Stirring pre-match words from skipper Ryan Nelsen eventually paid off as his All Whites snatched a dramatic and historic 1-1 draw in their soccer World Cup opener against Slovakia at Rustenberg, South Africa this morning (NZT).
After a slow first half, Slovakia took the lead in the 50th minute through striker Robert Vittek who sneaked into the heart of the New Zealand defence to nod home a curling cross by Stanislav Sestak.
New Zealand then struggled to find gaps as the Slovakians slowed the pace of the game down with a packed midfield and it looked like they had eked out a narrow win.
But with mere seconds left on the clock in injury time, defender Winston Reid, playing just his fourth international match, timed his gallop upfield to perfection and climbed high at the far post to nod home a Shane Smeltz cross.
The last-gasp equaliser prompted delirious scenes among the New Zealand contingent at Royal Bafokeng Stadium as Slovakian players stood stunned.
"I said to the boys before the game there's 90 minutes. It will take a few seconds and you can etch your name in history," Nelsen told a post-match press conference.
"And those few seconds were in the 93rd minute so it was fantastic for Winston and fantastic for everyone and in New Zealand.
"It's exciting - we wanted to go into the next game with something to play for, which we have."
Turning his thoughts to the team's supporters, Nelsen said: "The All Whites supporters over the years have had a pretty rough ride - I hope they really celebrate on days like this."
The goal earned New Zealand their first point at a World Cup finals series after they went winless at their finals debut in 1982 at Spain when they were grouped with Brazil, Russia and Scotland.
Until Reid glanced the ball past Jan Mucha, the eastern Europeans - in their maiden finals appearance - were on the brink of dictating terms in the group after title holders Italy and Paraguay drew their opening game.
Instead the four nations are now locked on a point each with identical goal differences.
New Zealand initially did an excellent job curbing the attacking threats posed by Slovakian captain Marek Hamsik and fellow-midfielder Vladimir Weiss.
Hamsik, a 22-year-old star at Italian Serie A club Napoli, was generally well contained though he did curl a shot wide in the 21st minute.
Paston also had to palm Hamsik's rasping strike from an indirect free kick over the bar three minutes from halftime, a save which atoned for a blunder that risked him joining England's Robert Green on tournament's blooper reel.
Paston made a hash of a routine clearance in the 33rd minute, miscuing to a surprised Vittek who was only able to force a corner after the keeper desperately backtracked to narrow the angle.
Although New Zealand were defensively minded, the three-pronged strike force of Chris Killen, Rory Fallon and Smeltz caused the occasional tremor in an otherwise unruffled Slovakian defence with unconverted half chances falling to Killen and Smeltz.
Slovakia dominated from late in the first half and looked in control until New Zealand's stunning late rally.
Smeltz looked to have squandered a gilt-edged chance to salvage a draw two minutes from the end of regulation time when his free header flew wide.
But he made amends by swinging in the cross for Reid to record New Zealand's first World Cup goal since Steve Sumner scored against Scotland in Spain, 28 years ago.
For coach Ricki Herbert and assistant Brian Turner who were Sumner's teammates at Spain, it was a magical moment.
"Tonight's a special night for me, I couldn't be any prouder," said Herbert who animatedly turned to New Zealand fans in the bleachers and pumped his arms after the late leveller.
"We have thrown some really good punches tonight and got what I thought was an extremely good result."
A relieved Turner said: "When the board went up with three minutes left, we asked the boys to push up and try and win the ball back higher up the park and cause more problems for the Slovakia team.
"It sort of worked because Shane did a little bit of magic and crossed a beautiful ball at the far post and Winston was there."
New Zealand's next match is against defending champions Italy at Nelspruit on Monday morning (NZT).
