Thus we cross the Cook Strait and find ourselves in the gorgeous Marlborough region. Good wine, great beaches, a vibrant art scene... and after some initial hideousness a fair dose of decent football as well. Tasman United were never a team that could tear through oppositions but after failing to score a single goal in their first three games – against Southern (0-4), Waitakere (0-2), and Hawke’s Bay (0-2) so not even like they were getting swamped by Auckland City and Team Wellington – it was looking absolutely dire.

Then they beat Team Wellington. A brilliant backs-to-the-wall defensive effort complimented by a successful penalty kick from Jean-Philippe Saiko on the hour mark earned a 1-0 victory and sparked a pretty healthy rest of the season for the Tasmanites, made even better when an administration error saw that 4-0 loss to Southern overturned into a 3-0 Tasman default win. Massive for their points tally and almost as good for their goal difference. That was the only game in which they lost by more than two goals and in the end it didn’t even count.

Tasman never did get going in the goal-scoring ranks with the exception of one glorious Nelson afternoon when they hosted Southern United in the rematch of that overturned game and then utterly whalloped them 5-0. But with a defensive unit as locked in as this one was they scored just enough more often than not. Fox Slotemaker was the dude. Coffee-brewer by week, footballing extraordinaire by weekend. The Fox was the key to that defence, playing all but one game and leading the way with his assuredness and classy nature. Even chipped in with three goals along the way too, a little bit of everything. Lad was one of the top performing players across the entire league and a clear Tassie MVP even in a team that had a few very notable other contributors. Slotemaker was very good last season, he was magnificent this season.

PLAYER NEWS | Fox returns!
Fox Slotemaker has confirmed his return to the club for the upcoming ISPS Handa Premiership!

Director of Football Jess Ibrom had this to say "I am absolutely delighted to have Fox return, he is an outstanding footballer and character" pic.twitter.com/qT2PPPcek7
— Tasman United ⚪️🔵☀️ (@TasmanU) September 10, 2019

But defences are often only as good as their weakest link and partnerships are crucial to success, not just individuals. You defend as a team after all. It was when Cory Brown, another local defensive prodigy, showed up that Tasman turned the corner – his first game at CB with The Fox was the 1-0 win over Team Welly. When Slotemaker and Brown played together it was the peak of this crew. Brown had done really well at college in the States and was drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps but a year on loan in the USL didn’t lead to his big break and he’d dropped off the radar in 2019 until he showed up in Tassie. Brown only played seven games before departing again but they were seven very good games...

Tasman w/ Brown: 7 GM | 3 W | 1 D | 3 L | 12 GF | 8 GA | +4 GD | 10 PTS

Tasman w/o Brown: 9 GM | 2 W | 2 D | 5 L | 11 GF | 22 GA | -11 GD | 7 PTS

(This is counting that first game as a 4-0 loss, as that’s what happened in the actual performance)

Another thing that happened was Aussie import goalie Pierce Clark getting swapped out at the halfway point for local baseball hat enthusiast Nick Stanton... with immediate reward. Clark was a bit of an odd one, only 21 when he was signed so an up and comer rather than a proven fella. They’d lost Keegan Smith who was their main keeper last time but Stanton had a couple useful games when called upon and might have been considered worth a full time crack. Then again, Clark was always likely to leave at the halfway point (signing with South Melbourne over Xmas and promptly departing) so they got to share the services. And, well, here’s how that looks in the splits (again, counting game one as a 4-0 loss)...

Piece Clark: 8 GM | 1 W | 1 D | 6 L | 5 GF | 16 GA | -11 GD | 4 PTS

Nick Stanton: 8 GM | 4 W | 1 D | 3 L | 19 GF | 14 GA | +5 GD | 13 PTS

Stanton’s first game was a heroic 2-0 win over Eastern Suburbs (he also had a blinder against that same opposition last season in a 0-0 draw) and his second was the 5-0 win over Southern. He only had three games crossing over with the Slotemaker/Brown combo though. After Brown left they immediately replaced him with as good an option as they could find with Nelsonite and former WeeNix dude Sam Wilson getting four games towards the end of it all, playing pretty well too – most notably in the most notable result of the entire season when they pulled off their finest Battle of Helm’s Deep impression to withstand the onslaught for as long as they could and then snatch a winner right at the very end on the counter attack to beat Auckland City and spoil their undefeated season. Slotemaker and Saiko scored the goals that day.

Then the other thing to say about Tasman was that, in suiting a team that tended to sit deep and look to counter attack, they were way better at home than they were away. All five of their proper wins came in homers. Here’s another set of splits...

Tasman at home: 8 GM | 5 W | 1 D | 16 GF | 8 GA | +8 GD | 16 PTS

Tasman away: 8 GM | 0 W| 1 D | 7 L | 8 GF | 22 GA | -14 GD | 1 PTS

That’s actually really stark... although in fairness they were leading early in the second half away to Waitakere before losing 3-2 and finished a battling 2-1 loss away to Auckland City in a decent way. There were some scrappy ones out there on the road. But when things were that little more in their favour the small margins were more obvious.

But let’s not pretend it’s all about that defence. They clearly scored way more goals at home too, the big dog being New Caledonian striker Jean-Philippe Saiko who started slowly as he eased into the competition and then ended up scoring eight goals all up – at one point bagging Gs in four straight games. Tassie had a bunch of striking options to begin with but it was JP Saiko who put the strongest claim in as guys like Facundo Barbero and Jama Boss fell away. Not that this was a one man show or anything because starting the final 13 games in a row was teenaged winger Jesse Randall. Fresh from the U17 World Cup, containing buckets of pace, and although he only scored three goals he was influential in many ways for Tasman in attack. You love to see it, a kiwi teenager (at a team other than the WeeNix) with that level of enthusiasm and willingness to dribble at defenders. Jesse Randall, mate. Learn the name.

Matt Tod-Smith was a key chap in the midfield same as he has been the previous season or two. English enforcer Cory Vickers was another important figure and a fun dude to watch, always with something to say, yellow cards quite enjoyed his presence. Then you’ve gotta toss in dependable folks like Hamish Cadigan, Billy Scott, and Cory Larsen playing regularly and doing what they needed to do. Ooh and since the young fellas are always a fascinating topic in a league that claims to be Where All Whites Are Made, Jesse Randall was far from a lone wolf cub. Ricky Muir got a few starts in midfield. Lucas Hogg figured in a few late games. Same with Jackson Manuel. Lachlan Brooks, Josh Creswell, and Jonty Roubos all got debuts off the bench having been in that 2019 NYL squad (Hogg was in that one too). Tasman were the same as a number of the teams outside the major couple cities who made a big deal over having a local flavour to their selections and coach Jess Ibrom lived up to that as much as anyone.

But the thing that lingers most about this Tasman season was the results. The 1-0 win over Team Wellington was a stunning upset. The 2-0 win over Eastern Suburbs was a shocker too. But then they beat Auckland City 2-1, the craziest result of the entire season, and clearly none of these others were flukes. Tasman United thrived in the big games, particularly at home. Three weeks into the season they looked hopelessly adrift without a paddle and by the end of it they had wins against three of the top four teams, including both ACFC and Team Welly, and if they coulda beaten Eastern Suburbs again in their abandoned final game on the fixture list then they might well have made the semi-finals too. That’s kinda incredible.

Incredible is a word that can only be used in the negative sense for Canterbury United. The Dragons had their own goal scoring issues but they never found a Jean-Philippe Saiko to solve them (shout out once more to Tasman for bringing in a fresh Oceanian talent and getting the benefits, every team should have an OFC hero – the legacy of Roy Krishna, David Browne, Tommy Semmy, etc. is surely too much to ignore). Hence with a defence that was decent but never quite at the level of the attacking talents they came up against they were on the wrong end of a narrow defeat an incredible amount of times. There’s that word, incredible. Six times this season, from 16 games, the Dragons lost by a single goal. They also had four draws. That’s ten games in which they were completely in the match (on the scoreboard at least) and ended up with just four points. Then you chuck in two heavy-ish defeats to Auckland City (3-0 and 5-1, although the 3-0 game was scoreless for the first hour of play) as well as a 6-1 defeat to Eastern Suburbs and you’ve got the bottom placed team on the ladder.

The fine margins were an insurmountable problem. Fine margins and narrow scorelines. Danny Knight started every game in goal though only kept one clean sheet and leaked multiple goals on 11 occasions. Similarly the Dragons were only shut out twice all season... but only four times scored more than one. Hence the most common scoreline of their season was a 2-1 defeat which happened on five occasions. At least they managed to eke out a 1-1 in their vs the WeeNix in their final game. That result snapped a seven game losing streak during which they’d scored once and only once in every one of those defeats.

There were some quality dudes in this team though. The Schwarz brothers Tom and Dan (particularly Tom who started all but one game) were always keen. Cory Mitchell did his thing mostly in the midfield. Aaron Clapham in a deeper role than usually seen from him, playing the veteran leader on his return to Canterbury. George King as well who ended up being the team’s top scorer with five goals. The framework was there but they needed one or two (or maybe three or four) top notch additions on top of that to push them into a more competitive space.

Beginning with that strikeforce up front. For the first time in a little while they didn’t have Stephen Hoyle, whose goals have been so important in getting them over the line in recent years. Calum Ferguson, a Scotsman out of Canada, was the fella brought in to do that but in eleven games he only scored twice – one of which was a first minute strike against Suburbs in a game they ended up losing 6-1. By the end of the season he’d gone and coach Lee Padmore was looking towards local youngsters Haris Zeb and Abdul Khalifa, albeit to limited effect (both were involved in some useful moves but neither scored a goal).

The two breakthrough players in this crew were Sam Field and Luke Tongue. Field’s come through the Cantabs youth team while Tongue is a Wellington Phoenix academy grad, both still pretty fresh on the scene (Tongue is 21, not sure about Field but he’d be about the same age, maybe a year younger). Field played at fullback and after coming off the bench in four of the first five games he then started all of the final eleven whereas Tongue was a first eleven dude in the midfield from day one, only missing one start and he still came off the bench that day. Plus he got a lovely moment in the final game as he scored the goal that broke the losing streak against his old team. Juan Chang-Urrea had some moments too.

Then you’ve got arguably their player of the season: Sean Liddicoat. I know Aaron Clapham was the dude that made the league MVP shortlist from the opposition voting and Claps was as dependable as always, sure, but Liddicoat was the dude who stood out. For a team that was losing more often than not he was a fella always striving to turn things around, not letting his standards slip, and his versatility in being able to play anywhere across the back four is extremely useful. It did seem like that defence got a little better over the last few games too, particularly after Ben Stroud returned to suit up.

But yeah ultimately this was a dud of a season for Canterbury United. They were semi-finalists the last two times so to slump to dead last on the ladder... that’s yucky. Their only wins came in week two against Southern 2-1 and in week eight against Tasman 2-0 – against North Island teams they won zero, drew four, and lost nine. There were only a couple times where they got blown away but their lack of cutting edge had them score five fewer goals than anybody else in the competition and while a team like Tasman were able to overcome a similar stinginess in front of goal with an even stingier defence... the Cantabs weren’t. Nor were they a team like Wanderers who could run between the two extremes. Nah, the Dragons were dependable around that same level most weeks and that level was a narrow defeat. Guts.

Which brings us all the way down to the bottom of the country where Southern United can be found in their natural habitat. At the start Paul O’Reilly’s lads were fired up and targetting the semis on the back of a consistent squad that’d finished fifth the last two seasons and one or two lovely additions that they hoped would lift them up to the promised land. By the end of it O’Reilly was back in Ireland and Southern had never found the reliability they needed, failing to win more than two games in a row at any stage. They were still on the narrow edge of the top four race but a close defeat to Team Welly in their last game had ended any realistic chance of making up the distance.

The spine was there. Liam Little in goal, Stephen Last and Erik Panzer at CB, Danny Ledwith at CM often with Conor O’Keeffe if the cap’n wasn’t required at fullback, and Garbhan Coughlan up front. And Joel Stevens returning home to be the creative hero. A 4-0 win over Tasman in their first game was the perfect vision of that. Stevens scored twice, Coughlan added another... just what the doctor ordered. But then they were caught out 2-1 in Canterbury before losing 4-2 to Suburbs and eventually that first up win would be ruled a 3-0 default loss after Southern slipped up on the administrative side.

The peak of their season was a 4-0 win at home vs Hamilton followed by a 5-2 win over Waitakere (in which Stevens scored a hatty including two goal of the season candidates, one of them from halfway). But then they failed to win any of their next five and during that dry spell came the overturned result just to rub some extra salt into the wound. A scoreless draw with ACFC was all goods... but draws with Hawke’s Bay and the WeeNix were missed opportunities while they were thrashed 6-1 by Team Welly in between and then, the nadir, humiliated 5-0 on telly by Tasman. To make matters worse, Paul O’Reilly subsequently resigned to return to Ireland and Joel Stevens had already left to try resume his professional career. So much for all those preseason hopes and dreams.

To be fair though, Southern did string together a decent little end to the season. A 2-1 win over Canterbury was followed by a 6-0 defeat to Suburbs but then they drew 1-1 with Hamilton and had impressive wins over Waitakere (2-1) and Hawke’s Bay (4-3) before losing a tight one to Team Welly (0-1) to close. They had Auckland City away next up which they really needed to at least get a point from, probably three, before hosting the WeeNix. Doubt they’d have cracked the top four but credit for keeping themselves in the mathematical hunt despite all those ugly defeats in the middle of it all.

Those ugly defeats are not what we’ve come to expect from Southern in recent times, where Paul O’Reilly’s had them extremely well organised and tough to break down. We never really saw that version of Southern outside a couple of spare performances as they loosened up to try and score more goals... with obviously mixed results. They did show flashes of that extra potency but their midfield was more stretched and it exposed the lack of pace in their defence, while the attacking glory only lasted while Joel Stevens was in town. Southern scored 19 goals in JS’s eight games and 10 goals in the eight after he departed, with Garbhan Coughlan left exposed on an island all by himself in attack. Coughers scored 8 goals in 16 games, with five of them in the first seven. Abdullah Al-Kalisy didn’t last the season either so there’s another quality attacker gone. You get the picture.

Amidst all that it did mean opportunities for others and Cam McKenzie went from being one of the two ineligible dudes in game one to being a regular and reliable starter, doing his best Ryan Thomas impersonation in the midfield or one the wing. After coming off the bench in game one he started the remaining 15 in a row. Stevie Lawless was another to get a good run of starts, the last seven games in a row. The Irishman brought some necessary experience to the attacking corps after Stevens and Al-Kalisy disappeared and although he couldn’t match what they’d lost he did set up a couple goals in the win over HBU. And the reason he was so crucial is the remaining two attacking spots were generally split between Cody Brook (23yo), Adam Hewson (20yo), Jordan Spain (20yo) and/or Ben Wade (22yo). Brook scored four goals, probably the pick of the quartet but they’re all dudes with plenty of promise. Hewson came back from a spell with the WeeNix. Jordan Spain was signed after a good run with the U23s national side and mostly played at fullback but got a few games in attack too as they searched for options.

It was hoped that Norwegian midfielder Chris Wingate might give them a bit of oomph in the centre next to Danny Ledwith but Wingate could only start three (non-consecutive) games thanks to injuries. Ledwith was really good, he even scored a couple crucial goals, but it was a weird old season for the Southerners. So full of ups and downs and while the early expectations were completely legit... they were dependant of that version of the squad which we didn’t get to see enough of. Still, Terry Boylan did get them looking a little more like their old selves by the end of things and a seventh place finish is about right.

The biggest positive for Southern was in defence where Andrew Cromb and Tim O’Farrell, a couple 19 year olds, really launched themselves into the future conversation. O’Farrell definitely stands out with his flowing ginger locks but his left-backery ain’t bad either, starting 14 games and coming off the bench once. Meanwhile Cromb worked his way into things midseason after Erik Panzer began exploring overseas options (ending up at Chattanooga FC in Tennessee) and looked pretty immediately at home, named to start in each of the final nine games next to Stephen Last who, like keeper Liam Little, was a mainstay. Cromb also scored two massive goals – the equaliser against the WeeNix and the winner against the Cantabs. Shout out to NYL dudes Javier Langley, Oliver Colloty, and Sam Cosgrove who also got game time, though none as prominently as NYL teammate Andy Cromb.

Notably, all three of those massive hidings came in away games. It’s not unusual for the Southernmost team to have a bit of a home advantage though that hit hard in the reverse for them on the road. These will splits need some levelling out next time if they’re to actually push for the top four, particularly defensively...

Southern at home: 8 GM | 4 W | 2 D | 2 L | 16 GF | 9 GA | +7 GD | 14 PTS

Southern away: 8 GM | 2 W | 2 D | 4 L | 13 GF | 26 GA | -13 GD | 8 PTS

Not quite as drastic as Tasman’s contrast, granted (likewise counting that week one game as a 4-0 win here).

It wasn’t supposed to be this way but it ended up being a transitional season for the Southerners. Losing Paul O’Reilly, who had done such a good job with this team, will be a tough one to overcome even if they did get a headstart on matters, plus some of the things he said upon departure didn’t really suggest the best state of things at a board level either although far be it from me to comment on any of that, I’ve no clue. What we did see was a number of solid younger players getting game time around their usual Irish veterans and filling out their squad with a few more players in between those two extremes will have to be the plan next time. This was a season that seemed to offer so much only to fizzle out but there are always lessons to be learned. One thing that’s been made vividly clear over the last several years is that breaking into the top four of this competition is a bloody tough thing to do. You need a lot of things to go your way and for Southern, this time around, those things mostly did not.

Other 2019-20 Premiership Team Reviews:

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