The Premmy Files – Women’s Premiership, Week 3
Let us begin this undertaking on the banks of the mighty Waikato River, why not? WaiBOP hosting Canterbury Pride in their first home game of the year, the Cantabs venturing outside the South Island for the first time this year... pleasant tidings all around.
Quite a few changes for WaiBOP after their somewhat disappointing 2-2 draw with Central a week ago. Like, heaps of changes. Rylee Godbold came in at keeper, while damn near half the outfielders were swapped out too with Lisa Evans, Olivia Hooper, Caitlyn Byrne, and Kate McConnell all coming in. Most notable amongst those missing? That’d be Grace Wisnewski, one of their two FFDP players and a goal scorer last week. So a fair bit of pressure on Kelli Brown then to run the show up top... or so it seemed. On the other side it was another story entirely as the Pride made zero nada zilch changes to the team that was ripped up early-doors by Auckland on their own turf a week back. Alanna Gunn backing her troopers to make amends.
She mighta regretted that three minutes in though. WaiBOP with a corner kick, Michaela Foster taking it, and she just sorta whipped it in to a dangerous area where nobody reacted to it and it bounced casually in off an un-sighted defender on the line. An absolute palaver, as the commentator called it. Can’t argue with that. Michaela Foster, by the way, being the daughter of All Blacks coach Ian Foster so at least one person in the family had a good week.
Now, this was not the way that the Canterbury Pride will have wanted to start but it is consistent with how they’ve been starting games so far. Against Southern in week one they were slow out of the blocks and wasted a few chances before finally taking the lead in the 21st minute. By the 21st minute a week later against Auckland they were already 3-0 down. Not necessarily something to panic over yet but worth staying alert to this trend because silly early goals conceded can cost you grand finals down the line. Anyway, the Cantabs remain a team stacked with talent so it wasn’t too long before they were level. Whitney Hepburn in the 25th minute with a beauty of a strike, stopping the ball as it came to her and then stabbing it into the top of the goal... exactly the moment of excellence that they needed to spark themselves into action.
The other concerning trend for the Cantabs has been how exposed their defence has been against the counter attack. For the most part the likes of Meikayla Hunt and Katie Taylor have been able to scramble and defend those ones (it’s the set pieces they keep conceding from) but they shouldn’t really be happening at all. I mentioned Kelli Brown as having a lot of attacking responsibility... she did but also she found a brilliant partner in Chelsea Elliott who had a great game running at that Pride defence. With that constant threat mixed with the Cantabs’ possession we had ourselves a real end to end contest in which Lara Wall nearly scored a charge-down and had another shot blocked wide, Gabi Rennie hit the crossbar, and WaiBOP looked like they might score whenever they had an attacking set piece. Eventually a goal had to follow and it was Britney-Lee Nicholson who headed in from Katie Taylor’s pinpoint cross a few minutes before the break. Gotta say it was a deserved lead for CP, the only question was whether they could hold it and sure enough Kelli Brown drew a low save from Una Foyle before the half was out.
But Gabi Rennie got her first of the season a mere two minutes into the second stanza, nodding in a Nicholson cross, and finally there was some parity in this game. Well, for about ten minutes. Then Chelsea Elliott got a very deserved goal and it was game on again. Brown had a goal disallowed for offside. Elliott had another chance blocked wide. It definitely felt like there was more scoring in this one as CP subs Nicola Dominikovich and Zoe McMeeken both went extremely close for Canterbury. Finally the Pride clinched it right at the end as Stella Meems fouled Lily Bray in the area and up stepped Rebecca Lake to convert from the spot. Canterbury will be pretty happy with a 4-2 win given how the game started, although they’ll be under no illusions that there’s heaps of room for improvement if they’re gonna do the three-peat. And WaiBOP won’t be too upset by this loss at all given how much of a scrap they gave the defending champs. Multiple goals in both games so far, keep that up and they’ll be competitive in every one of them.
Southern United conceded nine goals in their first two games. Not the way you go about winning but there’s a very strong case to be made that they were better both times than the scorelines suggest, all a matter of refining a few little areas and she’ll be right. They made three changes to the team that lost 5-0 to Capital with Kelsey Kennard coming into the centre of defence, Kate Guildford at fullback, and Chelsea Whittaker a bit further forward in midfield. All three of them with their first starts of the campaign. Southern also being without Macey Fraser who was missing after a concussion a week ago.
There was heaps of alterations going in Ben Bate’s Northern Lights group too. Coming out of the bye week and also embarking on the longest away trip of the competition from North Auckland to Dunedin (it was literally ‘Northern’ versus ‘Southern’), the Lights had an entirely new front three. Rene Wasi was only on the bench while Emma Rolston and Emma Kete weren’t there at all... but Northern have no dramas with depth in those areas and in their place came three very exciting youth internationals in Arabella Maynard, Ava Pritchard, and Sammy Tawharu. There was also a change in goal with Erin Hughes strapping the gloves on while Aneka Mittendorff got the start at CB instead of Mackenzie Barry. A couple of the U17 World Cup Bronze Medallists swapping places there.
It was Southern who started sharper. Lena De Ronde forced a save out of Erin Hughes within a minute of kickoff and as the Lights struggled to put three or four passes together, either through impatience or disruption, it was those Southern midfielders buzzing around and hoovering up the loose balls and looking to spark a counter attack. Eventually Northern realised they had to match the energy and this became like watching a tennis match, eyes pinging back and forth as one team turned it over in midfield and went straight on attack, then turned it over right back while the other team returned the favour and onwards until you collapsed with dizziness.
Northern did have more of the pretty little touches that threatened to break the deadlock, with Maynard going closest in the 17th minute when her shot was tipped juuuust wide by Tessa Nicol in goal although a few Liz Savage lobs over the top were only inches away from connections too. Pritchard also should’ve done better with a loose ball in behind, blasting it over the top when she had more time than she realised. But Southern kept it nice and tight. Hannah Mackay-Wright was playing very well in defence and in the last few minutes of the half they were suddenly on the front foot again, Renee Bacon involved in more than a couple of spots of danger and Sammy Murrell with a great effort that Hughes got low to stop. Very much a game in the balance as the teams hit the sheds.
When the first goal came, it was worth the wait. Northern began the second half looking more determined than they’d left off and Southern were possibly starting to tire a little. Tawharu had an early sighter before Savage sent another warning effort at Nicol then in the 58th minute they finally bagged one and it was a beaut. Mittendorff headed a ball out of defence to Knott, who headed it backwards facing her own goal. There Jervis lifted it long over halfway to where Tawharu was holding off a defender and she dropped it off to Savage who had a perfect eyeline to where Pritchard was already running past the last defender. In went an ideally weighted through ball and Pritchard took two dribbles before poking it past the keeper for the glory. Five teammates had made five passes with five touches before it got to her. Fantastic example of how to create a goal out of seemingly nothing.
The home side went straight down the other end with a couple half-chances after conceding but unfortunately this has been the way of things this season for Southern, falling away in the second halves. Been outscored 6-1 in second halves prior to this game and it was threatening to be something similar as Tawharu struck over the top and Savage drew a magnificent save out of Nicol. Shout out to Malia Steinmetz while we’re at it too... she had a powerful game in midfield showing off her dynamic stylings in a way we haven’t seen for a little while. She was a star for the U20s a few years back then for a while was in all the Footy Ferns squads but she dropped outta sight, went and played club footy in Aussie for a spell, and only now are we getting glimpses of her potential in Aotearoa again. Such a talented player, great to see.
Liz Savage was even better in midfield as the veteran read the play and pulled the strings. Northern pretty well on top now... and Savage got a well-earned reward with a goal in the 84th minute as she headed in from Aneka Mittendorff’s cross. Five minutes later they got a third. Savage getting around the defence, cutting it back to Knott, her shot came back off the crossbar and Pritchard was there to touch in the rebound. Incredibly the late show could have been that much brighter too, Rene Wasi had a shot saved while Maynard hit the crossbar in the dying stages. 3-0 was enough. 3-0 was the final score.
Tough times for Southern. They now hit up the bye week with three losses from three games sitting last on the table. Once again they were better than the scoreboard suggests but these second half fades aren’t doing them any favours. Nor are the 12 goals conceded in three games. They did get a strong performance out of Hannah Mackay-Wright though, get a few more defenders at HMW’s level and there’ll be no problems. Northern probably took three halves of footy to get into their season but they finally dropped it into gear in this second half in Dunedin. The pressing out of midfield was superb and they created a heap of chances. One player who won’t get a huge amount of credit for that but who deserves it is Sammy Tawharu, whose hold up play has improved so much since she’s been at university in America. One player who will get a huge amount of credit for that and who also deserves it is Liz Savage who was the player of the day for sure, setting up one goal, scoring another, involved in the third, and winning absolutely everything in the middle all afternoon. Looks like Northern just found their form.
Which brings us to the two teams who were already in the best form: Auckland versus Capital at Madills Farm in the AK. Auckland just beat Canterbury 4-1 away from home. Capital just hosted Southern and whupped them 5-0. No need for any drastic changes on the back of those barnstormers... Auckland with the same XI as played in Canterbury with Emma Leaming having recovered from the injury that forced her off early in that one... although Paige Satchell has departed for Canberra for a bit of W-League. Shout out to her even if it means she was one and done this Premmy season. Might not be the last one either, still time for a few more signings there. Capital were mostly the same as well except Dani Ohlsson returned in place of Libby Boobyer. Still no Anna Green for them, granted they’ve gotten by fine without her so far.
The secret to Auckland’s success has been the absolute tear they begin these games on, slicing and dicing teams in the opening minutes before they even know what got them. 21 minutes gone against Central and they were already 4-0 up. 21 minutes gone against Canterbury and they were already 3-0 up. There was nothing quite so outrageous as those two starts this time, not against what was the best defence in the comp through the first two rounds, but the heat was still turned up to a very toasty level all the same. Auckland zipping around the park, attacking in swarms, lots of one/two touch passing with plenty of movement going forwards. They’ve been the most entertaining team to watch so far for sure.
Capital set up in a curious shape with three at the back and a heap of players in the midfield and that gave them as much protection against that flowing AK attack as anyone has managed yet. And the likes of Kaley Ward and Mickey Robertson were definitely leading from the front with some aggressive hustling, trying to disrupt things as quickly as possible. Yet Auckland still found a few threats and it was Ava Collins who was at the end of most of them. She turned the ball over high up and then had a shot only just pushed wide by Georgia Candy in goal. Another time she couldn’t get the right contact on a Tayla O’Brien cross which she probably should have scored. Then Candy pulled off another nice save to deny her soon after... but from the resulting Arisa Takeda corner it was Tayla O’Brien hovering in the six yard box who got a flick on the low delivery in front of Candy for the opening goal of the game in the 14th minute.
Three weeks into this competition, Georgia Candy is clearly the starting goalkeeper in the team of the season right now. Basically, if it was there to save then she was saving it... but it was proving tricky for Capital to get the ball out of their half with any kind of numbers in support. Robertson and Ward, sometimes Charlotte Wilford-Carroll too, yet the thing about this Auckland team is that their attacking prowess is very much enabled by having Alosi Bloomfield shielding them from counter attacks at the base of midfield. Having said that, the second goal didn’t come from a scathing attack but from another corner kick. Takeda swung it in and the two central defenders combined. Liz Anton won the initial header then Jess Philpot struck it on the spin to score. Katie Barrott made a valiant attempt to head it off the line but she was a couple inches too short.
The third goal was from a corner too, sort of. Daisy Cleverly took this one instead of Takeda with a trick move in mind but that broke down... except because of all that Takeda was now lurking on the perimeter instead of by the corner flag and she lifted a volley up and over and down and in for 3-0. Bloody hell. Auckland once again doing the first half massacre thing... and it woulda been four when Emma Fletcher put Ava Collins through and she cut back past the keeper but Hope Gilchrist somehow got a desperate foot in to bust the move before Collins could pick out an empty net. Incredible challenge, pity they were already three down.
Same as the last couple weeks for Auckland the second half lacked the same sting. That’s how it goes when you’re always 3+ goals up, with a few subs rolling along. Ellen Fibbes made another one of those incredible challenges to deny Rina Hirano while Candy made a few more quality saves (really must’ve been pissing Ava Collins off, keeping her from joining in the goals about five times in this game)... and Capital improved going forward as well. A few more forays, some set pieces to toss into the mixer. It’s a credit to Maia Vink’s team there that they didn’t drop their standards despite the scoreline and riiiiiiiiight at the very end they got a small reward for that when Robertson and Ward combined a couple times. First a cross from MR to KW which led to a save by Lily Alfeld. Then from the subsequent corner kick Robertson had a hopeful shot from distance which dipped awkwardly and Alfeld tipped it onto the crossbar and Ward followed up like good strikers do and had the easiest of tap-ins from about six centimetres out. Her fourth goal of the season... top of the pops.
Which has the table looking like this...
Auckland make it three outta three, the only perfect team. 16 goals in three games. Not much more to say about them now other than that they’re away to Northern Lights on Sunday and if they win that then they can basically start planning for a home grand final. A day earlier on Saturday we’ve got Canterbury vs Central and this Capital side host WaiBOP in what should be a sneaky fascinating game. Capital may have copped a first defeat of the campaign here but they certainly didn’t disgrace themselves... they were playing away from home and they did better than the defending champs did against Auckland last week. Canterbury plays Northern in week seven in what is shaping up to pretty much be a semi-final but Capital might yet have something to say about that if they can whip up a couple more battling results.
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