Man, I love Sundays! Add to the fact it was the first official day of summer in New Zealand and the black and yellow bandits kicked off at beer o’clock. I waltzed down Queen Street with my new haircut & shades and caught up with Matt, brave enough to be sporting his bright yellow Nix jersey. He reckons they’ll get themselves on track, but with no wins in 6, it’s almost worth saving face by supporting them undercover. Credit to him for waving the flag, he’s definitely got the yellow fever. Circumstances had me reasonably optimistic for the encounter against West Sydney – great weather, a decent weekend and my hangover had been cured by some outstanding Frujus earlier in the day. We both slapped down $20 worth of bets in favour of the Nix – as we've come to accept that manufactured inspirado is the only thing that will get you through an entire A-League fixture. Wellington were at home, no injuries, beers on the table – it was all pretty promising.

Pretty promising, of course, until we saw that were the only ones in the entire bar. Beauty. I mean, the Nix are second to bottom, but come on Auckland. It's not even hard, just grab a beer, look at the screen, and yell a bit - it's first grade material. Aside from entering the quietest bar in the southern hemisphere, the key mistake Matt & I made was using $20 on soft-core gambling. What we should have done was nip up to Farmers & splashed out on a couple of pillows. One to sleep on and one to cushion our arses from those bloody awful outdoor bar stools that the Sky Sports bar have on offer. It was becoming quickly apparent why no one else was here watching. Holy Christ, the first 45 was as dull as winter funeral. By the half hour mark, I was so intent on knocking back a V, I fell asleep for a few seconds & had a mini dream about doing exactly that. Waking up to endless repeats of ‘Ben Sigmund’s guide to Route One Football’ just wasn't cutting the mustard, so me and Matt got the hell out of there at half time. Two V’s for $6 sorted us out, and we strolled around the block to Fox’s Alehouse. Seating there was far superior, so we sat down, dicked around with our phones for a bit, then got back into it.

Kenny C gives the Nix energy off the bench

Ernie Merrick must have had a right go at the lads - the 2nd half was noticeably better. A few one-two’s, a bit of Paul Ifill, a few tasty goal mouth scrambles. It was good to see the Nix creating opportunities with the pace of Kenny Cunningham & Tyler Boyd up the flanks. But it’s almost like the Nix have just forgotten how to score. For all the improvements in the 2nd half, they still failed to be clinical enough to find the net. Carlos Hernandez spooned a few golden chances - he looks as though he’s putting himself under a lot of pressure to break the duck. West Sydney also had their chances, but Wellingtons defense actually looked really solid, it was good to see Durante back to his brutal best after a few dodgy weeks. He pulled of a double-block to thwart two great chances for the Wanderers. Glen Moss was also sharp in goal, no mistakes all afternoon.

It did finish 0-0, but West Sydney are 2nd on the ladder, and we’re not getting the rub of the green. In perspective, it’s not a bad result. 6 points off the top 6, with 21 games to go. It’s definitely do-able, especially if Ernie is able to build on the 2nd half performance. Maybe he needs to look at starting with Ifill and Boyd, as they make a real difference off the bench, but aren't clinical enough to make defining impact with the time they’re given.

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed that another $20 went to waste, but I’m willing to place one more before I start to pull my hair out.

Come on lads, that first win needs to be just around the corner.