full time salad diet". Hall said the dangers of a lengthy lay off were well known to the club and in many way it was handy that the friendly game will be occurring next week. "We will have a chance to get out and have a run" said Hall "and we might even try a bit of experimentation like me playing in the outfield". Hall said he had no plans to bring in a ring in but if a Brazilian approached him by next Monday he might reconsider.

Rangers For Title

Zephyr Rover Chairman George Nash today installed Glasgow Rangers as firm favourites to win the Scottish title this year after their 3 - 0 demolition of Inverness. "I've taken a look at the rival teams for the league and done a close analysis of their squads" said Nash "and my calculations are telling me that there is daylight between Rangers and the next team, who might well be Inverness". Nash said Rangers had been unlucky in some recent seasons but should now be firmly back in control of Scottish football. "I'm think East Stirling could be a threat in about fifty years but I don't really see anyone else to challenge us in either Scotland, or for that matter Europe". Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said he thought it would be a one horse race but declined to say if Rangers were his pick for the horse.

Smith Tranmere Trial Doubts

Doubts were expressed today by anonymous web sources about the validity of Charlie Smith's claims to have had a professional trial with Tranmere Rovers. "We can find no record of Smith having had a trial with Tranmere either on the Tranmere web site or in the authoritative source for all web user Wikipedia" said the source "so we have come to the conclusion that if Smith had a trial at Tranmere it must have been in the kitchen". Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said he'd always taken Smith's claims at face value. "The lad scored a wonder goal for us once from almost on the edge of our own area" said Hall "so there were sporadic glimpses that he night have had a talent for the game when he was younger". Hall said he didn't see Smith making a late come back in the professional game but thought that if he returned to Wellington then Toitu Te Whenua would likely take a look at him.

Top Three In Run In

Zephyr Rovers will get the three points for turning up in their next match against Infinity who withdrew from the league after a 20 - 2 thrashing. But the final three games will be against the current top three. "We get to play run away leaders Mercer as well as the second and third teams so there will be no easy run in" said Hall "but at least we should be battle hardened for the semi-finals". Hall said it was still not out of the question that Rovers could make the top half of the league. "Eddie (pictured) will be back shortly and I expect he will be straight into the team in a defensive role" said Hall "and really a small change in fortunes could see us right back in the running for a top four spot". Hall said several other teams had already got their points for playing Infinity and this the next round saw the top teams playing each other. "The default alone should see us climb a few places" indicated Hall.

Mental Frailty

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said today the team was showing signs of mental frailty after another loss in Division 1. "At last count we had four hundred and two theories on how we could do better which was up four hundred on when we were winning in Division 3" indicated Hall "but the fact is it is a tough league and we're still adapting to the standard of the game". Hall said he hadn't seen club psychologist Liz O'Brien for some time and the club might need to look at signing a full time shrink to get over the post match trauma and on-going self analysis and navel gazing. "I guess I could go out and look at the transfer market as that is what Sir Alex would be doing" confessed Hall "but at this stage I think this team can go further but we'll also have to work at it". Hall said perhaps the recruitment focus should go on hiring the long vacant masseuse position. "The lads need to work off that stress after the matches" suggested Hall.

Close Encounter of the Losing Kind

Zephyr Rovers today put up a good fight today at the Shed of Dreams but eventually went down 7 - 5 after a controversial penalty put Harp Shooters in the box seat with a few minutes to go. "I certainly thought we had our deficiencies today at times defensively but this is a league where little mistakes get punished and we are still new at the game at this level" said Hall "and we don't seem to get much change from the referees even though we get fouled our fair share". Hall said Rovers had possession and territory for large parts of the match but got hit with the opposition pushing up quickly and losing their markers. "I have to say looking at it from between the sticks I had too many one on ones for my liking" said Hall "which suggests we still have a bit of work to do in that department". Rovers were also finding it harder to break down opposition defences and weren't scoring as many as in Division 3. "Matty (pictured) scored a few today and I don't think we're too far off the pace" said Hall "but we must keep learning and Division 1 is the place to get an education.

Final: Rovers 5 Harps 7