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".

Thumped

Zephyr Rovers were soundly beaten today by an in form Don Logan team at the Shed of Dreams. "We had two players on debut and George coming back from surgery" said Hall "but they turned out a strong team and simply took us to the cleaners". Hall made the rare move of bringing himself out into the outfield in the second half but the goals kept coming. Ï thought they played very well and would have been a handful for our best line up" said Hall "but the reality is you can't afford to debut two new players in the same game and expect to have team cohesion". Hall said with injuries and unavailability it was getting hard to maintain continuity. "You'd think a squad of ten for five starting positions would be enough"bemoaned Hall "but the reality this season is we needed more". Hall said the result meant a win in the last match would be needed to steer Rovers through to a semi-final. "We missed Matty and John today (both pictured)" said Hall "and even with themback we still need a Jamie like replacement to put some goals in".

Final: Rovers 5 Don Logan 13

Tough Road Ahead

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said today that one more win should see Rovers through to the final but warned that notwithstanding Rovers had beaten Harp Shooters and Don Logan in the first round, both teams were tough opponents. "We won't be able to sleep walk to the finals, Don Logan has been in good form and Harp Shooters tend to play a defensive pattern and can be very hard to break down". Hall said Rovers were particularly short for this weeks fixture against Don Logan. "It is starting to look like we'll have to bring in two or three new players and we've lost all our recognised strikers for this one so it will be a hard ask". Hall said the departure of Jamie Johnstone and the absence of Matty Cantwell (pictured) might make goals hard to come by. "We may have to play it very tight and hope we can sneak it 4 -3"confessed Hall "but we won't know how our new players will fit in so that is the great unknown".

Bellies Down

Zephyr Rovers sent of Jamie Johnston today in style by beating Jimmie Five Bellies at the Shed of Dreams. "We had six for this match and it was one of our stronger line ups of recent times" said Hall ""only problem for Jimmies was that they were up against it because they only had four players". Hal said if it was difficult to play against ten players in eleven aside then it wasn't that easy to break down four players in five aside. Understandably they played deep in their half and tried to get breaks to score against us"said Hall "and whilst we looked comfortable for the whole match we couldn't break them down that easily so a big score was never going to eventuate". Hall said it was only at the end that Rovers slackened off and gave Jimmies a few cheap goals. "This result puts us firmly in second place"said Hall "but you could see enough to know we have to find another level to be competitive in a semi-final or final against them". Hall said Eddie Hussey would be back in the country next week and it was a case of goodye Jamie and hello Eddie. "An Irishman for a Scotsman" chuckled Hall "I'm not sure if that is a good deal or not".

Final: Rovers 10 Jimmies 5

Back Home Laddie

Zephyr Rovers Chairman George Nash (pictured) and Manager Steve Hall attended a farewell function for Jamie Johnston last evening. "Jamie has been a good servant to Rovers and whilst we were hoping he'd be around for another thirty years or so, we understand that family comes first and Jamie needs to return home at this point" said Nash "I understand this all too well and we wish Jamie well and hope he will return to the Rovers fold should he return to New Zealand further down the track". Manager Hall said it was unusual to be drinking before a big match so whilst he had appeared to have been drinking beer, he had in fact not swallowed. "Not everyone can make a drink disappear without drinking it"said Hall "but with a big game coming up I knew we had to go to the function and give the appearance of enjoying ourselves" said Hall and I was particularly impressed with Jamie who really did look like he was drinking that scotch, it certainly fooled me". Hall denied media speculation that he had booked a seat for Nash on the same flight.

Fire In Their Bellies

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said Zephyr Rovers would have to play with "fire in their bellies"" if they were to get a result against Jimmy Five Bellies. Ï don't think there is much doubt that when these guys play their strongest line up they are the class act of the division" said Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall "they are the team that we measure ourselves against in our desire to win this league by 2030". Hall said whilst he acknowledged that Rovers had the opportunity to consolidate second place if they could win the match, he knew that this match would be a chance to have a peak at possibly the strongest team in the league. "We know Els Gaye is currently top but that won't mean a thing at semi-final time"said Hall "we know these guys have the fire power and fortunately this week we'll have a good line up out to test them". Hall said Matty Cantwell (pictured) would be forming a potent strike force with Jamie Johnston who would be playing his last match for the Rovers before returning to Scotland.