Taranaki Triple Against Wellington

Western Sydney (Road) Warriors

yeah!!

Have to say we didn't look like we missed Mitch....He may struggle to get back in the starting 11.

#grandfinal

Santa Hat trick*, Nico masterclass....Antonios...Smeltz the smartarse sent...great result

Only minor criticism would be that clearly Santa is the man to lead us forward - why run him till the 87th minute?

* Hat Trick = 2 + 1 due to blind incompetent *****

The whole team came out to play today great performance bar the penalty conceded. Must win against Mariners to stay in the 6

Great performance!!  Deserved win.

But Mack - What was it that Santa positively smash??  You left us hanging.

Jumpei is still less than satisfactory at this level. 

Unfortunately I had to listen to ABC grandstand. One guy sounded like Derryn Hinch (who was actually born in New Plymouth). The other sounded like comedian Bob Franklin. They were terrible...........

There was a fluidity, pace and determination about our play today that I have not seen before this season. Just interesting that Mitch did not play. Perhaps his involvement would have seen play slow down more than it did without him.

Antonis will develop into a key player for us. His all-round ability to play deep, tackle and build, but also break with pace through the lines as he did today, will be a major benefit as this season's fixtures became more crucial and congested. Santa put in a huge shift, and was great. Any player who scores 2 out of 3, sets up the 3rd and has one wrongfully disallowed, deserves every plaudit he can be given. Even Baccus was generally very good in hounding, as well as twisting and turning out of defence.

I still think we have not approached the acquisition of a goal-scoring striker in the right way, for a club with significant membership and grand short to mid-term aspirations. e.g. The PR value and financial benefit of a quality and big-name signing prior to the ANZ Debt would have paid back a fair slice of any outlay.

A thorough critical review of player recruitment and retention needs to be undertaken so that next season we do not have the slow and difficult start of this one.

Still, nobody will be complaining if we win every game 3-1 and play as we did in NZ.

we won

#killthenix

Just to get the terrible broadcast team out, no respect for opposition teams, we are not "Sydney".

Never been to New Plymouth, and I love it.

Popa out, naturally.

We needed that. Feel for Mitch but midfield with Antonis starting carried a much more direct threat.

What happened during the week hurt the whole team.....From the 1st min you could tell they were playing for pride and their coach.

We were helped out by some atrocious defending from Wellington. Moss got beaten at the near post once, first goal he should've saved, the santalab 2nd goal came from a nix player tangling themselves.

What happened during the week hurt the whole team

apart from Dimas

Very solid game. Always sitting on the edge of my seat even with a 3-0 lead lmao.

Not getting my hopes up just yet. We got excited after beating Adelaide, Mariners and the Jets but collapsed the following weeks against good opposition.

Next week is a must win to carry momentum into the derby and to show it's not just another one off against poor opposition.

Consistency is key.

Good shift by all of them really. Hamill is not up to playing right back. Made Barbarouses look great. (Barbs didn't penetrate as easily matched against Clisby).

Good result. Let's scrape something from this season.

Loved Sotirio when toward the end he looked part of the Mundine fight and shrugged it off getting on with it. Unlike Ballerina Berisha who would have swum on grass like a dying fish. When in Wellington last season called Foxtel to complain we were advertised as the Sydney Wanderers and they changed the ads to WSW. Would rather be 'that Australian club' than Sydney Wanderers anytime

Antonis made all the difference tonight, along with a reliable Santa and silky Martinez. Also good games from Clisby and Baccus. We finally looked more threatening in attack and defence was solid even after we went up 3-0. Penalty decision was ridiculous, as was the offside decision for what should have been our first goal.

Decisions still going against us, but we still overcame it to win.

Yep, should've been 4-0. Nix weren't great but we did the job.

What a win! The best we've played all season. So much more positive football. Watched it in the pub with a few fellow forumites. Great company and a win. Life is good

Roll on next sunday....keep the good performance going lads

What a win! The best we've played all season. So much more positive football. Watched it in the pub with a few fellow forumites. Great company and a win. Life is good

Roll on next sunday....keep the good performance going lads

Game at 5.00pm on Sunday afternoon.

Good for the kids plus we are playing the Mariners.

That would be great Paul. Big crowd and keep the momentum going

That would be great Paul. Big crowd and keep the momentum going

That would be great but forecast weather models are suggesting another severe heatwave next weekend with temps in the 40's again. Could keep a few away. Particularly the soft cock portion of our support. I'll be there regardless.

Season-best movement in front of ball and a confident Baccus was the difference. Nothing but love for Mitch, but he hides at times (as used to Dario). Antonis was always giving the 6 and 8 a good option and that gave Nico and the overlapping FBs far more space than we've seen in a while.

I was pretty nervous when Bruno came on but he did well. GG WSW

NO RE

EZI PZI

I have to agree about Bacchus. He is turning into our new Andreu. He is really cool on the ball, although he is still inclined to make the odd error.

Nico was masterclass. As per usual.

We have to do everything we can to keep this guy.

As I said earlier in the match day thread, Jumpei is a waste of space. He needs to be cut loose. If he was an Aussie, he would have been bashed from fans by now from pillar to post. Honestly, he offers nothing.

The rest of the team performed admirably. I don't subscribe to the theory that Mitch Nicholls will have a battle to make the team again. He has been our rock this season. I'm glad he was rested, and the way we played tonight he may very well himself have carved up. Small rotations are good. The rest will be a benefit for him. ACL coming up so there will be more of this.

Good to see that Popa gave Bruno a short run again tonight. He may end up being invaluable come ACL time.

Finally, and one small negative..........I wish Cornflakes would stop putting long balls through. Seriously, he has no idea and they always end up in No Man's Land.

Highly competent performance by all he ran on the ground at NP today. Hardly redemption for our slow start this season but with 7 points out of 12 available in the last four games maybe the corner has been turned.

Good post wanderboy.

RE: baccus

Big deal that popa took Dimas off - usual sub was baccus. He is seeing his huge improvement too.

He and cornflakes have been the keys to the recent turnaround.

Extend his contract *****!