Tommy Smith started at left-back for New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up victory over Serbia in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt this afternoon. The Town defender was winning his third full cap.
Confusingly, the Serbians wore all white, whilst the All Whites wore their change strip of all black, though Tommy spoilt the effect a bit with his white boots.
Serbia had most of the play first half, but the black-clad All Whites took the lead on 21 minutes, Shane Smeltz breaking through the middle, holding of a challenge and beating the keeper from 12 yards.
Second half and the All Whites retreated ever-further into their own half, then own box. Tommy switched to playing on the left side of a deep-set back three, and continued to have a good game. You'd be an optimist to put him - or any of his colleagues - in your fantasy World Cup team though.
There was the expected minor pitch incursion by a few Serb fans and fireworks thrown in the direction of stewards and occasionally players. There was a threat from the authorities to abandon the game on 85 at which point it settled down for the game to end in a surprising but satisfying win for Tommy and his team.
A cold and soggy late afternoon, with a crowd of around 14,000, the match was a bit niggly at times.
Earlier in the day, Cameroon had most of the play against Slovakia, but needed a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw in a largely uninspiring encounter. Both teams will need to up their game hugely to make any impact next month.
New Zealand: Mark Paston, Winston Reid, Ryan Nelsen, Tommy Smith, Simon Elliott, Jeremy Christie, Leo Bertos, Tony Lochhead, Chris Wood (Jeremy Brockie 61), Rory Fallon, Shane Smeltz.
Report by Tim and Liz Edwards, our correspondents in Austria.