The Premmy Files – Week 2
A crazy few hours of Premiership footy had already unfolded as Auckland City and Team Wellington walked out at Kiwitea Street in a replay of last season’s semi-final and a trio of grand finals before that. It’s always a massive game when these two giants of recent years face off... though after splitting five straight titles between themselves, here they met with neither of them classed as defending champs. What’s more is neither will be going to the Club World Cup either. Auckland City had won seven Oceania Champions Leagues in a row when Team Wellington snapped that streak in 2018 but neither even made the final earlier in 2019. That Premiership semi-final saw Team Welly upset ACFC on their own turf after the Navy Blues had gone undefeated through the regular season. Plenty of reasons to be fizzed for this one and the spiciest reason of all is that former Team Welly boss Jose Figueira was taking charge of Auckland City in his belated first proper game after being away with the NZ U17s last week.
It’s a different look for City under Figueira. As expected they’ve adopted his three at the back style, while Scott Hales has kept up with the tried and true himself which meant that these two teams could pretty much go man for man in the formation stakes. A back three of Adam Mitchell, Mario Bilen, and Brian Kaltack for ACFC offers a fair bit of variety, especially with Angel Berlanga also on the bench, and Jordan Vale in particular seems to enjoy the extra licence to attack. Curiously Dylan Manickum played in the central playmaker’s role behind the strikers of Myer Bevan and Logan Rogerson, possibly keeping the seat warm for Clayton Lewis when he’s available and also David Browne who was fit enough for a cameo off the bench here. One thing Manickum always gives you is speed and movement. Something to get that TW backline shuffling around. However the major line-up note for City was Conor Tracey starting in goal after Enaut Zubikarai had to fly back to Spain for personal reasons. Super Zubi will be back soon enough... and no team has more goalkeeping depth than City. Tracey was fantastic with Canterbury United last season as their number one.
Meanwhile Team Welly were unchanged from the XI that pumped Hamilton Wanderers a week ago. Back Basalaj in goal. Back three of Gullye, Markovic, and Midgley. Sinclair and McKeown at wingback. Barcia and Whyte in midfield. Ollie Bassett in behind Andy Bevin who was playing off Hamish Watson. Nothing unexpected going on there although Ollie Whyte playing deeper is a slightly funky one and a vote of confidence considering the bloke who used to play in that role was Mario Ilich who was lining up against him for City.
The early moments fell under the typical Feeling Each Other Out stage but the game was busted wide open by a bit of a dodgy penalty call. First off Stevan Markovic had given up a free kick on the edge of the area as Logan Rogerson had beaten him to the ball and it looked like he thought he might be about to see red as the last man, to the point where as the ref only pulled out a yellow he then shook his hand in thanks. Or something like that, it was pretty funny. Ilich smacked the free kick into the wall but El Referinho saw a handball in amongst it all, which seemed rough considering there wasn’t much room in that wall for any hands in unnatural positions but okay. The Sky telly replays weren’t up to much so can’t really say either way (they also had their commentators seated in the stands, hilariously). Myer Bevan wasn’t about to miss from the spot with the goal scoring form that he’s been in. 12 goals in five games at the OFC Olympic qualifiers and now 4 goals in 2 games for ACFC. Early leader in the golden boot stakes.
But the goal midway through the half, if anything, woke Team Welly up. They started moving the ball around a little better and getting Bevin and Bassett involved in things. The TeeDubs did have to make an early change with Scott Midgley unable to run off a knock and Henry Cameron coming on in his place, causing a little re-jigging, but soon enough they found themselves level again through Ollie Bassett. Great finish from the Englishman after some lovely work down the left-flank from Rory McKeown. Nothing less than they deserved going into the break... and they were almost in front when Hamish Watson got brave and tried one from forty metres out but Conor Tracey recovered to tip it wide.
And then the penalty count was evened out two minutes into the second half. Jordan Vale misplayed an awkward ball and ended up giving McKeown a tumble and there wasn’t much doubt about that one, just as there wasn’t much doubt that Hamish Watson could emulate what Myer Bevan did from the spot earlier in the game. Plenty of doubt about what’s going on with that mullet though, how about it?
Is that a moustache too, perchance? Big Watto ain’t playing folks.
Credit to Auckland City though, they kept at it. And the more they were able to get that ball flowing through the midfield of Howieson and Ilich towards that front three the better they looked. David Browne replaced Manickum with twenty minutes left and both Vale and Andrew Blake on the wings were able to get involved. An injury to the impressive McKeown saw Sam Mason-Smith make his season debut for Team Welly and his presence up top brought a bit of counter-punch but Logan Rogerson, who had been so elusive and dangerous throughout the game, was the bloke who tied it all up again. Jordan Vale did well to get in around the defence and cross it back and Rogerson was alert to finish at the second attempt as his firstie popped back off the post.
2-2 was the way it ended and that was probably a fair result, these two powerhouses still figuring things out in the nascent rounds of the new season. Both with new managers and new players. Scott Basalaj did have to make a top save near the end to preserve things but nobody’s really arguing with a draw. What this result does do though is it confirms that Team Wellington, who were perhaps a little vulnerable a few months ago, are very much still in championship contention heading into this new era. A little sweat might be dripping over those two defensive injuries but this team has so many attacking weapons and they just went up to Kiwitea Street and put two goals past ACFC which is not an easy thing to do. On that note, City having conceded five goals in two games now is a slight concern as they adjust to a new defensive shape... but only a slight concern if any at all.
So that was the telly game but over the course of the three hours that preceded it we had all sorts of other drama too. Through two weeks we already have eight teams that have tasted victory and there’s an extremely unlikely leader at the top of the table. As bad as Waitakere United were last season, Paul Hobson’s got them churning them out so far this season after a 3-1 win over the WeeNix last week and now a 2-0 triumph down in Nelson against Tasman United. Alex Connor-McClean scored both goals, his first coming in the 66th minute and the second killing it off in stoppage time. ACM is actually from the Tasman area, having gone to both Marlbrough Boys and Nelson College... so rocking up in town and doing the damage like this is sorta like rocking up to your high school reunion in a Lamborghini with a supermodel on your arm. Alex you crazy party animal, you.
The Waitaks had made a couple changes to their team with the headline there being that Jake Porter was elevated to start after scoring off the bench a week ago. Regont Murati also got a start, though that remains an extremely young team. Nick Draper and Sam Burfoot are the old heads at 25 years old and at least seven of these starters are eligible for the U23s (a couple have already played). Robert Tipelu and Flynn O’Brien in defence are a couple fellas to take particular note of. Lachlan McIsaac and Dane Schnell have started the season really well too. And with two wins from two Waitakere are at the summit looking down upon everyone else.
Now... enormous asterisk here being that they’ve probably played the two weakest teams in the competition and it’s only going to get a lot harder from here on out... but a perfect start so far for the Waitaks. As for Tassie that’s two games and zero goals scored, with six conceded. This team has too many decent attackers to be shut out forever but if they’re also gonna be conceding them at this rate then there’s going to be trouble. On that note, this might help matters for Tassie...
Yeah, that’ll help plenty. Cory Brown was a standout at university in the States before his career got a little weird when he was drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps and immediately loaned out. He then disappeared over the last twelve months, with the best explanation I’d heard being that he might have been biding his time for a green card, but he’s also a Nelson native and the motherland has come calling. For the meantime anyway.
The WeeNix also lost. Them and Tasman are the only two teams without a win after two games. That’s sort of to be expected with the WeeNix and a few first team influenced alterations mostly didn’t help. They did get Walter Scott in after he started the last two A-League games but Cam Devlin and Sam Sutton both travelled to Melbourne and were on the bench for the game against the Victory, Devlin even getting on late in the contest for his Phoenix league debut. But Callan Elliot and Liam McGing were both there. Kurtis Mogg also started after missing last week. Joseph Lee too. And a cheeky one for Luis Toomey who is an ex-HBU fella and here he was starting against his old team.
Hawke’s Bay United might have lost last week but they only lost 3-2 against Auckland City which was a big confidence booster. Things definitely sound a lot chirpier and more optimistic since Chris Greatholder and Bill Robertson took over. Sure enough they were unchanged to face the WeeNix and sure enough they started fast, Dylan Sacramento giving them the early lead inside ten minutes. The WeeNix had their moments before hitting the sheds down 1-0, Adam Hewson again being a constant pest, but as with a lot of the games this week the weather played a big part in matters by making the concept of silky possession footy seem rather unrealistic. Unrealistic like hoping one day for reliable and centralised line-up data for the Premmy but we all struggle on regardless. (Btw, seems Sky TV are back on the horse filming highlights from each game for their footy show but it’d be really nice if we could see them earlier in the week, right? So it goes).
HBU then started the second half in a hurry, doubling their lead through Ahinga Selemani. Their imports were on fire in this one and by the 78th minute it was 4-0 with Sacramento completing his hatty. This is exactly what the new coaches are trying to get out of this team: positive footy with plenty of goals built upon a strong local core and a couple star imports.
Ah but there was one last twist yet in this game. The WeeNix had mixed it up a little earlier with a double sub, getting Noah Tipene-Clegg and Blake Driehuis out there. Well, with two minutes left in the ninety, Driehuis pulled back a consolation goal. Then a minute later he scored another one. And when he made it a rapid hatty to rival any rapid hatty you’ve ever seen (differing reports say anywhere between three and five minutes between the first and third goals) there was even the suspicion that a famous comeback was on the cards... but there wasn’t quite enough time. HBU held on for the 4-3 win despite the super sub heroics of Driehuis, who narrowly missed out on the U17 World Cup squad and then went and did this.
Don’t forget that Dylan Sacramento also scored a hat-trick here though. And for the winning team, no less. Not only does he have an awesome name but he played for the same Canadian club (Valour FC) as Stephen Hoyle did earlier in the year. This got a bit of a mention last week as Calum Ferguson signed for the Cantabs outta there but it’s 24 year old Canadian midfielder Sacramento who has struck first. Sacramento is a former Canada U20 international as well. By the way HBU plays Tasman next week which is bound to be full of goals considering both teams have conceded six already. Although HBU have also scored six while Tasman have a big ol’ goose egg in the goals column.
Moving on and if those three results were all more or less to script, this next one very clearly wasn’t. The Tron Wands look to have built a pretty useful squad but a 5-1 defeat on opening weekend away to Team Welly disagreed with that. But they brought Blake Messenger, Xavier Pratt, and Adam Davidson into the team and despite the sloppy weather and despite playing against the defending champs (what’s left of them at least) a three-goal flurry late in the first half gave us our biggest brow-raising result of the season so far.
Jake Butler thumped in the first one, already showing his immense value to this club as one of their top offseason acquisitions. Two minutes later Derek Tieku, who had set up that first goal after a sharp run, doubled that lead to catch Eastern Suburbs off guard. Tommy Semmy with the assist that time. And then just before the break the incomparable Semmy whipped in a free kick for a goal of his own and yeah, wow. 3-0 to Hamilton Wanderers.
Eastern Suburbs were unchanged from the team that beat Canterbury United 1-0 a week earlier but the likes of Martin Bueno, Jake Mechell, and Mohamed Awad weren’t able to weave the same webs this time around. The tropical downpours probably didn’t help and as the game dragged on it got a bit feisty as frustrations boiled over, though nothing Suburbs could muster was enough to get them back in the game. Held scoreless in the second half and that ten minute spell before the half ended up costing them big time. Sounds like a miserable day all around for Suburbs. But the Tron Wands, mate... the top four odds will have taken a real shake after a couple of these results, this season already getting up to an exciting sizzle after just two weeks.
The other one was Canterbury United hosting Southern United. The Southerners coming off a comprehensive 4-0 win over Tasman and they were in the lead early on through Garbhan Coughlan from the penalty spot. Southern made two changes to their team as Finnish midfielder Santeri Kuivalainen came in alongside Cam McKenzie. The Cantabs made just one change to the team that lost to Eastern Suburbs with Dan Schwarz starting alongside his brother and Jake Richards dropping to the bench.
Having fallen behind early this could have gotten a bit messy. That’s what happened to Tasman in their game against Southern a week ago... but instead the Dragons struck back swiftly through George King and the pressure was back on Southern United. Pressure which was probably minimal at 1-1 early in the game, even if Canterbury did have a period of dominance after the goal, but as things progressed and Southern kept going close to no avail that pressure will have risen. Southern are used to being the underdogs yet they might be the third best team this season. That’s a whole new situation for that crew and one that may take some getting used to. This was a winnable game that they would end up losing.
Both teams rolled through the subs in the frosty conditions and the first of those fellas to be introduced, Aussie midfielder Reece Dalton (not to be confused with Rick Dalton) for the Cantabs, was the one to make the difference. He stormed his way into the penalty area and dispatched one into the net in the 82nd minute. The Cantabs then survived the requisite late game freakiness and took three points to the bank.
A dramatic winner considering the Dragons had to do a fair bit of defending in this one. Hey but defence is what they’re built on. They withstood a lot of heat against Suburbs too and only conceded once. Add in a couple goals this time and this was a massive three points for Canterbury United. It may be early days but only two teams, Auckland City and Team Wellington, are currently standing out above a crowded peloton all looking to fill out those semi-final spots. Canterbury United just reminded everyone that they still know how to grind these ones out and three semi-finals in a row ain’t at all out of the question. A wake-up call for Southern too, perhaps. Always better to get those out of the way early on.
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