The Premmy Files – Week 3
Hamilton Wanderers did not win a single game in the calendar year of 2017. The first half of last season and the second half of the season before that. They went twenty-three games and thirteen and a half months without tasting the sweet, sweet nectar of victory. Last season it took them until their seventh game to earn their first point and until their fourteenth game before they finally snapped the winless streak – beating Waitakere 2-1 thanks to goals from Tommy Semmy (of course) and Alex Frank. They were last after every single round and finished with just six points from eighteen games.
But there must be something in the waters of the great Waikato River (stop polluting our beautiful natural resources!) because Hamilton Wanderers are only two games into the new term and they’ve won them both. Repeat: The Tron Wands are on a winning streak! They’ve played two games and have already matched last season’s points total (!) and have doubled last season’s wins total (!). Honestly, where is Ricki Herbert’s knighthood already?
A quick note of buzz-kill here, their two wins have come over Waitakere and Tasman, both of whom appear in for long and arduous campaigns if they can’t muster up a little more than they’ve shown so far – it’s a long season but back to back defeats is never ideal… I mean, they’ve each lost to Hamilton after all. Still, the Tron Wands conceded four goals both times they played Tassie in 2017-18 (for a 4-1 loss and a 4-4 draw) so you can’t say there aren’t huge signs of improvement.
Except with their jerseys. Unless… unless dressing like training cones was all part of a genius stealth mission to unsettle the Tasman opponents by instigating a dose of PTSD from those physically and psychologically draining midweek sessions… in which case, sure, whatever works.
This was a pretty open game down in Sunny Nelson, each side rather keen to head home with something to show for their afternoon excursion to Trafalgar Park. Yet when the key moment finally arrive, only minutes before the break, it was an own goal. Not really befitting the attacking enterprise, Sam Ayers the unlucky joker to put the ball into his own net. Kiernan Hughes-Mason looked most dangerous for the hosts, however the Englishman couldn’t find a way past an inspired Matty Oliver in goal and it was HW sub Joe Terry who scored a decisive second instead.
A ripper of a goal from Ahmed Othman three minutes before stoppage time gave Tassie a chance but for the second week in a row the Wanderers were able to hold out for a scrappy win. No kidding, a year ago it felt like they were conceding late goals and making silly mistakes that cost them games every week. Well, not anymore. It’ll be extremely interesting to see how they go against Southern next week.
Team Wellington may have stumbled out of the gates with a 4-3 loss away to ACFC but they’ve more than bounced back, taking the WeeNix down 4-1 last week and this time giving Waitakere what for with a 3-0 victory. That means 10 goals scored in three games, with Hamish Watson scoring four of them. It barely took a couple minutes before they had the lead in West Auckland. Jack-Henry Sinclair with way too much pace getting in behind the defence and Watto stepped up to score the spot kick after JHS went down in the box. Blatant penalty, Danyon Drake rushing out and clipping him, and a lovely low strike from twelve yards too. Shout out to the league’s top scorer through three weeks.
Hamish Watson copped a bit of flak as a Phoenix player for his immobility and his touch but, I dunno, those things seem no issue at this level. Watson was absolutely excellent as he has been all season, holding up play and drawing in defenders. He’s a threat with his strength but the way he’s playing the centre forward position to get those attackers around him involved is super impressive. Likewise it really feels like the TeeDubs have stepped it up down the flanks with JHS having a wonderful start to things and Henry Cameron looking immense at left wing-back. Both those two can hit a superb cross and each is pretty handy cutting inside to shoot also. When you consider the ability in tight spaces of Andy Bevin and Nate Hailemariam too then this is a team poised to keep this scoring rate up over the long haul.
Waitakere weren’t bad at all, just as they weren’t bad last week. But they weren’t particularly good either. Chris Milicich had then lined up in a 5-3-2 formation to mimic the Team Wellington shape as much as possible, everybody loves a bit of man marking you know, but they still had trouble containing TW down the wings and it was really only some heroic defending from Alec Solomons, keeper Danyon Drake and, more than anyone, new signing Bill Robertson which kept them close. Waitak looked more threatening after Andrew Abba came on, giving them some pace and energy on the break, but then Team Welly did what they’d been threatening all along and scored a couple quickies to kill it off. Mario Ilich got one off a cheeky deflection before Watto set up Ross Allen off the bench with a silky backroll off the springs and the Guernsey GOAT was never missing from there.
3-0 to Team Welly and they’re looking ominous. Meanwhile Waitakere have honestly gotta figure out where the goals are coming from. They did quite a decent job of stifling the Oceania champs for a lot of this game but never much looked like finding a leveller in there which is a bit of an issue, you might suggest. Didn’t see last week’s scorer Sanni Issa out there for one thing.
Oh yeah and did you hear that Team Wellington signed Aaron Clapham midweek? Crazy, I know. Kinda figured that the legend Claps was finished with Premmy footy but here we are, s’pose the lure of the Club World Cup was too much to ignore and now the Wellywooders have Clapham and Alex Palezevic as a wonderful backup midfield to their usual soldiers Mario Barcia and Mario Ilich. That, ladies and gents, is what you call depth. We’ll see how soon he’s considered for selection.
With that win, Team Wellington joins Eastern Suburbs, Hamilton Wanderers and Auckland City at the top with six points. City are still perfect on the season but they didn’t get the chance to add to it as their game down in Dunedin was called off early in the second half thanks to torrential rain. Up until then it had been ACFC trying to break down the tight defences of Southern, something that Canterbury had trouble with last week too, and all those fellas behind the ball were doing their jobs. Of course it didn’t help that David Browne is out for the foreseeable future after his head clash last week. Add in the rainy conditions and it probably wasn’t the best spectacle.
NZ Football will now arrange a replay of this game which sounds a bit rough on City having to fly back to Dunners a second time this season… until you consider that Southern have to do that basically every second bloody week so no complaints, please. Also this gives Browne, Albert Riera and Fabrizio Tavano longer to recover from injury. This was a fixture that gave City some issues last time around and clearly Southern are going to be a difficult team to break down for anyone. So long as they can get the service in for Markus Fjortoft and Garbhan Coughlan then they’re going to upset a few buggers along the way.
Mate, how about Eastern Suburbs though? Two games played and two clean sheets, the Wellington Phoenix barely even looked like scoring in this one. Calvin Harris gave Team Wellington fits a week ago but against Easts he was rarely ever away from the attentions of Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker or midfielder Campbell Strong. Ben Waine had some threatening moments but he was so isolated on the left, while Callan Elliot had to keep searching for ways to get involved from the other side.
Nah, Suburbs overran them in the midfield and that was the major battle won. Dom Woolridge got up to head in a goal from Eli Just’s corner in the sixth minute and the lead was theirs. Some well-rehearsed high pressing caused fits for the WeeNix – who again included first teamers Reuben Way and Michal Kopczynski – with Mohamed Awad involved in most things. Soon enough it was two as Eli Just grabbed another assist, holding off a couple defenders and sliding the ball to Andre De Jong who was stunningly wide open in the box. ADJ does not miss from there.
It could’ve been more on a more ruthless day but a few missed chances and a few timely fouls ensured that it was not. Hardly mattered with that clean sheet intact, though. Gotta say that this was a super looking Suburbs team. Elijah Just can be a marvel to watch while Kingsley Sinclair looked great in an attacking role. Andre De Jong’s hold up play was absolutely top notch and he’s only getting better after being one of the finest players in the damn competition last time. Should also take a sec to applaud the two young fullbacks on show for ES as well, Jack Duncan and Dalton Wilkins, both of whom were quality. It’s a young team and it’s one that might not handle the absences of a couple of their key players too well should that come to pass (they weren’t the same without ADJ last season either) but, tell you what, when they really click they’re as good as anyone.
As for the WeeNix, it’s a ruthless beginning to have to take on two of the three strongest teams first up with a fairly disparate squad. Only a handful of these dudes were regulars for this team a year ago and they’re all still learning their combinations. However you could see it as a blessing not only to get these two out of the way early but also to get that immediate yardstick for where the quality of opposition is in the Premiership at the mo’. That’s the benchmark, now to get as close to it as possible.
(Also full credit to Suburbs for getting their highlights vid up while the round was still fresh, pakipaki for you lot).
Which leaves us with Hawke’s Bay hosting Canterbury in lovely Napier. The Dragons had played well in beating Southern a week ago but there was a feeling that they didn’t make enough of their chances count, only winning 1-0 albeit against the brick wall down south. Hawke’s Bay had been pumped 5-0 by Eastern Suburbs in their first game so it should’ve been an opportunity to cash in. However first half and it was more of the same. Sharp stuff on the break, a corner kick headed into the crossbar… couldn’t make ‘em count. Then Cory Chettleburgh and Maxime Olivieri linked up in stoppage time and, boom, The Bay were taking their oranges with a 1-0 lead.
That gave HBU some confidence and Connor Tracey had to be sharp to deny them a second, before the Cantabs drew level thanks to a Gary Ogilvie cross/shot – you know the ones – and then five minutes later took the lead through Stephen Hoyle. Bit of a defensive mishap letting him in there. Brett Angell responded by subbing out strikers Olivieri and Jordan Lamb and chucking in Paul Ifill and Sho Goto, an aggressive double sub, while Willy Gerdsen chose to stock up his defence with his changes. It’s a tricky balance to make. Especially tricky when Paul Ifill gets loose and equalises in stoppage time to snatch a point. 2-2 between HBU and CU.
Take out the stoppage time at the end of each half and it woulda been a comfortable win for the Dragons. Instead they drop early points as the other three semi-finalists from earlier in the year have all looked dangerously sharp. Can’t overreact though, especially when this new-look HBU squad are a bit of an unknown quantity. One bad day at the office doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you respond to it and getting a point off Canterbury, playing all the way to the final whistle, counts for heaps.
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