Young Takapuna side pick up points after poor start

Takapuna Football Club’s Northern League side secured their first points of the season with back-to-back draws after a five-game losing run to start the season.

Despite last weekend’s loss to Auckland City, draws against Manukau United and Manurewa AFC in previous weeks have Takapuna close to climbing out of the relegation zone.

Head coach Chris Milicich said going without a win or draw in their first five games had started to put pressure on the team to play more defensively to secure points.

A 90th-minute equaliser from Manukau United two weeks ago for a 2-2 result was disappointing for the yellow-and-blues, but securing a point was still a positive, he said. That came after a 0-0 draw with Manurewa.

To most recently be beaten by top-of-thetable Auckland City, 4-0, was a blow, but not unexpected.

With a young team, Milicich says the goal is to build throughout the season. Five of the starting line-up are 20 or under and the oldest player is only 28. Last season’s squad fielded many over-30s as starters.

The move to incorporate more young players is part of a bigger goal throughout the club to improve long-term and become a regular top-division side.

Milicich said the poor results to start the season were due to a mix of bad luck and inexperience.

Manukau’s equaliser was the second 90th-minute goal to cost the club points this season.

He said although the young players are talented, not having the experience to stay calm and make the right decisions in key moments is why their performances haven’t translated into results.

“You can’t ever underestimate experience and knowledge.”

Milicich said the results don’t speak for the quality of the side and that with the performances he’s seeing the team could definitely be fighting for a top-six place by the end of the season.

“The players have fully embraced what we’re doing and they know if we keep working hard and keep grinding eventually things will go in our favour.”

The club doesn’t have a huge number of juniors paying fees or a big coaching staff to attract top talent so has to think differently to achieve success, said Milicich.

“The club has embraced its boutique mentality of doing the best with what we’ve got and to do it differently from everyone else.”

Twelfth-placed Takapuna host 11thplaced Bay Olympic in a vital six-pointer this Saturday.

A win would see the side lifted out of last place, giving them a two-point margin over Olympic.