These are funky times in the Premiership. These are the times when squad depth is essential, when you need those new fellas to step up and contribute. Every team’s been affected by the transfer stuff in one way or another… although none quite as curiously as Team Wellington. Auckland City’s losses have been discussed in the last two pieces but forget them for a second, we already know they’ve got depth in numbers. And the ability to snap up a few more jokers at the drop of a dollar or two (Sam Burfoot's back!).

The TeeDubs though, she’s been an interesting week alright. Louis Fenton departed for the Melbourne Knights in Aussie, a move that was announced ages ago and so was completely expected. But it also coincided with star forward and local hero Joel Stevens jumping on a plane for Sweden to get in on that trial scene. Fenton’s been in and out a little as he tries to get his career back on track after a number of injuries but Stevens had started all but one game (when he came on as a sub) and scored a couple goals as well as setting plenty more up. He’s a key player and now they’ve gotta do this without him.

Against Hawke’s Bay it was a front three of Nate Hailemariam, Jack-Henry Sinclair and Angus Kilkolly. Three very solid (and young kiwi) players at this level, yet for the first half things looked a tad disjointed. If anything it seemed Hawke’s Bay were more likely to score as their pace on the counter attack created the kind of incisive chances that Welly couldn’t muster with their attacking third possession. Everything was just a little too functional.

There’s been a lot to like about the Bay this season. For all the players they lost, they’ve rarely been anything but competitive. Brett Angell’s done a wonderful job at keeping them solid and organised, that centre-back pairing of Bill Robertson and Graham Craven has been very good, but they don’t have the precision up front that they need. Sammy Adjei wasted a brilliant early chance then went off injured. Bjorn Christensen didn’t have his best game. Gavin Hoy had a few shots he’ll want back. Even Alex Palezevic wasted a top opportunity later on.

Hawke’s Bay did the unthinkable in the Kiwi Prem this week… they named an unchanged lineup. But the XI that beat the Welly Nix 3-2 wasn’t able to repeat the dose against the defending champs, going down 2-1. Tell you what though, they looked a lot more dangerous when new signing Sam De St. Croix came on, he scored the goal and seemed to enjoy not playing for Hamilton Wanderers anymore. Michael Built also scored on debut off the bench for Suburbs a few weeks back after leaving the Tron Wands. Figure that one out, Ricki.

So yeah, Team Welly got there in the end. Progressively better in the second half, they finally snapped it when Roy Kayara rose highest at the back post from a Mario Ilic corner to nod it home and then Ross Allen banged on in as a sub soon after. Allen’s gotten a bit of hype after his incredible scoring run for Guernsey FC – 239 goals in 226 games is special no matter what level it’s at. Guernsey are currently in the Isthmian League having worked their way up a couple divisions since being accepted into the football leagues in 2011.

Not the greatest standard and roughly the eight rung on the English ladder – a long way short of Chris Wood and Winston Reid in the Premier League, of Tommy Smith in the Championship (not for long), or Clayton Lewis in League One, of Steven Old in League Two, of Max Crocombe in the National League North, etc. Although when you’re scoring that many goals, you’re good enough to play higher anyway and despite looking a little rusty at first, that instinctive finish of his showed he’s a natural in front of goal. That’s the business there, mate. Looking forward to more of that down the final third of the campaign.

That win keeps Team Wellington one goal clear in first place as Eastern Suburbs put five past Hamilton Wanderers but coughed up three the other way. Mostly a routine win, Derek Tieku scored first although it sounds like that bloke was lucky not to grab a second yellow and he was duly subbed off at the break. Still, Moses Dyer made it 2-0 on the brink of half-time and Suburbs had gotten through the tough stuff. Armin Pasagic pulled one back from the spot before Andre de Jong and Matty Palmer made it 4-1. Cruising, right? One more goal and they woulda gone top.

But then Liam Hayes got his first goal for Hamilton since switching from Hawke’s Bay and soon after Tommy Semmy made it 4-3, the Papua New Guinean’s fifth goal in his last five games for the club. Before he arrived, Wanderers had scored twice and conceded 13 in their first four games. Since then they still haven’t won but they’ve been banging in goals – nine in their last three, 14 in their last six. The problem is their defence hasn’t got any better and Moses Dyer killed it off with his second, coming deep into injury time. 5-3 the final.

There’s a fascinating game coming up midweek as Eastern Suburbs host Auckland City on Wednesday night at William Green Domain in Auckland. ACFC did what needed to be done in Christchurch when they rolled past Canterbury 2-0 with both goals scored by the returning Emiliano Tade. All those worries about City’s recent form disappeared with their talismanic leading scorer returning. That’s now 13 goals in nine games for that joker and it’s not even close on the scoring charts. Ryan de Vries had two of his netters stolen by the overturned Tasman result and he shan’t be scoring again now that he’s gone to Japan. Which leaves a very enticing battle for second place between Stephen Hoyle, Andre de Jong, Keegan Linderboom and Paul Ifill, who are all on seven scored. Tade could sign with Real Madrid tomorrow and he’d probably still win this award.

As for Canty, losing James Pendrigh might yet be an issue for them. The kiwi midfielder has also gone to Sweden, which is apparently a curiously popular place for young kiwi footy players. The timing of their seasons clearly helps, as does their standard and the reputation of a couple other kiwis who’ve done stuff there (Dan Keat, Steven Old, etc.). Pendrigh had been really good for the Dragons since joining after his US college stuff finished. That’s a big blow to them right as their run of form’s come to an end. Canterbury have won five, drawn one and lost one of the games that JP has started and won zero, drawn one and lost three of those that he hasn’t, including this week.

And as always for Canterbury United, they don’t win when Stephen Hoyle doesn’t score. Stephen Hoyle didn’t score against Auckland City, so Canterbury United didn’t win. Simple as that.

But, yes, that Wednesday night game. Team Welly may be ahead of Suburbs on goal difference (+10 vs +9) and ahead of City by two points but those two have this game in hand. Somebody is getting points from this, so somebody is going top of the ladder - whoever wins goes first and if it’s a draw then Suburbs take the lead. There’s another game to catch up on between Canty and the WeeNix in a few weeks but with CU and Waitaks both losing this week that might not mean so much as far as the top three goes. But, damn, that fourth place battle’s gotten wild again.

That’s because Waitakere United were unable to get it done at home against Wellington Phoenix. Hey, Hamish Watson might not quite be an A-League player but he’s bloody good at this level and his second start of the season marked easily the best result of this Phoenix Reserves season. Watto scored the WeeNix’s first goal, coming almost straight away after Ryan Cain’s deflected shot had beaten Ollie Sail in goal, though Keegan Linderboom’s seventh of the season meant Waitak went into the sheds up 2-1.

Then this happened…

Ooops. And that wasn’t all, because Stewart Mackay, who has been a pretty dependable defender all season but was left on the bench for this one, came on and picked up a couple yellows and he was off. Waitakere still pushed for the winner that’d put them into the fourth semi spot but instead Ollie Whyte scored for the third time in four games and the Wellington Phoenix took it 3-2.

Bit of a boilover, sure, but these WeeNix have been feisty. They’re very good in possession and if they can start finishing these goals without requiring defenders to misplace back-passes for them then they can threaten most teams. Because of their youth they’re a tough team to compare to others but Liam Wood stands up among most defenders and Liberato Cacace’s been very good recently as well. Didn’t even need Sarpreet Singh in this one.

Then the other game, where Tasman travelled down south to face Southern and, kinda surprisingly, returned with a 4-2 win. Meaning that after losing 6-0 to Canterbury a couple weeks back they’ve now scored eight goals in two games. Southern finally had another home game six weeks after they lost 2-0 to Canterbury, three away games and the holiday break got in the way of that and they were on the road for a couple games before Canterbury as well. Seems like they’d be relieved to return to familiar confines yet instead they'd forgotten where they were.

Stephen Last headed in from a corner to give them the lead but then Dan Allan slipped free to equalise seven mins before HT and Maksym Kowal fired a shot off Last’s arm six minutes later to earn a penalty which Paul Ifill dutifully slotted. Kowal then scored a double before Alex Risdale's consolation effort right at the end to mark his debut for Southern (against his old team, no less). 4-2 to Tassie, who saw that one coming? Southern don’t exactly score in buckets but they hadn’t conceded more than twice in a game all season. Not in two games against Auckland City, not against Team Welly, not against Suburbs… but Tasman just put four past them.

Southern weren’t all that weakened at the back either. Conor O’Keefe was fit enough to start, though probably at less than a hundy. It’s Gabe Coughlan and Danny Furlong’s injuries up top that are most devastating for them. Doesn’t get much easier as Waitakere come to town next week for their revenge game either. As for Tasman, this result honestly came out of the blue but it goes to show that there’s more talent there then they often get credit for. Paul Ifill, obviously. Getting Maksym Kowal into goal scoring form is huge too, and Cam Lindsay is one of the more underrated midfielders out there, the dude’s quality.

It’s a valid concern that they’ve lost a bit of depth lately, however. Risdale, obviously, though he’d only played once off the bench since starting their first five games. Tinashe Marowa only started four times as well, preferred more as a bench option (not really what Marowa was hoping for after rejecting the WeeNix for better opportunities with TU). Robbie Pearson going back to Wales was a blow, both their clean sheets (their proper clean sheets, default win excluded) came with Pearson in there… although apparently now they’re an unstoppable attacking team so no worries. Plus Kieran Smith’s gone too, but don’t try tell them about it…

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