Southern United racked up its fourth straight loss this season when it went down 3-0 to Canterbury United in the South Island derby in Invercargill yesterday.
Southern United coach Luiz Uehara though was far from downhearted with the loss yesterday at Rugby Park and said the side had taken a major step up from last week.
''I thought we were better by about 20% today. In what I am trying to achieve, we made some real progress. We played better position today and I thought in the first half we were the dominant side,'' Uehara said.
Canterbury led 1-0 at halftime and though Southern United tried hard, when Federico Marquez scored the crucial second goal for Canterbury about midway through the second half, the game was as good as over.
Uehara said the side made three mistakes in defence and at this level they were costly.
''If you make these sort of mistakes then you will pay the price ... but we deserved a better result. But we are a very young team. We are only learning. I am trying to teach them a new style. Trying to develop a side for the future.''
He was taking a long-term view for the side and results were not the main issue for him.
The match was played in blustery winds and that made control difficult for some players.
The home side, which was playing in Invercargill as part of an idea by Football South to travel around its region, grafted hard in the first half, in which nearly 20 free kicks were handed out.
Rejected All White Aaron Clapham scored the all-important first goal for his side three minutes from the end of the first half, getting on the far post of a ball.
Canterbury had its tail up in the second half and though Southern United battled hard, it could not find the goal and Canterbury ran out a comfortable winner.
Morgan Day had an impressive match for Southern United, and worked hard all day.
Regan Coldicott also got through plenty of work and was cut down by Canterbury defender Jolyan Collet near the end of the match. Collet was issued with a red card for his poor tackle, which left Canterbury with 10 players for the final couple of minutes.
Southern United goalkeeper Tom Batty was busy throughout and could not be blamed for the loss.
Pointless after four rounds, and therefore at the bottom of the league, Southern United takes on the Waikato-Bay of Plenty side in Blenheim next Saturday.
ASB Premiership
The scores
Canterbury United 3
Aaron Clapham, Federico Marquez, Russell Kamo
Southern United 0
Halftime: 1-0
