Well, strike me down with a leather boot, but the All Whites won a game! Dammit, and they played pretty well too! Even had a couple of impressive debutants in there. Hudson must’ve read this thing because he went and gave us exactly what we needed to see.

Oman were talked up in the previews. They’d been winning games in their qualification campaign and that seemed to sway a few people. But take a closer look at those results and there’s not really too much to worry about from a team that had managed to overcome the footballing giants of India and Turkmenistan in that run. Let alone their 0-0 draw with the mighty Guam. Not saying that they’d be pushovers at all but any team that plans on making a run at qualification for Russia 2018 has no choice but to win (or at least run close) against a team like this. Conditions are always a factor, as is the general “we’re not in Kansas anymore” vibe of playing away from home in a new country. But excuses are excuses for excuses sake and having failed to beat a pretty poor Myanmar team, we weren’t about gonna take any more of them.

The defensive dilemma was solved by pushing Michael Boxall out to right back. As the most experienced fella at the back, maybe he had a case for being the main CB but then that’d have meant playing Thomas Doyle and Louis Fenton at fullback and that’s a very raw duo. Ask Ernie. So Boxall played on the right, Fenton the left and Sam Brotherton was given a debut besides Themi Tzimopoulos (almost spelled it right first time. Almost) in the middle. As rock-solid a group as we were putting out there under the circumstances.

Meanwhile in midfield we were given a trio of Wee Mac, Lil Marco and Thommo. Obviously Rojas was gonna have more of a roaming role, though that leaves a very attacking duo to hold the fort behind him. Henry Cameron and Clayton Lewis started further forward on either side of captain Woody. Cameron on debut. Kosta Barbarouses was probably gonna start but he pulled out late with injury. Stefan Marinovic held his place between the sticks after a couple good games with the fern on his chest in previous windows.

It’s been hard to say exactly what the style of play that Hudson’s trying to impart on these lads is. That’s likely as much due with the players not showing it as anything else. Early on in this one, though, there were signs. The All Whites pressed very high up the field, maybe not as hard as they may have but you tend to hold a bit back at the start of games until you get a foothold. Having six attack minded players meant there were always numbers in the top third and the defence showed the patience and calmness to pass it around. Solid, clinical stuff. The pitch was pretty good too, by the looks. It’s easy to blame the ground when you’ve got a poor touch but this one looked better than North Harbour does these days.

Shout out to young Henry Cameron. 18 years old, a fixture for Blackpool in League One and a dude who qualifies for the team thanks to a kiwi mother. He may be fresh to the scene but he immediately offered something that this team was otherwise lacking – a left boot with some skill. It’s been a while since we had one of those - there’s bound to be someone missing in this recollection but maybe not since the repatriated and mononymous Daniel?

Cameron was lively, swinging in a couple of sharp low crosses in early and it was his clever ball in the fifth minute that provided the opening (and eventually only) goal. His clever ball, Chris Wood’s timely run and then Woody’s classy finish, opening his body up to Ali Al-Habsi (who was on the bench for Reading against Leeds & Wood in a 0-0 draw in August) and slotting it inside the far post. Bloody lovely it was. Maybe a hint or two of offside, to be fair, though the replays looked in our favour. Still, this was an All Whites side coming out of the blocks strong and actually capitalising on that start. We might finally be seeing real progress here.

No idea what his name is thanks to the one-sided coverage on most parts, but the Omani number two really blew his coverage. Everyone else had long since stepped up when he realised he was playing Woody onside. It always sucks when you’re the last person to realise something. Anyone played Spoons before?

It’s a good thing the All Whites scored when they did because it forced the opposition into action. Marinovic had to stay big to make a save from an angle almost straight away and NZ struggled to hold the ball for a while after that. It’s not their usual task (well, Wee Mac tends to play deep for NZ at least) but McGlinchey and Thomas did fairly well in their defence duties. Thomas especially, he was full of work. He played this role a couple weeks ago for Zwolle but usually he’s a wide attacker.

Oman were sharp on the ball, with good movement and good support and a bit of pace down the flanks, but man do they need to work on their shooting. They blew a number of opportunities with some straight up terrible efforts. It was quality from Brotherton though, he’s a keeper. Well, actually he’s a centre-back, but he’ll be around a long time is what we mean. Unfortunately the half ended with Henry Cameron going down and needing the stretcher. Alex Rufer replaced him, hopefully the damage isn’t too bad.

On the other hand, it was cool to see Rojas getting in 80 minutes having not had as much footy this last month as he’d like. He didn’t have a whole lot to do, or maybe rather he was very well controlled, but he needed this runaround. The hard work at each end of the pitch kind of came at the expense of being able to boss the middle of the park, sadly. It’s a worry that we’ve had for a long time – we don’t have a midfield. Not since Simon Elliot retired. Bill Tuiloma is the long term option but he cannot be the only one… perhaps Thomas is making a case?

Both Logan Rogerson and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi came on for debuts in the second half. We could run through a play by play of the whole thing but the game mostly went by in an early morning haze as Oman attacked but couldn’t make much count and the kiwis played a simple, patient game. The physicality of Brotherton and Tzimopoulos was too much for the slimmer Omanis. The crossing thing didn’t work and there weren’t the holes through the middle. It was a very organised back four, which was pleasing to see after a few cock ups in the Myanmar game.

Hey, let’s not pretend that this couldn’t have been a much different game had Oman taken one or two chances, especially in that first half. But that’s not important. What’s important is that they found a way to win. They even did so without compromising the development side of things.

Set pieces need to be better. The delivery in particular, this has been a problem throughout Hudson’s time. Fitness is a problem as well, in the heat of the Middle East the team quite noticeably tired as the game went on. Their best few minutes were the first few minutes but the promising thing is that they made those first few minutes count. Plus they never let the game get away from them as the exhaustion set in.

We might have one other worry on our hands, however. This quote from Hudson… it’s very Brendan Rodgers-ey:

“I think we showed a lot of character tonight and we took a step forward in terms of togetherness." - AH

Having four debutants is still kinda unnerving, although the feeling’s lessened when two can come on with a lead and the other two were pretty exciting from the beginning. Both Brotherton and Cameron will be a part of this side for years to come, which isn’t something you can say of all of the 38 players that Uncle Tony has used in his six games so far (cheers to Piney for the stat work).

Look. Everybody wants to see a winning team and they want to see young players get a chance. It’s a balancing act that comes with the territory of being a manager these days. It’s a ruthless job and there’s no room for sympathy, unfortunately. Hudson has failed to get the balance right until now so this game was as pleasing as we could have hoped for, the first time when we’ve been able to look at his All Whites side and say: “Yeah, this is the direction we’re heading in” without it being wildly speculative/hopeful. Luck was a part of it, sure, it always is (bad luck has been a part of it in other games). It also happened to be the All Whites’ most complete performance in a long time. This will be the final All Whites game of 2015. We’re finishing the year on a positive note. Hooray.