Mr Fallon ‘not looking for wonders’

Press, 21 February 1986, Page 32

Mr Fallon ‘not looking for wonders’

By KEVIN PAGE Kevin Fallon, the Ail Whites soccer coach, gave his first team a day off yesterday before the third international with the Soviet Union at Queen Elizabeth II Park this evening.

He concentrated on giving his back-up players a solid workout in case they should be needed for tonight’s game, scheduled to kickoff at 6.30 p.m. Mr Fallon took the opportunity to have a gentle dig at tour organisers when he told last evening’s ' press conference the reason for giving the players a rest.

“The itinerary is too tough. Two games in three days is just too tough,” he said, adding that there were a few tired legs among his lineup. The Al! Whites tired noticeably in the second half of Wednesday’s match, drawn 1-1, after dominating the opening spell. Mr Fallon is hoping that the All Whites can maintain throughout tonight’s game the performance shown in the opening 45 minutes on Wednesday and the entire series to date. “Fm not looking for wonders. I just hope we

can maintain the level of progress , that we have shown so far,” he said. The only cause for concern at present, if indeed there is one, is the lack of penetration shown up front by the AU Whites’ strikers, Kevin Hagan and Greg Brown. The pressure now will go on these two to produce the goods, something they have found difficult to do in the first two games. Mr Fallon has several options open to him, but may opt to stick with this pair especially in the light of a better performance last Wednesday. On that occasion the pair

found a little more room against the strong Russian defence and it was Hagan who got up to flick on a Billy McClure floater for Malcolm Dunford to score.

McClure, who should be an obvious choice for Mr Fallon on the basis of ‘Wednesday’s performance, should find the wide-open spaces of QEII Park and the expected excellent ground conditions to his liking. His precision passing is likely to be a feature of the game, especially if there is little wind — quite the opposite of the swirling conditions at Wellington.

It will be interesting to see whether Mr Fallon elects to stay with the tried and true Richard Mulligan at full-back or opt for the newcomer, Brent O’Neill.

O’Neill impressed greatly in his . international debut on Wednesday but tied up badly as the game went into the second spell and was replaced by Mulligan. The expected Russian pace out wide in that spell was effectively countered by Mulligan who rarely looked in trouble. It is difficult to see Mr Fallon changing his lineup in any great form.

Dunford, Ceri Evans and Alan Boath can all be expected to hold their places while Kenny Cresswell, Steve Sumner, Grant Turner and McClure can look forward to another crack at the tourists.

Mr Fallon has brought two back-up players, Andy Deeley and Alan Stroud, of Christchurch, into the team as extra support

Tbe Russian team coach, Sergej Mosiagin, announced that all of his players were fit and available for selection. Neither side was expected to name its lineup until today.