MIRAMAR RANGERS vs WELLINGTON OLYMPIC

This was the one. When the fixtures were finally released it was this clash that stood out more than any, a rematch between the two top teams of the Central League. The last time Miramar Rangers played Wellington Olympic was on 14 August in the penultimate round of the winter season and a 1-0 win for Olympic clinched them the title thanks to a 71st minute Kailan Gould goal. Three months later they were at it again in a new competition. Each coming in off two wins on the trot. A lovely day at Dave Farrington Park there to meet them. This is what summer league footy is all about.

Two intended changes for Rangers, those were Taylor Schijvers and Ollie Whyte returning to the starting line-up after being rested from the XI last week... plus one unintended change as Joao Moreira, fresh off his double against the WeeNix, pulled up sore in warm-ups and was replaced at late notice by Andy Bevin. Quite the dude to be able to call upon in that scenario. Olympic, on the other hand, made just the one alteration and that was Justin Gulley returning after missing last week with illness. Neither of these teams has had any trouble with scoring goals so far, Miramar coach Scotty Hales talked up a “high octane” contest beforehand. Little did he know just how right he was.

This is basically the Team Wellington Derby, last year’s Premiership champion squad split almost down the middle between the two clubs. It was Miramar Rangers who got on the front foot first with a lot of positive play. Ollie Whyte was immediately looking like the most dangerous man on the paddock (as per). It took Wellington Olympic nearly ten minutes before they even mounted an attack. But when they did... immediate rewards. Jack-Henry Sinclair putting Rory McKeown into space and he picked out Lukas Halikias in the area. In came Taylor Schrijvers with the big shoulder... penalty. Schrijvers was not a happy chappy with that call and you could certainly see why but Ben Mata stepped up and dispatched it for 1-0. An early goal to ensure the presence of ‘cat’ amongst ‘pigeons’ in the derby.

That goal proved to be an anomaly in the course of the first quarter of this match. Haris Zeb put one into the side-netting for Rangers. Whyte and Barnett combined nicely only for a foot-in taking the ball off Barnett before he could shoot. Sam Mason-Smith flicked one off the inside heel for Whyte who smashed his shot wide. Then some gorgeous skill from Whyte to set up SMS who surprisingly lifted his attempt over the top. If you’d got up to get a cup of tea around the time of the Olympic goal and missed it you’d be wondering if the scoreboard was broken.

A couple of times Olympic did find themselves with room on the counter attack. One of those times broke down because they conceded a foul off the ball as the attacking team, don’t see that too often. Another ended with an utterly brilliant sliding tackle from Schrijvers on Sinclair after Kailan Gould had put JHS in. That was some real tight-rope defending, get the timing a mere fraction wrong and it’d have been another penalty. When Welly O were able to hit ‘em at pace they were a menace... Gianni Bouzoukis got goalside of Schrijvers and poked a shot off the post soon after.

But right as they were getting a decent foothold in the contest... Olympic went down to ten men. Tor Davenport-Petersen with the high boot coming through hard on Andy Bevin. Initially seemed he’d escape with a yellow but the ref had a chat with his assistant and upgraded the colour. 34th minute of the match. A real pity because TDP is developing into a very effective midfielder with the size to match his technical ability. They’d have to do it without him here though.

Unsurprisingly that meant a boost in Miramar’s momentum... however the major moment remaining in that half was Jorge Akers’ injury. Trying to sneak in behind onto a short pass but colliding with Toby Hunt, getting his leg caught in the process. It was an awful incident. Immediately obvious that he was in genuine pain – opponent Ben Mata was over to him straight away. Not good to see. Best wishes for a swift recovery to Jorge.

What happened then was that things got weird. Needing to stabilise the dude before transporting him to hospital, the referee blew for half-time a few minutes early which seemed like a pleasantly pragmatic approach (glad there was actually an allowance to do that). However getting an ambulance in proved difficult.

The story went that protesters were blocking the route, although Wellington Free Ambulance denied that in a statement to the Dominion Post. Then told the same paper the next day that it was merely a matter of this being a non-priority (aka non-life threatening) injury on a busy Saturday arvo. The protester angle originated because that was what the ambulance dispatch said at the time but if it wasn’t due to protests then, well, they still didn’t show up. Akers ended up having to travel to hospital in a courier van with no anaesthetic. He’s one tough bastard, that guy.

The half-time break lasted nearly an hour. By the time they had things cleared players had been out of it so long that they needed to warm up again. Flynn O’Brien came on for Akers, while Olympic also made a change with Jaga Scott-Greenfield on for Halikias. One team down to ten men, one team having just seen a teammate suffer a serious injury, both teams having to deal with an hour-long pause in proceedings. How would they respond?

They actually finished the first half when they came back out. A couple minutes attacking the same way as before (starting with a drop ball), then a quick blast of the whistle, swap sides, and kickoff going the other way. Fair enough, whatever works. Rangers caused one spark in what remained of the first half as Ollie Whyte, pulling strings as always, fed Zeb who got to the ball just in time to lob one in for Bevin but the header went over. Nathan Simes came on for Owen Barnett for MR. Then on 55’ the goal that felt so inevitable finally occurred. Zeb down the right flank, cutting it back past the penalty spot to where Whyte was dashing in. Whyte did have to stretch for it but still put that ball right where it needed to go. He deserved that. 1-1.

There were yellow cards flying about like pigeons around a statue, hovering all over the place and causing a tensions to rise. Lots of emotions in this derby. For lots of different reasons. Lots of heavy tackles too. Hunt made a good stop after Aaron Spain carried his run all the way into the box. Andy Bevin hit one straight at him. Olympic had sacrificed numbers up front to protect the narrow lead but now it was hard for them to sustain much in possession. Gould was alone up top, hassling and harrying like the bulldog he is, while Bouzoukis and Sinclair were sometimes able to get up in support. They were working bloody hard, to be fair.

So Martin Pereyra Garcia threw on Alex Palezevic in the midfield for defender Harry Chote in order to adjust that balance. Rory McKeown dropped to left back and Sinclair, who’d been playing as a makeshift CM, moved to the left wing. That change was genius. It allowed Olympic to settle things down and play with better shape and on 67’ they were back in front, red card be damned. Kailan Gould scored it of course. Justin Gulley stepping up to win the ball and then carrying on his run before sliding a stunner of a pass to Gould who supplied the deft finish. Clinical under pressure in a scenario where not too many chances were gonna come his way, that’s how it’s done.

Both teams went to their bench in the midfield. Sam Mitrakas on for Olympic and Hugo Delhommelle on for Rangers. Gotta say that under the circumstances, Kailan Gould was doing some super work holding the ball up for WO and ensuring they were still able to get a few things going. Didn’t get to see the best of him last Premiership season split between Hawke’s Bay and Team Wellington but he’s making a genuine name for himself here. He not only held possession down the right wing at one stage but he beat a couple defenders and set up Sinclair whose shot was blasted narrowly off target. But then pretty much immediately after that it was 2-2. Delhommelle with some patient work on the edge of the box waiting for things to open up and he picked out Whyte skipping past him. Whyte pinged it home for his second of the arvo.

That was in the 73rd minute. The subsequent quarter of an hour was fun, both teams trying to amp it up. Delhommelle headed wide off a Zeb cross, Olympic were doing just enough with numbers back. But that was nothing compared to the last couple minutes and stoppage time when things went ballistic by way of bonkers.

88th minute of the match, Ollie Whyte scored a banger to complete his hatty. Rangers had been hustling for space with some quick passing in the attacking third but it fell almost accidentally for Whyte. The pass wasn’t intended for him yet it ended up at his feet anyway. So he cannoned it in low. Great opportunistic strike for what most people naively felt would be a winner in the derby. Whyte sure did, he ripped off his shirt and ran the length of the field to celebrate. Then had retrieve his abandoned shirt from halfway as he got his obligatory yellow card.

That celebration took a bit of time so for Olympic to level up again 94 seconds later... suffice to say that was a very quick 94 seconds. Zac Jones made a very good save off a JHS rocket but they couldn’t clear it. Gulley kept it alive and laid it off excellently for Nati Hailemariam (on as a sub) and he finished beautifully for 3-3. The scenes, dude. The scenes.

Hold up. Wait a minute. Because 71 seconds after that goal went in, Sam Mason-Smith was tapping in the follow up after Ollie Whyte had unleashed an effort on target. Rangers led 3-2... and with most of four minutes of stoppage time still to play this bad boy might end 6-5 at this rate.

Oh yes, there was one more twist in the tale. Jack-Henry Sinclair picked the ball off Sam Dewar and was clattered by Flynn O’Brien in the box. This game started with a penalty and it would end with a penalty. Ben Mata stepping up... too good. Finesse from the big man at the spot. And that was the final kick of the game. A thrilling and ridiculous match ending 4-4 after four goals in the final 6:06 minutes.

The draw means that both of them are now on 7 points after three games and if they take care of business the rest of the way then they’ll be meeting in the final in a couple weeks. Granted, other results have closed those standings right up. But even if you’re a fan of one of the other four clubs I don’t think anyone could be upset about a rematch between these two after eight goals and all sorts of late drama. It’s hard to even say anything about the game in summary after all that craziness.

So we’ll keep it short and say that Ollie Whyte remains the most overqualified bloke in this comp. Kailan Gould has been one of the breakthrough players of the South Central Series. Ben Mata is deceptively silky. Justin Gulley came up huge with a couple assists and a fine game overall. Jack-Henry Sinclair still somehow doesn’t have a goal this season but he’ll probably score five next week, it’s imminent. Olympic have scored four goals in each of their three SCS games so far. Haris Zeb is really getting the hang of this wing-back thing. And now it’s time to move on.

WESTERN SUBURBS vs SELWYN UNITED

Not sure how anything else this weekend could ever have hoped to top that first game for action but still gotta get through two more all the same. Western Suburbs hosted Selwyn United off the back of their late winner against Cashmere Technical and they didn’t change a thing. Same eleven walking out here as there. Selwyn United did make one change but it was enforced with centre-back Jack Allott unwell and midfielder/captain Jayden Booth therefore dropping in to partner Oliver Scholz. Isaac Topham took Booth’s place in the middle and they were otherwise unchanged from the home defeat against Wellington Olympic. Note their top scorer Dan Ede popped up on the bench here for the first time too.

There was no need for any give or take in the tactics here. Two very well-drilled teams, Wests love to knock the ball around in possession and carve a team up while Selwyn are all about that out-of-possession organisation and the counter attacks. Very compatible styles... making it all about which team would come out on top. Suburbs immediately got into their business of getting the ball into those wide areas and trying to link with the overlapping fullbacks but not a heap to show for it at first. Some beautiful stuff playing calmly through the press from the back, yet getting into shooting areas was tough against a packed defence – although Oliver van Rijssel should have put them up on 14 mins when he turned an Alex Clayton square ball onto the post. A player of his calibre shoulda buried that... he very almost did.

That new CB partnership didn’t last long for Selwyn. Scholz had to go off injured after quarter of an hour with Troy Pennycuick on in his place. Never ideal to have to make such an early change. Pennycuick had played game one as a fullback and now he was partnering a defensive midfielder at CB. Unfortunately as they were getting adjusted, they conceded. Van Rijssel getting the ball forward to Otto Ingham who flicked the ball over the defensive line on the bounce and then lifted it over the keeper too. Then Ihaia Delaney swooped in to give it a nudge on target and there you go. Delaney with the goal, Wests up 1-0 in the 18th minute.

Delaney nearly got in again soon after but keeper Pieter-Taco Bierema closed him down. Then Otto Ingham managed to get around PTB on the run but the angle closed down on him and a defender was able to block his dinked finish at the near post before Bierema gathered it up. The way that Wests were moving off the ball, heaps of one/two touch footy, it was a joyful watch. Wan Gatkek cut inside his man and fired low where Bierema saved denied him. Gillion dashed in off a superb first-time ball over the backline from van Rijssel and unleashed an attempt that Bierema pushed over for a corner. Might’ve been going high anyway but no chances taken. Sorta looked like those compatible styles mostly just allowed Suburbs to do whatever they wanted.

Until the 32nd minute, when a quickfire long ball from Jamie Carrodus (of course it was him, he was the one bloke looking comfortable on the ball against the overloading Suburbs dudes) caught the Wests defence in between – Mike Faber hanging back as keeper Kees Sims rushed out... and Faber simply threw up an arm at the ball. Might have been accidental, might have been a sneaky one. But it was definitely a handball and with Calum Murdoch lurking in the area there was nothing much for the ref to do except flash a reddie at Faber. The Suburbs captain sent off a third of the way into the match.

Guts to Oscar Hough, who was doing a fine job of keeping that ball rolling in midfield, but he had to be sacrificed after the red card in order to fix the formation with ten men (although it may have also been an injury for Hough as it the commentary suggested the sub was already being prepared before the red). Robi Sabo sliding into CB, Ollie van Rijssel dropping to left back, Bruno Penney on in the middle where Hough had been playing. Will Gillion appeared to drop a little deeper too.

After the red, it wasn’t like Western Suburbs changed their approach or anything. They just had one less option in support which allowed Selwyn to pounce a few more times. The game a lot more balanced between the sides now, Wests still creating a few things (van Rijssel at LB is equally as much of a worry) but so were Selwyn now. Stoppage time of the first half and a deep cross from Luke McKay was met by the head of Dorian Grault getting there ahead of Sims but he put too much on it and the ball ended up looping over the crossbar. 1-0 at the break.

Carrodus got in a great position early second half but hoofed his shot over. Then came a save of the season candidate as Otto Ingham weaved his way between defenders in the box only for Bierema to somehow turn his shot past the post, insane stuff. He really is a fantastic goalie, that guy. A tantalisingly poised game... hence on came Dan Ede for Selwyn after 55 minutes exactly.

Not entirely sure how Delaney wasn’t able to turn in Clayton’s low ball to the far post in the 57th min, a little bobble on it maybe plus he did have to slide to reach it. Still, would’ve backed him to score that same as the ORV chance early doors. One minute later they did finally get that second goal though, that safety cushion. Gillion with the pace in transition advancing that ball, Ingham with the shot which Bierema made yet another impressive low stop from... but Wan Gatkek was there for the offensive rebound and the put-back Steven Adams styles.

Couple frisky moments for Kees Sims after that, including one where he would have been stoked he wasn’t able to keep the ball in play as his lunging touch went straight to an attacker. But then on the hour he almost had an assist. Pumped it long for Delaney to run onto, goalside of all defenders, only for Delaney to lob the ball off target at the end of it. Good covering pressure from Booth to be fair. As we established last week, Sims is a sniper of a passer for a goalkeeper – if any GK is gonna get an assist this South Central Series it’ll be him.

Suburbs had a handy spell after the boost of the second goal. Gatkek was able to stretch his legs in possession a few times while Ingham resumed his blood vendetta against Bierema – with the keeper still denying him at all corners. Then when Ingham finally got a chance where Bierema could do nothing, after some sizzling work from Clayton beating his man to get the ball across... Ingham somehow scooped it over at the back stick. They certainly left a few goals on the table here, did Wests. However Clayton showed him how its done soon after as he headed in from a van Rijssel cross – fullback to fullback – on 70 mins.

A third goal allowed Suburbs to empty the bench of outfielders with Daniel Atkinson, Jack O’Connor, and Norman Garbett all coming on. A chance opened up to Ede for Selly with quarter of an hour left but his rust was on show as he hit it straight at Sims. Then Suburbs went up the other end and Clayton stung Bierema’s palms. Tell you what you don’t want when you’ve just emptied the bench of outfielders and you’ve already had a defender sent off and had to slip a fullback into the middle to cover for him... that’s for your another CB (Robi Sabo) to go down with cramp with nine mins to go and need to be replaced. On came Oscar Boyce, reserve goalkeeper. Playing on the right wing. Granted if anyone’s gonna be able to handle that, it’d be an Ole Academy goalie. Boyce’s first touch he let the ball roll out of play but his next was a tidy touch and pass.

Selwyn did get something to take back to Christchurch with them right at the end. With 40 seconds of stoppage time remaining, the creaks at the back were exposed as Dan Ede set up Nicholas Fairley with a ball across goal for the easy tap-in. Frustrating for Suburbs to lose the clean sheet right at the end having worked so hard for it... but Selwyn probably deserved that. They’d plugged away all arvo – you’re always gonna get maximum effort from Selwyn United, that much is clear from these three games. 3-1 the final score as Wests move up to 6 points on the ladder.

An impressive win for Western Suburbs overall. Played two-thirds of it with ten men but still managed to pad their lead despite the deficit. Never went away from how they play and continued to find success. There is guaranteed quality in full supply from guys like Gatkek, van Rijssel, and Clayton while Ingham and Delaney were as dangerous and involved as they have been in this South Central Series to date. They’ll get Birhanu Taye back from suspension next week too – albeit they’ll lose Mikey Faber. As for Selwyn, this was the first time that defence has been stretched like that, something to work on at training – but they did find ways to increase their threat up front as the game progressed. Best on the park for them though was Pieter-Taco Bierema, yet again.

WELLINGTON PHOENIX vs CASHMERE TECHNICAL

The South Central Series has been blessed with an abundance of goals so far... with the lone exception being whenever Cashmere Tech play. A late 1-0 win in the first game, a late 1-0 loss in the second game. The six games to date that don’t include the Cash have seen an average of 5.2 total goals and the WeeNix have been a part of that with 4-2 and 3-2 defeats. So which would we get?

Tell you what we definitely got. Towards the end of the Wests-Selwyn game it started to trickle with rain. The WeeNix then hosted C-Tech immediately afterwards in the same city and that rain continued to amass. It’s like the weather knows when National League football is gonna happen and saves the downpours specifically… beautiful sunshine basically all week before. Beneath that rain, we had an unchanged Cashmere Tech side from the team that lost late to Wests while the WeeNix continue to spread the love under Chris Greenacre’s guidance with Charlie Beale given a debut while Marco Lorenz and Henry Gray both came back into the starting side.

The opening stages... were soggy. That’s the most appropriate word. Cashmere spent a while pegging the WeeNix back with set pieces, then the WeeNix spent a while pegging Tech back with swift passing through their midfield and defence (but nothing that could split Tech’s indomitable defence). It wasn’t ‘til the 12th minute that Garbhan Coughlan lined up the first decent shot attempt but it was straight at Henry Gray, no dramas. Coughlan had another pop on 20 mins after shrugging off Finn Conchie but the thumping volley was off target. Not a lot of game-breaking happenings otherwise. Crowd having to be patient beneath their umbrellas.

For the WeeNix, there was some very nice stuff through the middle with the likes of Conchie, Henry Hamilton, Luis Toomey, and Manny Achol involved but too much of it was eventually spoiled by that one bad pass. And the through balls they were trying to thread almost all had too much steam on them. However a free kick about 25 metres out did give the in-form Oskar van Hattum the chance to go boom and it was only a very good diving stop from Danny Knight tipping it around the post that denied OVH a fifth banger of the season.

It took almost half an hour but eventually Tech realised they could have a bigger dollop of success if they pressed that WeeNix defence a bit harder. Now they were able to work a few more of those Coughlan shots and those Yuya Taguchi corners. One of the former led to this ripper of a save from Henry Gray, somehow recovering to bat away a heavy deflection...

One of the latter led to a penalty kick. Tough delivery to deal with, right into the crowd, and Tom Schwarz fancied his chances on the leftovers with his back to goal. As he leaned back to try the overhead kick, he was dragged down by Finn Surman. Nobody in that WeeNix team is going to be able to move a strong bugger like Tommy Schwarz but using his own body weight he sorta drew that foul. Not actually much that Surman did wrong other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ref had a perfect view of it. Would have been many who ignored the shouts, but not in this instance. Coughlan made it 1-0 from the spot, 35 mins gone.

Stink for Finn Surman who is the single most impressive defender of the current WeeNix crop. Great height, solid in possession, lovely sense for the game... apart from the major moments that seem to go against him. Last season he had two red cards and two own goals. Here he conceded a penalty.

The weather took a turn for worse after the goal and teams pretty much sprinted off the pitch when the whistle blew. Cashy Tech then threw on Lyle Matthysen on at HT, useful fella to have on the bench. Matthysen curled a free kick on target which was caught by Gray. That after Coughlan earned the foul – surely the most fouled man in the National League over the last couple years. Nobody draws contact better.

The WeeNix’s best route to a goal was obviously gonna be Oskar van Hattum who has scored all four of their goals so far. Manny Achol was his strike partner but he was dropping in to help the midfield while the wide men Luis Toomey and Charlie Beale were doing similar things. Leaving OVH to be swamped by Andrew Storer and Tom Schwarz, hence when he did get on the ball a lot of the time it was drifting out wide away from shooting areas. But he did have a crack on 54’ and that shot appeared to catch Schwarz on the arm. Big appeals but no dice from the ref. Hard to tell via the stream exactly where that the ball got him but after the nature of the penalty they conceded earlier you can understand some frustration from the WeeNixers. Luis Toomey talked himself into the book in the aftermath. Gonna go on record here and say it sure looked like a handball to me.

Van Hattum whacked a shot just over after a lovely sliding run from Toomey, that was a big chance. Chances are an endangered species against Cashy Tech but they’re not extinct and the WeeNix possibly needed one of those halfies to fly into the top corner. Especially before Coughlan or one of his mates got there before them – Coughers smashed a low free kick on target (after winning a foul off sub Kaelin Nguyen) which Gray was able to parry to safety. By the way, how windy was it? Let’s do a quick corner flag measurement...

Yep, that’s nearing the ol’ 45° warning zone. Goalkeepers beware.

The difficulty for the WeeNix was in stretching a Cashmere Tech back four which would only extend beyond the width of the penalty area if a runner forced them out, with wingers who don’t shy away from defensive duties and midfielders like Fraser Angus and Cory Mitchell who are monsters in the challenge. And the Nix, having brought on Nguyen to combine with OVH up front, didn’t have a lot of width to offer. Fullbacks weren’t overlapping and there was a tendency from the midfielders to angle themselves back infield. Toomey did force a fine fingertip save out of Knight with a low whipped effort. Surman had a header put past the near post. But, like, look at the numbers back here. Where are you gonna find any space?

You aren’t, is where. All the WeeNix’s best moments the rest of the way were hopeful long shots... other than one time when Knight got blocked off by his own defender and Marco Lorenz was able to attack the ball but couldn’t guide it the right side of the post. The wind and rain hit peak pestilence in stoppage time as Coughlan inspired a run of free kicks and corners to pass the remaining time safely. 1-0 to Cashmere Technical... their third straight game with that scoreline.

Already said most of what needs saying. Tech won this game with the sturdiest of sturdy defence and a smart tactical approach. They know their game inside and out. Fraser Angus was huge for them. Garbhan Coughlan always delivers. The back four and Danny Knight in goal were close to flawless. That’s how you grind out a game of football in tough conditions away from home. The WeeNix will be happy to have been in the contest yet again but they’ll be targeting a win in their last two games – the draw between Miramar and Olympic means that Selwyn and the Phoenix are both out of final contention btw.

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