Pint-sized Chilean striker Aaron Silva lit up North Harbour Stadium on April 19, his hat-trick - the first by a Football Kingz player - firing the Auckland-based National Soccer League contenders to a 4-0 trouncing of Parramatta Power, on whose own play-off hopes the lights have considerably dimmed following this encounter. By the same token, those of the Kingz burn a little brighter, this result - and performance - a complete contrast to the lame display produced at the Melbourne Knights just three days previously. The visitors certainly enjoyed the better of what can kindly be described as a scrappy, error-strewn opening half-hour, with neither side consistently able to string together a minimum of three passes during this period. Walter Ardone had a hand in both moments of note which took place during this spell, his corner bringing about a well-struck Mark Byrnes volley after eight minutes, and his free-kick creating a headed chance for Peter Bennett six minutes later. Kingz 'keeper Daniel Duke wasn't overly troubled on either occasion. The game's first display of noteworthy enterprise came in the 26th minute, the lively Ahmad Elrich creating an opening for John Angelucci, who darted in from the right past the recalled Riki van Steeden, only to curl his shot narrowly past Duke's right-hand post. It served as a spark to the Kingz, who countered with a move of similar promise themselves seconds later. Jeff Campbell's flighted free-kick was headed down by Ivan Vicelich for Silva, who just failed to make contact on this occasion. Two minutes later, he did so, and 4,692 fans went potty!! Vicelich was the instigator of this 29th minute raid, but it was the most deft of flicks by Wynton Rufer which sent his striking partner scampering through Parramatta's spreadeagled rearguard, Silva taking the ball on before calmly placing his shot beyond the diving Andrew Crews and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net to open the scoring. In all honesty, the game had needed this goal, for it gave the Kingz a surge of self-belief which appeared to have deserted them in Melbourne. Their performance suddenly recaptured elements of the dominance to which Marconi had been so ruthlessly subjected just twelve days previously. Central to much of this was Rufer. The player-coach was quick to capture the spirit of the Kingz mood change, and completely dominated the remainder of the first half, setting up three glorious goalscoring opportunities, only one of which was converted. In the 38th minute, Chris Jackson - his best display yet in a Kingz shirt - and Silva linked up with the gaffer, who thundered past Joe Vrkic at pace, much to the tall defender's visible surprise. Rufer then whipped in a low cross which neither Silva, at the near post, nor Harry Ngata, on the stretch at the far post, was able to convert into a two-goal lead. The Kingz had but seconds to wait for this to eventuate, however, and Rufer's vision was the key element in doubling the home side's advantage. He threaded such a splendidly-angled pass through the inside left channel that it provided the darting Silva with a two-yard advantage on Richard Plesa, who was unable to make up the distance prior to the fleet-footed Chilean turning inside the defender then curling the ball beyond Crews' despairing dive into the far corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. The Kingz could have had another goal before the break, Rufer again the source. Campbell's free-kick dropped neatly for the striker, who stabbed the ball across to the completely unmarked Silva. So startled was he with both the quality of the pass and the space in which he found himself that his reactions were not what they could have been, and a golden chance to complete a first half hat-trick went begging.

The second spell saw Parramatta looking for an early goal to get back into the match, with Ardone and the lively Elrich both going close, the latter doing so after play was allowed to continue by referee Jeremy Blaney, this despite a string of fouls having taken place in the lead-up for which some other referees would have been handing out yellow cards. To say this match official was non-committal is being kind to him. Mr Blaney appeared decidedly reluctant to make decisions in this match, only issuing four cards in total, and these for blatantly intentional fouls by Power players. A number of other offences, committed by players of both sides, went largely unnoticed, as a result of which four separate off-the-ball duels were allowed to fester and evolve - not at all good, bearing in mind these teams meet again in the final round. This side-issue aside, Power's early second half surges were weathered by the Kingz, who countered to good effect. Batram Suri's first shot, following his half-time introduction to the fray at Rufer's expense, flew wide from the edge of the penalty area in the 56th minute, after Silva had benefitted from a stroke of good fortune, van Steeden's long ball forward ricocheting off Byrnes' neck straight to the feet of the Chilean, who was celebrating his hat-trick in the 62nd minute. Jackson's measured through ball sent Silva through, and his finish, after taking on Byrnes and out-thinking Crews, was exemplary - 3-0, and surely now, no way back for Parramatta. The introduction of Joel Griffiths three minutes later added some much-needed verve and vitality to the visitors' attacks, and he almost gained an early reward when pouncing on a fumble by Duke. Unfortunately for Parramatta, Levent Osman was on hand to negate the threat the substitute posed on this occasion, although the legality of his execution of this was questionable. Later, Duke was to deny Griffiths, fellow substitute Mile Sterjovski and the visitors' best performer, Ardone, while efforts from Stephen Laybutt, Sterjovski and Steve Berry all narrowly missed the target, the last-mentioned's chance coming about after Griffiths had seen the well-performed Noah Hickey head his shot off the line in the dying minutes. While Parramatta certainly created the greater number of scoring opportunities in the final quarter of the match, it was their own net in which the ball was to nestle once more before the final whistle, a goal which the Kingz had been pressing for via the probing passes of Jackson, Vicelich, Jonathan Perry and company. Power's defence had had little difficulty coping with these, Suri having to do more and more running as his front-running partner, Silva, who had run himself ragged up front for the cause, tired noticeably towards the finish. But the Kingz hat-trick hero summoned the last vestiges of petrol in the tank in stoppage time to latch onto a Vicelich pass down the left. He turned to find himself in space aplenty, with Crews standing between him and a fourth goal. Byrnes and Laybutt, amongst others, quickly retreated to provide their 'keeper with some semblance of cover, but Silva ignored this, instead unselfishly slipping the ball across to Suri, who gleefully steered it past the wrong-footed Crews to wrap up the scoring. Kingz:  Duke, van Steeden (Osman, 65), Hickey, Jones, Perry, Jackson, Ngata (Stergiopoulos, 65), Vicelich, Campbell, Rufer (Suri, 46), Silva Parramatta:  Crews, Vrkic, Plesa (booked, 35) (Laybutt, 70 (booked, 70)), Byrnes, Eagleton, Elrich, Ardone, Berry, Bennett (Griffiths, 65), Angelucci (Sterjovski, 61 (booked, 90)), Burns (booked, 58) Referee:  Jeremy Blaney