36 — Sunday Territorian, Sunday, January 10, 2010 www.sundayterritorian.com.au

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SOCCER

Is this Padres' new bossBy ANDREW ALOIA

THE man who inspiredEverton to FA Cup success in1966 is poised to take the reinsof one of Darwin’s top-flightsoccer sides.

Mike Trebilcock (pictured),whose two goals in four minutesoverturned the deficit againstSheffield Wednesday and set upone of the Toffees’ greatest wins,has applied to coach NorthernZone Soccer minnows Mindil

Padres. The Padres confirmedyesterday that they had metwith the 65-year-old, but said nocommitment to appoint him hadbeen made.

But Trebilcock has his plannedreturn to men’s premier leagueduties mapped out.

‘‘Well I know the boys are start-ing fitness training next week, Ihope to get involved soon after,’’he said.

The Gunnislake-born Cornishgreat has spent the past threeyears coaching Nakara Azzurri inthe women’s premier league, es-

tablishing the sideas competitioncontenders. Hislast men’s premierleague job waswith Hellenic morethan a decade ago.

It was coachingt h a t b r o u g h t

Trebilcock to the NT in the firstplace, taking the job as DarwinCubs boss when the side competedin Singapore in the mid-1990s.

His tenure was short-lived,criticised in some quarters for

being too hard a taskmaster.And it is not something

Trebilcock denies.In fact, he acknowledges it as the

biggest asset.‘‘I don’t muck about when it

comes to football,’’ he said.‘‘The first thing I’ll say when I

get any job is that I’m a bastardand if they can’t put up with thatthere is no use going any further.’’

While Trebilcock may be strict,he believes great things could beachieved at Mindil.

And his grand plan is to nurturethe club’s juniors and showcase

them in England. Already he hasthe support staff in place withseasoned professional andhighly sought-after youth coachMichael Kathopoulis expected tojoin his mentor.

‘‘The best thing about Mindil isthe junior base they have,’’Trebilcock said.

‘‘The plan is to get the clubs best10 and 11-year-olds and work hardwith them for three years and atthe end, take them over to Eng-land and try to get them a shot atmaking it over there.’’

Premier League games are put on ice

FROSTY: Snow outside Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium

LONDON: Britain’s deep freeze hasdisrupted the weekend PremierLeague program with four matchescalled off by clubs concerned aboutsafety surrounding stadiums.

Three matches scheduled for todayat opposite ends of the country —Fulham against Portsmouth in Lon-don, Burnley versus Stoke in thenorthwest and Sunderland againstBolton in the northeast — have beenpostponed. Liverpool’s match againstTottenham on Monday was called offbecause of icy conditions on the roadsoutside Anfield.

‘‘An assessment of both the prevail-

ing conditions and the weather fore-cast for the next 48 hours has beenmade in arriving at the decision to calloff the match,’’ Liverpool said.

While most fields are playable, thereis widespread disruption on the rail-ways and roads.

But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger isunhappy at the extreme caution beingexercised by clubs.

‘‘It is the price we pay for living in asociety where everybody wants 100percent security,’’ Wenger said. ‘‘No-body accepts any risk any more andeverybody is always guided by fear.’’

The other Premier League matches

to survive the weather are this morn-ing’s Birmingham v ManchesterUnited, Hull v Chelsea and Wigan vAston Villa; West Ham v Wolver-hampton tonight; and ManchesterCity v Blackburn on Tuesday.

Six out of the 10 League Champion-ship matches have also fallen victim tothe country’s coldest spell for morethan 30 years.

The freezing conditions have alsowreaked havoc on the fourth round ofthe Scottish Cup, with the majority ofthe 16 matches called off.

Horse racing in Britain has alsobeen affected.

Imports toboost Jetsand VictorySYDNEY: Newcastle andMelbourne are both set to bebolstered by classy importsf o r t h e i r i m p o r t a n tA - L e a g u e c l a s h a tE n e r g y A u s t r a l i aStadium today.

Second placed Melbourneare poised to finally giveMarvin Angulo his debutafter delays over his paper-work, while their otherCosta Rican internationalm i d f i e l d e r C a r l o sHernandez will return frominjury. The Jets are likely tostart English strikerMichael Bridges, who hasmissed their last four gameswith a hamstring injury.

He came through Newcas-tle’s final pre-match train-ing session yesterday with-out any problem. Jets coachBranko Culina is confidenthis team can bounce backfrom their 4-0 last rounddrubbing away to Perth.

INSTANT IMPACT: Phoenix newcomer Eugene Dadi scored two goals yesteday, his first came from thisspectacular bicycle kick against Brisbane Roar. Picture: MARTY MELVILLE/GETTY IMAGES

Veterangifts newclub a winWELLINGTON: Thirty-six-year-old club debutant Eugene Dadistruck twice to help Wellingtonbury a bogey and continue Bris-bane’s spiralling A-League seasonin a 3-1 win yesterday.

Dadi’s first was a contender forgoal of the season as the Phoenixachieved its first win over the Roarin nine meetings and extended anunbeaten record in Wellingtonwhich dates back to October 2008.

The loss did little to calm theturmoil at Brisbane after the de-partures of several big names inrecent weeks, including newPhoenix ’keeper Liam Reddy.

Wellington got home thanks to afirst-half header from Tim Brownand a brace after the break toimpressive newcomer Dadi, thefirst from a spectacular bicycle kick.

While Brown nodded home inregulation fashion in the 26th min-ute, there was nothing run-of-the-mill about Dadi’s first goal for hisnew club.

Recruited this week from PerthGlory, who no longer required hisservices, he showed the flexibilitymore common in men half his ageto unleash a perfectly struck over-head strike into the back of the net.

He added his second six minuteslater in the 62nd minute, the formerIvory Coast international this timeshowing a sure touch with his leftfoot after Paul Ifill delivered a goodball off a cross from Leo Bertos.

Dadi then looked to turn providerwhen his skill on the ball enabledhim to set up Brown in the 77thminute but the New Zealand inter-national’s attempted strike flewhigh and wide of its target.

Sergio Van Dijk deprived Well-ington the satisfaction of a cleansheet when he beat Reddy with acrisp strike in the 88th minute,small consolation for a Brisbaneoutfit badly beaten on the night.

The result lifted Wellington to 28points and into fourth place,squeaking past Newcastle ongoal difference and two pointsabove Perth.

The Glory play league leadersSydney FC today when the Jetsface second-placed Melbourne.

WELLINGTON PHOENIX 3 (Tim Brown 26m,Eugene Dadi 55m, 62m) d BRISBANE ROAR 1

(Serginho van Dijk 88m) at Westpac Stadium. Crowd:8927. Referee: Peter O’Leary.

Mariners,Fury goto a drawGOSFORD: Central Coastended their losing streakbut increased the frus-tration of their supporterswith a 1-1 A-League homed r a w a g a i n s t N o r t hQueensland at BluetongueStadium yesterday.

Beaten in their last fivestarts and searching fortheir first win in sevengames, the Mariners scoredthrough Nik Mrdja insidethree minutes.

But Central Coast paidthe price for not capitalisingon their early dominance,with the Fury equalising inthe 20th minute throughNew Zealand internationalmidfielder Jeremy Brockie.

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 1 (NikMrdja 3m) drew NORTH QUEENS-

LAND FURY 1 (Jeremy Brockie 19m)at Bluetongue Stadium. Crowd: 6556.Referee: Ryan Shepheard.