United coach rankled by defeat against Triumph - PDG

BY RYAN DIXON
Wednesday August 10, 2005

SOUTHPORT — Southport United didn’t have much to offer last night. Just ask its coach.“We lacked aggression, we lacked confidence, we lacked cohesiveness. We lacked a lot of things,” seethed United boss Karl Seidlitz in describing his team’s 5-1 loss to Winnipeg Triumph during Manitoba Major Soccer League Fourth Division action last night at Southport Recrea-tion Centre.His players may have come up short, but Seidlitz was nowhere near running out of fiery displeasure in recounting his view of the match.“I was embarrassed by that display. The execution was pathetic,” he fumed.“I’m so disappointed and embarrassed. I am very embarrassed. I expected 10 times more effort than that.”Southport (0-9-3) started giving its coach cause for concern very early on, as Winnipeg’s Tim Fulton (first of the season) put the visitors up 1-0 with a goal roughly 10 minutes into the game.“We just self-destructed,” Seidlitz stated. “We let in one bad goal in the beginning of the game … and they just fell apart.”Triumph sniper Ryan McLean was the biggest beneficiary of United’s demise, as he proceeded to rack up a natural hat trick to provide Winnipeg (7-5) with a 4-0 lead at halftime.“I was just getting open and they were getting me the ball,” said McLean, who now has nine goals this year.The first of McLean’s strikes was indicative of Southport’s lazy approach to defence, as he was untouched while weaving through a swarm of United defenders before putting the ball past a helpless Cory Thiessen.The Southport keeper certainly did everything he could to stop the bleeding last night, including stonewalling the Triumph’s Morgan Proven on a penalty kick midway through the first half.McLean’s second goal of the frame came only after Thiessen made two point-blank stops, but failed to get any support from his teammates when it came to clearing the juicy rebounds.Munna Zaman became just the third Southport player to find the net this season, as he scored his first goal of the year late in the second half, before Winni-peg’s Trent Skatch (first) added his club’s final tally.While United played a tighter defensive game over the final frame, the team’s inability to move the ball briskly to its forwards limited the amount of offensive chances Southport could generate.“It looks on paper like our midfield has all the skill and speed that it needs,” noted United captain Glenn McCulloch.“But then when we play a game (we’re) too indecisive, and when we do get the ball, we just kick it away, put long balls through to nobody. It just seems to be right up through the middle.”Under normal conditions, relegation to Fifth Division would be a virtual lock for Southport, but extenuating circumstances may yet prevent the team’s demotion.Boni Vital Inferno, the only club Southport has beaten this season, has disbanded, meaning one Fourth Division club has already been chopped. Because Boni Vital has folded, any victories earned against the Inferno by other Fourth Division clubs, including Southport, have been revoked. Squads do get to count any goals scored against Boni Vital for a possible goals-for-and-against tie-breaking scenario.Meanwhile, a second Fourth Division club may be expelled from MMSL, as sixth-place Sudan-Nile (5-1-1) has been temporarily suspended after three of its players attacked a referee.The league is currently deciding whether it will banish the entire club, or just the guilty players.If MMSL opts to kick Sudan-Nile out of the league, Southport is safe from relegation because no more than two clubs can be demoted in a given year.However, if the league suspends only the players, United will have to turn its ship around in a hurry if it wants to remain in Fourth Division.Presently, Southport occupies last place in the division with three points, one less than Reservoir Dogs, which holds four games in hand on United.“My feelings on it are that we just aren’t ready mentally and we have to find a way to fix that because we’re basically running out of time,” said Seidlitz.“We almost have run out of time now.”Southport will try to straighten things out in its next match versus Colo Colo in Winnipeg on Monday.The squad then returns home for another key tilt against the Rangers on Aug. 18 in Southport beginning at 7 p.m.