There was only a goal in it, the premiers getting home 4-3.

That was the tale of the game with never more than two goals in it.

And that lasted only about three minutes.

Workies struck first and early.

Kiwis hit back to make it 1-all after 10 minutes, and could have easily gone ahead 2-1, but as was a common theme, after getting in behind the Workies defence they couldn’t convert. As they can do, Workies went straight up the other end and scored. Isaac Farmilo then showed some great individual skill to make it 3-1 with four to go in the first half.

Kiwis literally dragged a goal back on half-time with Workies keeper Jason Watt powerless to stop captain-coach Josh Worpel corner drag-flick.

Dylan McClelland then flicked the ball, on his backstick, over Watt’s head to level the scores again 10 minutes into the second half.

Both sides had their opportunities to break the deadlock, Workies eventually putting one away with Sean Aslin tapping the ball in on the right post after a long ball had found Ehren Hazell in a bit of space.

Workies coach Andrew Farmilo thought they played well in patches.

“But I think we got 3-1 up and we wanted to score too quickly instead of building the play up,” he said.

“We started going one out.”

When they do that it’s much easier for the opposition to break the play down.

Conversely when they shift the ball quickly they are hard to contain.

Two of their goals came from about eight passes, something Farmilo made a point of to them after the game.

They didn’t help themselves with some sloppy play coming out of defence.

“We made some stupid passes,” he said. “We gave them some good possession in good position.”

He thought they channelled well.

“We pushed them wide well”.

“They didn’t get a lot of clean shots on goal,” he said.

Watt was fantastic in goals. Toby Whitten also had a big game.

Despite the result Worpel was enthused by what he saw.

“After that I’m excited for the season,” he said.

It’s the best they’ve played in the first game for a while.

“There’s a lot of good signs,” Worpel said. “Again we were really good defensively, especially against a side that has players like Isaac (Farmilo).”

There was also a good fluidity to their attack, with Harry Lewin proving a handful for the Workies defence up front.

He was awesome for them, Worpel said.

Luke Wilson was their players’ player and did a good job in the midfield.

He’s one of three, along with McClelland and Jack Watson, set to play a more prominent role in first grade this season.

Earlier Tudor West were too strong for Souths United accounting for them 8-1.