The Premmy Files – Week 7
They call it the Gridlock Derby. Presumably because of the whole disaster that is Auckland traffic, in the same vein as El Traffico in Los Angeles, though the real gridlock as Auckland City hosted Eastern Suburbs in this week’s televised game happened on the pitch at Kiwitea Street.
Jose Figueira gave Clayton Lewis his first start since rejoining the club from Scunthorpe, with Yousif Ali also retaining his starting spot but moving deeper with Mario Ilich missing his first game of the campaign. Brian Kaltack also returned for his fifth start while Conor Tracey remained in goal despite Enaut Zubikarai being back in the country (yet not included in the squad here as he regathers his fitness). And Logan Rogerson was back on the bench after missing the previous two games with a knee injury. On the other side, Tony Readings made just one change from the team that lost 3-2 to Team Welly a week ago and that was Alec Solomons coming in at CB with Kelvin Kalua dropping to the bench – meaning the Drake Brothers got a crack at their old makes from Auckland City.
But yeah, most of what we saw here was a couple solid defensive units locking it down. Suburbs played a lot of this one without the ball but their shape was excellent, playing a diamond in midfield that allowed Adam Thomas to sit in front of the defence and pretty much run this show. He had a brilliant game and if Myer Bevan found himself a little isolated throughout this one, which he did, then it had a lot to do with that Adam Thomas Shield. Then at the other pointy end of that diamond was Mohamed Awad, a super underrated player from last season’s championship run and a guy who has been extremely influential so far. There wasn’t a lot for Marty Bueno and Stephen Hoyle to feast upon in this one but what there was tended to come through Awad’s tireless work and sneaky vision.
Auckland City were a tad scattered in attack as well, to be fair. This has been something that’s crept into their game in recent weeks without Logan Rogerson; they might still have been winning games but they were working harder for their goals than they probably should have been. That 2-1 win over Tasman and then the 3-0 win down in Canterbury (it was still 0-0 after 65 minutes). Missing Mario Ilich and his passing ability from midfield, as well as adding in a bit of rustiness from Lewis and the fact that David Browne hasn’t quite gelled with all these new attacking buddies yet... it all sorta came to a boil for ACFC. The best chance of the first half was probably a Bueno attempt after a super ball across from Awad which Tracey did well to save.
Into the second half and City opened it up a bit more, throwing Logan Rogerson out there and he did make a difference. As did Cam Howieson with a couple slick moments – he almost scored a special winner from halfway but having lobbed Danyon Drake his shot bounced just wide. Bevan picked the pockets of Alec Solomons one time too, though Drake reacted well in goal. But it ended scoreless and probably fair enough. Amazingly that’s the first time Eastern Suburbs have ever taken a point off Auckland City in the National League and in doing so they earn their fourth draw from five games. They should really have won a couple of those but for this one they’ll be more than chuffed with the draw. Especially when it came with a clean sheet since they’d conceded six in their last two.
Guts to Myer Bevan. The scoring streak ends at six games and now he’ll just have to start another one. No real dramas for City either, this was only their second draw of the season and they remain undefeated. Really looking great in defence too. Adam Mitchell has been outstanding this season having starting every game and looking like a master with his powerful tackling, confident positioning, and wide-ranging distribution. Also that’s now four clean sheets in Conor Tracey’s last five starts... all but one of which coincides with Angel Berlanga returning to the starting team. Even with Super Zubi on the way back, Conor Tracey’s stringing together a real case to keep the gloves.
Funny thing here is that while the televised game was a stalemated scoreless draw... every other game this weekend was jam-packed with goals. Canterbury United needed a few of them having dropped to second to last on the table after Tasman got that three-point boost. Definitely not reflective of the Dragons so far but with only one win from their first six games it ain’t like they could argue. They made one change to the team that lost to ACFC with Cory Mitchell back after missing his only game of the campaign, meaning young forward Harris Zeb held his place. Sam Field with another start too.
The Dragons were up inside ten minutes as George King whipped one into the top corner after the WeeNix were unable to clear the ball properly. But that lead lasted mere minutes before Ahmed Othman continued what’s been a wonderful season for him so far since joining from Tasman when he scored his third of the term and then Byron Heath had his first when he got in behind the defence and finished over the top of Danny Knight in the Canterbury goal – the WeeNix suddenly up 2-1.
It was a strong WeeNix team here, Callan Elliot back in there alongside Walter Scott, Liam McGing, and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi from the first team while captain fantastic Sam Sutton popped back in as well following a run of sitting on the bench for the A-League team. That led to a pretty open game, with both teams creating solid chances. The score stayed at 2-1 going into the break but a foul from Callan Elliot allowed Aaron Clapham to level things up from the penalty spot. That meant a yellow for Elliot and it all went from bad to worse for him in the 82nd minute when he picked up another card and was marched. If he’s auditioning for that backup right back role in the A-League team with Louis Fenton out injured then this probably wasn’t the best way to go about it. Ahmed Othman on the other hand, he’s definitely putting his name out there. Despite being down to ten men he got busy on the counter attack and gave the WeeNix a 3-2 lead with just six minutes of the regular ninety remaining.
Canterbury thought they had an equaliser in the ninetieth of those minutes but it was disallowed for a foul. Which meant an uneasy wait until deep into stoppage time – like, deeeeep into stoppage time – for substitute Juan Chang Urrea to do the deed and snatch a 3-3 draw. Not enough to get the Dragons ahead of the WeeNix on the table but enough that it’s still only goals scored separating them. In fairness to CU, their three defeats have all come against teams who were fellow semi-finalists last season so a win against Tasman next week – under the lights on Friday night, how good! - and they’ll be feeling a lot better about it all heading into the Xmas break. Meanwhile the WeeNix... this is a strong WeeNix squad with a lot of Premmy experience and it’s showing. They still have the usual dramas with conceding soft goals but they’ve scored 14 in seven games which is the main difference. They’d lost every game at this stage a year ago. This time they’ve lost fewer than they’ve not.
Six goals in that game and at least five in each of the other three. Team Wellington first because they laid the absolute beat down on Southern United. The Southerners were unchanged for the third straight game, though Andy Mulligan did get the nod on the bench having had his international clearance come through to make official the Irishman’s (Dir: Scorcese) return to his old club this season (he’s been working as a barber in Dunners, apparently). The home side made two changes to their usual unit: Sam Mason-Smith given the start ahead of Hamish Watson after a run of increasingly prominent appearances off the bench and the emerging hero Marko Stamenic also rewarded for a fine effort off the bench last week with a first Premiership start at the expense of Ollie Whyte. Oh and tell you what was going on and that was a battle for familial pride amongst the Spain family with older bro Aaron Spain lining up in the back three for Team Welly and younger bro Jordan Spain at right back for Southern.
This one wasn’t close. Aaron got the win thanks to the mercy rule. Both teams had been tallying up some impressive results recently but Team Welly were always a step above here. Jack-Henry Sinclair headed in the first goal after ten minutes to make it three games in a row that the right wingback has scored in (hey wasn’t there a right back just got injured for the Phoenix? Hmm...) and then mere minutes later Andy Bevin set up Ollie Bassett for the simple tap in and it basically continued on from there. At 2-0 down Southern had a few chances, Cam McKenzie going closest, but then Rory McKeown scored a ripper of a half-volley straight after the break, always such a terrible time to concede, and at 3-0 it soon got ugly. Marko Stamenic got his first National League goal in the 49th minute to make it four. Hamish Watson was subbed on for Mason-Smith on the hour and Watto immediately began making his claim to win his starting spot back by scoring with his first touch, 5-0 after 63 minutes. Then Sinclair scored another missile of a goal. 6-0 after 65 minutes.
Luckily for Southern it didn’t get any worse than that. Paul O’Reilly threw in the white flag when he made all three changes at once with twenty to play (Cody Brook, Andrew Cromb, and Andy Mulligan getting runs) but Garbhan Coughlan did pull one back for consolation. Joel Stevens had a crack later on too but JHS was able to block it (at the expense of his face), Stevie unable to score against his old club, and 6-1 was the final score. Not one to remember fondly for the Southerners, especially when they face Auckland City next week. They’re probably going to need to come in hot after the holiday break to get back to where they want to be. No extra stuffing on Christmas for these lads, no way. Kale smoothies and lentils all the way.
Still no clean sheets for Team Welly but they’re also now the top scoring team with 20 goals in seven games and are just three points behind Auckland City suddenly. Since losing to Tasman in a shocker they’ve bounced back with three straight wins and are looking supremely sharp, especially at home where they’ve scored 15 of those 20 goals. Ollie Bassett’s been great. Andy Bevin not far behind. They’re getting goals from Sinclair and McKeown out wide. There are options up top and in the midfield now. Without doubt they’re one of the most exciting teams to watch.
Two points behind Team Welly are Hawke’s Bay United after they made it six undefeated games on the trot since going down to ACFC in the opening weekend and they snapped a run of three draws as well with a late flurry against Waitakere United. The Bay with the same fellas as the last couple weeks while Waitakere made a couple changes to proceedings as Dane Schnell missed this one with Jake Porter stepping into his boots and Flynn O’Brien was also out so it was a first start for Shuaib Khan.
A rapid start for HBU who put their visitors on the back foot in the opening stages... but they weren’t able to take advantage and fell behind in the twelfth minute. Fergus Neil was initially suggested to have scored an own goal but Jake Porter later got the official credit for it. Neither of them’ll be arguing that one at the Contentious Goals Committee this week. HBU were able to equalise before the half hour as Jorge Akers continued a strong run of performances since getting into the starting lineup a few games back when he set up Ahinga Selemani and the import striker did what import strikers are signed to do and put it away. Four straight games he’s hit the back of the net in now... however in stoppage time the Waitaks struck again through Lachie McIsaac.
All of which only set up a brilliant second half comeback by the lads from the Bay. Josh Signey scored the first to level up with a bit over twenty minutes remaining and then Ihaia Delaney laid his money down on the table with a double in the last quarter of an hour as HBU came from 2-1 down to win it 4-2 in Napier. Goals are not an issue for this team. Strikers Selemani and Delaney now have 10 between them. Keeping them out is more of an issue but for now they’ve been putting away more than enough to thrive – no matter what happens in Hamilton next week they’re guaranteed to be in the top four over New Years. It gets tough immediately after as they come back with games away to Team Wellington and Auckland City but that’s all part of the fun.
As for Waitakere, they’ve learned a few hard lessons lately having conceded nine goals in their last two completed games. They’ve got a game in hand from that postponed clash with the Tron Wands which they’ll back themselves to get the points from when it’s eventually replayed, however their season so far has been two wins then two draws then two defeats so might wanna give the engine a kick and get things trending back in the upwards trajectory.
And our final game was a very curious one as Tasman United hosted Hamilton Wanderers in Nelson, the Tron Wands having begun the Kale Herbert era with a false start in that rained off match. Tasman have been massively improved the last three weeks but a big factor in that has been Cory Brown and he was out with suspension here following a red one last game, Cory Vickers dropping into defence to cover him with Matt Tod-Smith returning to the starting team and Jesse Randall partnering Jean-Philippe Saiko up top. Hamilton Wanderers had their usual attacking weapons all available. Derek Tieku, Tommy Semmy, Jake Butler, Thilo Wilke... but they also had secret weapon Brock Messenger back in the team. The only game he’d played previously was a 3-0 win over Eastern Subs. Every other game’s been a defeat with three goals scored and 18 conceded in four.
Jama Boss has been quality for Tasman so far, he went close to opening the scoring early on but Matt Oliver was able to save it. Then Derek Tieku, who has been even better for Hamilton, probably their best and most consistent player to date, had a great chance of his own getting free in the penalty area and the difference here was that he scored it. 1-0 up for HW who continued to throw numbers forward... though it was Matt Tod-Smith who scored the next one to get the home side on even terms once more. And then, just before the half, speedy youngster Jesse Randall went round the keeper to put Tassie on top. First National League goal for that fella – that’s two members of the recent U17s World Cup squad to score this week, Stamenic bring the other.
Now, what you don’t want to do when you’re 2-1 up and looking for that second win of the season is to give away a penalty merely five minutes into the second stanza. But that’s what Tasman did and Jake Butler converted from the spot. Then Tommy Semmy scored a beauty of a free kick, something he’s been teasing to do for a few weeks now, and the Tron Wands were in unfamiliar territory leading a game of football. Must be the Brock Messenger effect. That fella picked up a yellow later on, while Labu Pan came closest to equalising for Tasman when he struck the crossbar from distance, but a late red card for Cory Vickers signalled the end of it for Taz. A 3-2 win for Hamilton Wanderers and that one really jams that table up. There’s now only three points between fourth and last.
So a winning start for Kale Herbert then. He was able to hand out debuts (pretty sure they’re debuts but there’s always the possibility of otherwise with some of the deets about these games less than clear) to import fella JC Mack – who captains the US Virgin Islands apparently – and also young fella George Ott who was one of the stars of the Wanderers NYL side that finished second to Auckland City in a nail-biting finish. Their goal difference is still atrocious... but you can’t solve everything at once, come on now. Unfortunately for Tasman while they will get Cory Brown back next week they’ll also now be without midfield enforcer Cory Vickers. That’s the third red card of the season for Tasman. No other team has more than one and Tasman can’t really afford that kind of ill discipline. Something to work on, s’pose.
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