We’ll begin this week at the beginning (usually the best place to begin) and that means Team Wellington hosting Hawke’s Bay United at David Farrington Park. Three changes for the TeeDubs from week one. Scott Midgley came in for an injured Justin Gulley while Hamish Watson (not involved last time) replaced Joao Moreira, who dropped to the bench, and Wan Gatkek started instead of Alex Palezevic after looking sharp on debut as a substitute last week. Hawke’s Bay meanwhile... just the one change. Huge Delhommelle, aka Tormund the Wildling, was out which meant a chance for Cory Vickers to bring his feisty ways to HBU having found a new home as a Tasman refugee. Also fullbacks Jackson Woods and Fergus Neil swapped sides.

And yes, since I know you’re wondering, Hamish Watson’s mullet is very much thriving...

Fine form. It sure looked glorious flapping in the Wellington breeze as he stretched his legs getting onto a lovely ball over the top from Sam Mason-Smith bright and early, with Watto cutting in and drawing a good save out of HBU’s 19yo keeper Scott Morris. About seven minutes into the contest, the first proper chance of the game (although Kailan Gould had asked some questions with a free kick curled low into the box earlier).

As you’d expect the TeeDubs did look the more comfortable team and when Andy Bevin was able to get involved they looked genuinely threatening. But even just in the first half hour Hawke’s Bay were clearly an improved outfit from last week. That’s basically what Chris Greatholder said would happen as a lot of new players slowly get used to each other but it was notable watching Jesse Randall get a couple tough shots off and Gavin Hoy demand a couple saves of Basalaj. Both of them already offering more than they did in all of the last game. The directness of HBU’s approach was asking questions. Kailan Gould had a run into the box and a shot just wide after 31 minutes. Ben Mata had to make a great last ditch challenge on Randall a little while later. Nervous times for the home side.

Team Welly did finish the half stronger with a few nice spells involving Watson and Mason-Smith but it was no real shocker that they chose to bring on Nati Hailemariam during the break. SMS went off – he’d been in the wars a couple times but Scott Hales simply needed Hailemariam’s extra guile up front if his side were gonna get the result here. They struggled to break the WeeNix down a week ago and now were having similar issues... but Hailemariam’s inclusion gave them an immediate boost. A bit more urgency on attack and it almost paid off instantly but for fantastic consecutive sliding blocks by Bill Robertson and Jim Hoyle.

There was a scare for Team Welly when Jack-Henry Sinclair went down in a challenge and needed some treatment on his shoulder. It looked like he wanted to continue but he never did get back out there, Jake Williams coming on in his place. Sounds like it could be a bad one too, fingers crossed that ain’t the case because JHS has been one of the absolute premier players over the last two seasons.

While he was off and TW were playing with ten, they almost conceded. Great ball slipped in behind by Gould and Pickering stabbed it towards goal where Basalaj made a super reaction stop. This game still very much poised. Then... drama. Rory McKeown tried to shield a ball back to Scott Basalaj but there was miscommunication and in came the lightning-fast Jesse Randall stepping in between them. McKeown wasn’t having that and he gave him a shove in the back. Penalty. Not much in it but it was such an avoidable situation for the TeeDubs in the first place. Basalaj then made a good save from the spottie... however Randall was first to the follow-up to score Hawke’s Bay’s first goal of the season. Twenty minutes still remaining.

The lead lasted about three minutes. Andy Bevin with a great cross into the box to where Nati Hailemariam had made a perfect run into space and then NH made a perfect header into the top right corner of the goal. Bevin had been TW’s best attacker all game. Hailemariam had made a big difference since coming on. The two of them combining to get their team back into the game... although they were a tad lucky that Kailan Gould didn’t score when he picked off Ben Mata in the box straight afterwards.

Rough one for Ahmed Othman who did that awkward subbed-on/subbed-off thing as he had to leave the game he’d only come into twenty minutes earlier with injury. Rougher still for HBU was that for the second time in two weeks Team Wellington then scored a brilliant 89th minute winner. No way did Hawke’s Bay deserve to lose it, same as the WeeNix didn’t deserve to lose against Team Welly, but such is football. It was Hamish Watson who played in Joao Moreira whose superb strike on the volley (not long after both he and Jake Williams had volleyed over the top) would have beaten every single goalkeeper on the planet. But when you watch the goal back, take note of Andy Bevin winning a header against Karan Mandair in the midfield just before that. One of the shortest dudes on the park but he made the effort play and it paid off to the maximum.

Hawke’s Bay lose again but only just. Each of their front three were massively improved and both Hoyle and Robertson were largely excellent at the back. And gotta spare a word for Scott Morris in goal too. Don’t see too many keepers his age looking as comfortable as he has through 180 minutes of Premiership footy. Meanwhile Team Welly stay perfect after consecutive 89th minute winners. Again, not at their best. Again, they found a way to win. This time they had to come from a goal down too. Andy Bevin was outstanding. Scott Midgley had a strong game at the back. Scott Basalaj was in top form. Love seeing Hamish Watson heavily involved too... in the football and of course also in the niggle. That’s how you do it.

Quick trip up to West Auckland now where the turf at Seddon Fields played host to the two youngest teams in the competition. Waitakere United versus Wellington Phoenix. No reason for Waitakere to change anything after their 4-0 win in Christchurch... so they didn’t. The WeeNix on the other hand would have felt they left too many chances on the table against Team Welly so they made two changes. One at the back where Kris Naicker replaced Alex Clayton at right back and the other was an attacking one: Luis Toomey dropping back into midfield with Tom Raimbault moving to the wing and Oskar van Hattum starting up top next to Riley Bidois, Henry Hamilton dropping to the bench. Two teams with plenty of youth... but also two teams with very attacking styles of footy which shaped to provide a nice open contest.

Which it was... although maybe not with the end product on offer. This was a game that largely took place in midfield in the opening stages, Waitakere with the extra man in that area and therefore the game marinated in the Phoenix half. A few times Sam Burfoot or Gerrard Gariga Gibert pushed through the lines and that was when Waitakere looked sharpest but Kurtis Mogg and Jaylen Rodwell are a quality pair at the back and Alex Paulsen got his hands on the ball a few times. The WeeNix stuck to their guns and sought to play the ball out from the back to split the Waitak press which could have been dangerous but to their credit they did it well. Leaving us with a tactically and technically enjoyable game but a few more shots wouldn’t have hurt.

Thus it was telling that the opening goal came from a direct move that bypassed that midfield muddle entirely. 22 minutes and Sammy Khan lifted a super ball over the top from defence and right into the path of Alex Grieve who let the ball take one extra bounce to sit up for him and then he stroked it past Paulsen for his second of the season. Grieve was the Premmy Files player of the week in round one and had already shown flashes of the same vision and creativity prior to giving Waitakere the lead.

There was no shortage of confidence from the WeeNix. The front four were serving up the tricks and flicks as they tried to combine but for the most part the Waitakere defence was roughing them off the ball or stepping up and cutting off the supply. The way the Nix set up, they’re quite reliant on the top four to create things amongst themselves. Or, alternatively, they can get some help from the defence as they did on 34 minutes when Oskar van Hattum cut inside to shoot and his effort was going lightyears wide when Sammy Khan dove in and headed it emphatically past his own keeper for an own goal. Whoopsadaisie. Not exactly out of nowhere but the goal was a bit of a gift.

It was still 1-1 at the break and the WeeNix must have taken some real belief from that because they came out swinging in the second half. Toomey seemed to be encouraged to get further forward and with that punch from midfield the WeeNix were able to build things up more effectively... though once again when the goal came it was a gift from the WU defence. Andrew Cromb this time, who had been flawless up until seven minutes into the 2H when he dwelt on the ball too long and lost it on the edge of the area. Ben Old slid it through to van Hattum and OVH just managed to squeeze it in.

Frustration was setting in for Waitakere now. When they took the lead it felt like a game they might run away with as they did against Canterbury in week one but now they’d fallen behind and didn’t appear to have an answer. Even when they did get the ball in shooting areas there were always numbers back behind the ball from the Nix, who blocked so many shots. Paul Hobson did what he needed to do and made a triple sub with Alex Connor-McClean, Leon van den Hoven, and Jack Duncan all coming on but if anything it was the WeeNix who looked more likely to add a third. Ollie van Rijssel had an effort which Nick Draper parried wide. Ben Old and Luis Toomey were getting into those pockets on the break. George Ott came on to offer some physicality (and Henry Hamilton for some midfield control).

Still it remained 2-1. Waitakere continued to chase the game and Paulsen had to be sharp to repel a Dino Botica attempt. Dane Schnell had a shot. Alex Greive was involved in a few half-moments. The final scoreline suggests a different kinda game to what really happened... that’s because Ben Old managed to whip in a third right near the end and you could see the souls of the Waitakere defenders exit their bodies as that ball snuck in. That was the clincher. The fact that Old then curled one in on his beautiful left foot deep into stoppage time was just for giggles. Having said that, the speed at which he switched the ball onto his left foot and then picked out the bottom corner was something else. Capped a great performance from Oldie, especially in the second half. Also impressed by Toomey and Paulsen, while the CB duo of Kurtis Mogg and Jaylen Rodwell have been powerful in both games so far. Generally what holds the WeeNix back is the sloppy goals they concede but no sign of that weakness this season with those two there.

Waitakere must be licking their wounds right about now wondering how they managed to lose 4-1 at home like that. The last two goals blew it out, sure, but the first two goals both came directly from defensive errors and having gone to some lengths to fix a leaky defence from last campaign, injecting more speed and ball-playing into the group, that’s really not what Paul Hobson wanted to see. They were unlucky at times going forwards so don’t think there’s much to worry about there but a team with semi-final aspirations shouldn’t be conceding four at home against the WeeNix. They were outstanding in week one and now it’s a bit of a thud back to earth in week two. We’ll see next week which of the two extremes they truly belong to... pretty sure the Waitaks will bounce back from this one.

Auckland City weren’t at their best in week one but they got the job done. An Emiliano Tade penalty the difference against Eastern Suburbs. This week they got on state highway one and made the road trip down to Hamilton where Wanderers were waiting for them at Porritt Stadium seeking to make a point after a very impressive 3-0 win over Hawke’s Bay first up. Wanderers had never beaten Auckland City before... and they took a blow before the game had even kicked off with Xavier Pratt scratched from the line-up after failing a fitness test. Owen Comber came in to join the midfield in his place – the only change that Kale Herbert made to his personnel, although they did seem to shape up a little different. Probably because of ACFC’s wingback prowess we saw Mark Jones and Tommy Semmy operating a lot wider in this one in a sneaky alteration that worked wonders. Especially down the left where Jones and Adam Davidson managed to keep the dangerous Jordan Vale to spectator status for a lot of this match.

Jose Figuiera wasn’t so consistent with his squad. Part of that was injury enforced as Mohamed Awad and Abdul Khalifa were still unavailable and yet to make their club debuts while Mario Bilen and Logan Rogerson had both gone off injured in week one. Bilen was fit enough to make the bench (although he wouldn’t play). Rogerson has a hamstring strain which the club website says isn’t as bad as initially feared so that’s good news. But to make matters worse there was no sign of Emiliano Tade either as the teams were announced. Maro Bonsu-Maro got the start with Dylan Manickum up top. Albert Riera also came in next to Mario Ilich while Cam Howieson played a bit further forward. And Tom Doyle started in the back three. Cam Brown retained the goalie gloves after his marvellous debut.

Speaking of marvellous, just take a geeze at this artistry...

There are some hellhole pitches that somehow get national league games but there are some beauties as well. If you stare long enough at the swirls they start moving too. Very trippy.

Preseason results usually mean absolutely nothing but maybe on this occasion they meant a small portion of something after all because Hamilton Wanderers actually beat Auckland City 2-1 a few weeks back in a friendly – the same game that Mo Awad got his concussion in (apparently he’s cleared to return now, more good news). Mario Ilich mentioned to ACFC’s website that it had been a physical game with HW making it really tough for them and yeah that sounds about right because that’s exactly what they did here too. With guys like Brock Messenger, Tino Contratti, and Joe Harris out there the Wands are never going to hold back from a challenge. They absolutely bossed Hawke’s Bay front three last week and against an understrength ACFC attack they were out to serve up more of the same. City with heaps of early possession but very little to show for it... in fact the first major chance came up the other end when Derek Tieku flicked a ball up with his back to goal and then turned and volleyed it Thierry Henry style... though unlike Henry he only brushed the side-netting. First shot fired in anger though.

Matt Oliver had to rush out and clear a couple awkward ones as Bonsu-Maro and Manickum looked to swarm on any mistakes. It was big energy on show from Hamilton... that kinda thing is tough to maintain for ninety minutes and ACFC were happy to be their usual patient selves and wait for those errors to occur. And sure enough they had the ball in the net midway through the half as Cam Howieson curled a free kick from out on the right directly into the far top corner... but Adam Mitchell had fouled Matt Oliver and kept him from making a play at the ball so it was rightfully ruled out. Never mind.

Then half an hour into it HW had an attacking free kick of their own. Joe Harris rates himself a bit of Ronaldo-lite and he hit the post from one of these in a similar situation last week. Up he strolled for this one... and would ya believe it he hit the post again. Except Derek Tieku was lurking for the rebound and he nodded it into an open net. Beating the offside line and entirely untracked, he could hardly have asked for an easier follow-up. Fair reward for a wonderful start to the game from the home side.

They kept at it too. Mark Jones was all over the place in midfield andshowing off a few gorgeous first touches while Adam Davidson went close with a shot that was only inches wide. Jones and Vale then had a little scrap as they got tangled up when MJ tried to guide one out for a goal kick and that incident included a cheeky flailing boot. Nothing much in it though. Jones was then influential in another massive moment when he picked off a loose ball in the middle and dashed forward into space. Brian Kaltack came over to slow him down and force him wide but Jones still managed to drag what looked initially like a bad shot back across goal but then turned out to be a very clever ball into the path of Derek Tieku and hold on a sec suddenly HW were 2-0 up against the defending champs!? Tieku with his third of the season to go top of the pops. Doing what good strikers do twice in the space of eleven minutes and putting himself in the right place at the right time.

City made one change at the break... Tom Doyle and Brian Kaltack swapping places in the back three. Only a minor tweak but it did meant that Kaltack would have more room to step up into the midfield as an extra number in the attack. Kaltack was one of City’s best last week and he was probably their best here too. However it was all unfolding too predictably from ACFC. Heaps of stuff down their left but Joe Harris and Brock Messenger were dealing with all that while Jordan Vale was left isolated on the other side. That was an issue that Figueira addressed two-thirds of the way through when he made a double change – Andrew Blake and Yousif Ali on for Alby Riera and Tom Doyle. A back four for City, with Blake going into a right wing role ahead of Vale and now finally they had the numbers to string a few things together on that side. Ali also made a strong difference with some clever passes – the starting midfield combo of Ilich/Riera/Howieson was always a tad too defensive-minded.

It took a while before those changes led to chances but Mario Ilich went close getting his head on a corner, Howieson volleyed low off a Blake cross but it was saved by Oliver, then Ollie had his best stop of the game getting a hand on a Howieson shot after Ali had turned sharply and fed in a super pass to CH. Tino Contratti then cleared the loose ball before Dylan Manickum could pounce.

Tommy Semmy had a shot to clinch it when he got in behind the defence onto a bouncing ball but Cam Brown, who hadn’t had a lot to do all game despite the score, made a very good save. It was then back up the other end for the closing moments as Ilich had a shot saved and Adam Mitchell nudged a header off the top of the crossbar but it was all too late to save the Navy Blues. Check this one out...

Result of the season so far, mate. Given all the players that City were missing up front (top strength XI probably includes Awad, Rogerson & Tade in the three forward roles) they do have a fair case to say they’ll be back better than ever from next week onwards. Definite concerns about how they struggled against the physicality of Wanderers... though many other teams have tried the same thing against City and been picked apart with ruthless glee. Wanderers didn’t win because they ‘wanted it more’ or any of those silly cliches. They were tough and uncompromising but they were also tactically sound and they produced moments of class when they needed them. An outstanding team performance and a statement to the rest of the league. They’re the only team who have kept two clean sheets... Matt Oliver has already matched his clean sheet total from the entirety of last season. The only worry with HW is that they’re probably only one or two injuries/unavailabilities away from vulnerability but that’s nothing to panic about unless it actually happens. They have been the best team in the comp over the opening two weeks and absolutely worthy of first place.

Which brings us to Eastern Suburbs versus Canterbury United at Madills Farm in the AK... where even that notorious pitch didn’t look too shabby. Fresh coat of paint or something. Hoani Edwards made several changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Auckland City. No need to do anything with his goalie or his midfield but Josh Rogerson was injured from last week and Tyler Lissette didn’t play either so Christian Gray started at CB with Kelvin Kalua, the latter sliding in from fullback which meant Robi Sabo came in at left back. Then up front Stephen Hoyle was flanked by Adam Thurston and Ryan Feutz instead of Kingsley Sinclair and Dan Edwards. As for Canterbury United they made three switches too. Sam Field came into the back three for Stephen Last to add some more pace while Yuya Taguchi pushed Seth Clark back to the bench and same deal with JJ Richards starting instead of Ihaia Delaney.

Lee Padmore said something in the pre-game chat with Sky telly about how his team backed themselves to do some damage to Suburbs with their pressing game... but that pressing game was about as common as a rooster’s egg as this game settled into a pattern of Suburbs controlling possession and looking to link between their lines. Or over the top, with several angled runs from those forwards being targetted with looping switches of play. It was impressive footy from Suburbs. Lots of passing, lots of movement. And other than maybe Garbhan Coughlan going one on one with an isolated defender... not much Dragons pressing at all.

And yet... 35 minutes into the game and it might not have been what Canterbury promised but it was working. This game was still scoreless and the Dragons’ back three and midfield were holding firm. ES thought they’d taken the lead on 22 minutes when Stephen Hoyle attacked the back post from a corner but the ball was cleared off the line by Lyle Matthysen. Great positional awareness from the set piece... never understand why teams don’t bother with that insurance policy of a player on the line. But yeah, game still scoreless and that was when Garbhan Coughlan should have pounced. He’d had a chance soon after that Matthysen clearance where a sloppy Reid Drake pass went straight to him and he seemed to be caught by surprise as he poked it past Danyon Drake in goal but well wide of the goal. Not the usual ruthlessness you’d get from a striker like him but on 35 minutes he had a similar one as he tackled Kalua to get one on one with D.Drake, an even better version of the chance he’d already missed and the perfect chance to make amends. Top strikers won’t necessarily score every chance but you give them two similar ones and they’ll back themselves to put at least one away. But Coughlan slid it wide again.

Ah well. Tom Schwarz then did a very Tom Schwarz thing in using his deceptive athleticism to block a Sabo shot but from the resulting corner kick Adam Thomas headed back across from the far post to where Kelvin Kalua was hunting and for a defender, mate, that acrobatic finish was all glory. That was in the 38th minute and then in the 41st minute Suburbs doubled that lead with the kind of sumptuous goal that they’d been threatening all game. After some gentle passing around the backline, Danyon Drake chipped one over halfway to Adam Thurston who chested it back down first time to Sean Bright. SB hit it forward on the bounce with one touch to Ryan Feutz who controlled it and then turned and fed the run of Thurston who’d carried straight on past them all and Thurston scored for one hell of a sexy goal.

Eastern Suburbs seemed well in control at that point but to be fair to the Dragons they made a game of it in the second half. Sean Bright had to be on his toes to rush back and stop Sean Liddicoat from tapping into and empty net after he’d gotten onto a long ball ahead of Danyon Drake but then from the corner kick they scored anyway. 55 minutes on the clock. Jake Richards with a rasping volley that struck the underside of the crossbar and was awarded as a goal. Bit of controversy about it. Ben Stroud was closest to it, barely a metre away, but he didn’t celebrate like he thought it went in. Instead he went after the loose ball. There was a splash of sand where the ball bounced which looked like it was on the other side of the line but hard to tell if it was fully over or not. The strike was worth a goal though, bloody hell.

That injected a dose of tension into the match again... until Kingsley Sinclair came off the bench and scored with his first touch. Adam Thurston set him up and it was a smooth finish on his left foot. 63 minutes played. Coughlan did think he’d scored one with twenty to go as he emphatically buried his shot sliding onto George King’s long cross but he was ruled offside. Really wasn’t his day, was it?

Thus Suburbs were able to close it out from there for a 3-1 win. Canterbury didn’t create enough to be able miss the few that they did and Suburbs had no dramas holding onto the ball to see out as much of the game as they could. They had their sloppy moments but all in all that was a very impressive performance from the Lilywhites. Adam Thurston was supreme, scoring one goal and assisting another with plenty more creative involvements and you have to wonder what might’ve been had he played against Auckland City last week. Thurston took them to a new level. Shout out to Ryan Feutz as well, the young Ole forward, who was very good in the first half (although faded before being subbed in the second). Love the look of another Ole Academy attacker.

Plus his Ole mate in midfield Sean Bright is fast becoming a star of this league after only two games. He was very good against ACFC but he was outstanding against Canterbury. The metronomic passing that he showed on debut remained but he added some genuine defensive steel to his game as well, pouncing into tackles and gliding into interceptions. This fella is 18 years old and he reads the game like it’s a Harry Potter book or something. It’s almost too easy for him. And Steve Hoyle deserves a nod too. It wasn’t a game where he was on the end of a lot but he was hugely influential in an undercover way with his selfless workrate. Looking rather trim as well, plenty of gym work during lockdown clearly.

Bit more of a confusing situation for the Dragons though. Seven goals conceded across two losses and they’re last on the ladder same as they finished last season. With a lot of new players and without the baseline standard that other teams are building from it’s going to take some time for Lee Padmore’s dudes to figure things out. Combinations are still being crafted, you could see that from some of the changes between the two games. But they do have quality at wing-back and they know for sure that Garbhan Coughlan won’t be wasting chances like those two very often. There’s a lot of pressure on the Irishman to supply the goals and it’s not like they’ve given him much help in these early games but if they can tighten up the defence a bit, and there were signs of that in this game, then that’s where the turnaround will start from.

The Cantabs are on telly again next week at home to Hamilton Wanderers where we’ll see if the Tron Wands can carry their early form into the South Island. Elsewhere the Welly Nix host Eastern Suburbs at 1pm on Saturday while Waitakere United play Team Wellington at the same time. Two pretty enticing match-ups there as the WeeNix and Suburbs are both coming off handy wins while Team Welly’s sturdy predictability of the first two weeks should clash with Waitakere’s early season volatility quite delightfully.

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