National League South Central Series – Men’s Week 5
WELLINGTON PHOENIX vs WESTERN SUBURBS
This was a game which shimmered in gold when the fixture list was released for this South Central Series. By the time it finally came around there was nothing much to play for with neither team able to make the final... but that didn’t matter. Finals and trophies are great but these two teams don’t wander from the path for short term vindication. These two teams are about the bigger picture because they represent the two finest footballing academy programmes in the nation.
The Wellington Phoenix and Western Suburbs, aka the Ole Academy. Each personally represented in the National League. The WeeNix have been guaranteed a spot here for several years though Ole have tended to have to distribute their players around other clubs in the past. But here they qualified on their own through affiliate club Western Suburbs. The youth player quota in the new National League is supposed to promote the development of young footy players, well the majority of new pros from Aotearoa come out of these two academies.
Case and point, since Danny Hay took over as All Whites manager he’s had five games in charge and has given debuts to 13 new players. Nine of them have been affiliated with either the Nix or Ole.
Ole Academy: Elliot Collier, Eli Just, Callum McCowatt, Nando Pijnaker, Marko Stamenic, Matt Garbett
WeeNix: Joe Bell, James McGarry, Max Mata
Other: Niko Kirwan, Kelvin Kalua, Joey Champness, Francis De Vries
And that’s not including guys like Sarpreet Singh or Libby Cacace who are the poster boys of the Phoenix Academy, since they debuted under Fritz Schmid. Or Oli Sail who would have been called up last time had it been possible to call up A-League players – if you want to count him. Not really an academy product but he played many a-game for the WeeNix.
Speaking of A-League call-ups, the WeeNix had three more of them last week with Oskar van Hattum even on the bench for the Nix as they lost 2-0 to Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night. Finn Surman and Jackson Manuel were also on the same flight. OVH scored four goals in three SCS matches. Surman played a couple games at CB. Manuel hasn’t played, sitting this series out as Chris Greenacre bloods the young’uns. So none of them were here. But Henry Gray was as he came back in with Greenie alternating goalies for the fifth game in a row but otherwise it was all the same outfielders as the stunning 5-0 win over Selwyn last week.
One character who didn’t get a flight to Aussie by the looks of it: Nixie the mascot...
Picturing a Home Alone scenario here where the plane’s just taking off and Ufuk Talay all of a sudden sits up and shouts: “We forgot Nixie!”
Suburbs fell deep in stoppage time to Wellington Olympic last game which ended their chances of making the final. As such, they made drastic changes. Kees Sims, Will Gillion, Otto Ingham, Robi Sabo, and Bruno Penney were the only blokes who started last time. Norman Garbett and Jack O’Conner were elevated to the walk-on team having been regulars off the bench to date. Meanwhile Bruce Izumi, Adam Bell, Fergus Gillion, and Tze Xuan Loke were all all named to start having not played a minute of the SCS previously. Really mixing it up for the final game. Almost an obscenely young team here.
It was a slow beginning. Suburbs with a lot of the ball passing around the backline with the WeeNix choosing not to press them too hard – although a Henry Hamilton slide tackle did nearly break for Josh Rudland. Bit surprising that the WeeNix didn’t try to play more proactively against such a young team – not often that they get to turn those tables – but then again once Wests got settled some of the passing was pretty slick.
In the 13th min, Luis Toomey tried to chip Kees Sims from way out, leading to a corner kick. Isaac Hughes then didn’t do enough with his shot after Toomey picked him out in the box and a midfield win saw Hamilton drive one wide. These were only impressions of chances but still. Not as much going for Suburbs who were knocking it around well until they got up to that midfield block and reverted back again... although Otto Ingham did get Adam Supyk booked running hard and direct and drawing a foul. Then he ran at him again two minutes later and won another foul... one of those ones where he’d surely have been booked had he not just already been booked. Last chance territory for Supyk.
Sims’ passing was a little off here on a very windy arvo (although just seeing a kiwi keeper attempt some of those pingers is impressive enough), and he got himself picked off on 25’ with a short one which gave Nguyen a pop at lifting it over him and into the empty net but Nguyen put it wide. Those turnovers were coming more regularly now and both ways too. But it was the WeeNix looking a lot more dangerous, Toomey getting amongst it, Chiari getting up the line, and Nguyen getting on the ball in the box and swivelling enough to get a shot away through the legs of Bruno Penney for the first goal of the match after 37 minutes.
Then Luis Toomey scored directly from a free kick on the brink of the half and 51 seconds after the second stanza began, old mate Toomey had another one. Sims had gotten in trouble with the ball at his feet in his area, stepping past Josh Rudland and drawing a free kick... then turning back to stare down Rudland. Nice and feisty (though Rudland was entitled to go for the ball and it was a win for Sims to get the free kick, so no worries). But taking the free kick short with the Nix pushing up saw them go side to side and then lose the ball. Toomey drifted past Will Gillion and buried it. A goal on either side of the break and suddenly the game had a wildly different perspective.
Five mins later, Charlie Beale flipped one over for Josh Rudland attacking at pace. His square ball was turned back across goal by Nguyen and then tapped in by Rudland staying with it. Flag went up for offside instantly but the ref did to have a yarn with the lino amidst heavy protests from the WeeNixers because Otto Ingham had been lingering behind Rudland potentially playing him on. Decision stood and the replay suggested that it was the right call.
But Rudland did get a goal soon after. A ball over the top got Adam Bell stuck waiting for Kees Sims to come out and grab it, Bell panicking at the last moment and headed it back... right as Sims was coming out to grab it. Ball bobbled away behind them both for Rudland to tap into an open net. This was an absolute implosion from a very young Wests team. Lessons a-plenty... which I guess was the whole point.
Both teams went to the bench with Dan McKay (WP) and Muse Abrahaberhe & Reilly Marlow-Jones (WS) given National League debuts. And Wests were able to steady the ship for a while there... until Luis Toomey broke away in midfield on 67’ and slipped in Kaelin Nguyen who managed to squeeze his second of the day past Sims for 5-0. Leading us to triple sub time for the WeeNix as Billy Check, Ben Wallace & Noah Karunaratne all got handed a run, taking their list of total players used this Series up to 24. Suburbs also threw on Albie Francis-Alles and Owen Moyo as both teams emptied the benches with the exceptions of their backup goalies – Suburbs taking their player total up to 26 thanks to these rotations with eight of their 15 players in this match making their National League debuts.
Abrahaberhe did almost get in behind with the keeper Gray out of his area but Gray was able to get a foot on the ball to shut that one down. Back up the other end Lukas Kelly-Heald should probably have done more with his back stick header off a Toomey free kick. LKH has been playing centre-back these last two weeks but after a few subs were made he got a run at his more preferred left-back... picking out Toomey on one occasion whose shot was palmed away smartly by Sims. In all honesty, things got impatient after all the changes with a bunch of fresh dudes trying to impress before the season ended. A bit too frantic and direct. Better than just counting down the clock though.
Luis Toomey wasn’t counting down the clock, that’s for sure. 88th minute, great ball down the line from the impressive Henry Hamilton, and Tooms got to the byline where he sliced back to shoot from a tight angle and... second game in a row for the WeeNix with a hat-trick scorer.
Luis Toomey scored twice against Selwyn and now three times against Wests. Five goals in his last two games. Been setting them up all season. Carrying on some great form last National League campaign too. There have been a heap of WeeNix guys given opportunities within the wider A-League squad over the last couple of years, gotta think that Luis Toomey is pretty bloody close to being the next man up. If he were a defender he’d probably already be over there.
Peep at the WeeNix dudes celebrating this goal right in front of Mike Faber and Ben Stroud on the sideline, who would have been the starting central defence pairing for Suburbs had they been at full strength…
Sabo made a good block to deny Karunaratne while Marlow-Jones had a crack for Wests late on but that goal was the last major moment here. The game ending 6-0 to the Wellington Phoenix who have scored 11 goals without concession in their last two matches. What’s extra impressive about that is they did so with new guys coming in. Van Hattum hops on a plane to Oz after four goals in three games so Rudland steps up and scored four goals in two games. Charlie Beale looked good. Lukas Kelly-Heald has been handy. And in keeping with Chris Greenacre’s strategy they were able to dish out a good lot of experience across a couple of age groups within the academy which should only help things down the line
This game will be beneficial for Suburbs too, in its own way. A 6-0 loss looks awful but it was a weird sort of game because of how different their team looked. Take out Stroud, Faber, Clayton, van Rijssel, Taye, Gatkek, Delaney, Hough... this is what can happen. But it was by design. Last game of the season, nothing to play for, send the kids out to gain something valuable rather than going through the motions.
And what we saw was a Western Suburbs team that still looked like Western Suburbs. Looking to play quick possession football. Building up from the back. Their inexperience got them in trouble a few times but they didn’t stray from the course. Not a lot going on in the attacking third for them, struggling to get through the WeeNix’s midfield (which with Toomey & Hamilton was their most experienced area) and then once things went awry they lost their heads. Not emotionally... but in that way of compounding their own errors. You live and learn from those situations.
Also, we do see these kinds of games every now and then from teams with high-level philosophies. When the match-up goes wrong they can really go wrong. But it’s all in service of a greater cause. Perhaps not a coincidence that coach Ben Sippola was doing his Marcelo Bielsa impersonation with the chilly bin seat, all he needed was a styrofoam coffee cup to complete the effect...
CASHMERE TECHNICAL vs WELLINGTON OLYMPIC
A fair bit less interesting for the Sunday slate of games but Cashy Tech did have a homer to close a successful year on the whole, hosting Wellington Olympic knowing that a point would get them third place on the South Central Series ladder. They named as strong a team as they had available to them... although coach Dan Schwarz did have to leave his brother Tom out after he pulled up sore last week. Cory Mitchell dropped back into central defence with Yuya Taguchi coming into the side. Jake Richards also got a first SCS start coming in at left back.
Wellington Olympic, on the other hand, qualified for the final with a week to spare so presumably anyone with a niggling injury got a rest. Plus one or two key players. It was still a strong line-up that Martin Pereyra Garcia picked but it definitely wasn’t the best available. Ben Mata and Kailan Gould were on the bench. Rory McKeown and Gianni Bouzoukis weren’t even in the squad. Unfortunately young midfielder Theo Ettema was out too, he went off in pain last week and it turns out he broke his leg, needing surgery on that one. Ettema’s been excellent in midfield despite being one of the youngest dudes on the park most weeks. He’ll be back better than ever, no doubt.
Instead Jaga Scott-Greenfield went back into the defensive trio, Jack-Henry Sinclair played out wide on the left, Nati Hailemariam came into the midfield as did Alex Palezevic, and Tor Davenport-Petersen returned from suspension to play up front with Josh Apaapa-Preston hanging off him. Five changes from the last-gasp 2-1 win over Western Suburbs. Do what ya gotta do.
Garbhan Coughlan glanced a header wide from a whippy Lyle Matthysen in-swinging free kick after five mins, the first proper chance in a game that had begun cautiously. Declyn Tyndall, the 19 year old, got into the area a couple times too but wasn’t able to pick out a teammate. Looks a real talent, that dude. Great strength and size for a teenager and with the ability to do some funky things with the ball at his feet too. Plus he’s a Short Sock king. Still waiting for his highlight moment though.
As was Jack-Henry Sinclair. Somehow the bloke had failed to score any of the fourteen goals that his team had buried in their previous four games. Still got a few assists in there so no dramas but for all his shots you’d have expected a few bangers in there. Now he was playing out on the wing... not that that’s ever stopped him. 10th minute of the match and Luke Tongue got caught waiting on Lukas Halikias cross and as it bounced and Sinclair snuck in, hurdled him, and nudged the ball home. Like, he literally hurdled him. Using that wider starting point like an invisibility cloak.
Coughlan couldn’t get his foot around a Richards feed straight after but it didn’t take long for Tech to get back level. Early cross in behind from Luke Tongue and Yuya Taguchi got there ahead of the defence to head in off the bounce. Nicely done from the both of them and after 17 mins it was 1-1.
Sinclair showed some slippery footwork to angle into the area at full sprint but then got booked for diving by a very decisive referee. No doubt that Hailemariam had been fouled soon after but Danny Knight was on form to catch Sinclair’s powered effort, then he tipped a Hailemariam one over the top not long after. Taguchi also sliced a shot wide down the other end. Enjoyably open game here, both teams seeking to be positive with nothing to lose. Pleasant change from a couple other Cashmere games in all honesty – granted you do want that variety of styles in a competition like this.
JHS was having a heap of fun. He pulled off a mint nutmeg on Alex Ballard at one point. Ready to show off all the tricks. Hailemariam whacked one over the bar a bit later. Then Coughlan put the ball in the net after a Taguchi through ball except the flag went up immediately. That was the pattern. Olympic with most of the ball in the in between spells, trying to work and unlock the Tech defence with quick, hard passes into the attacking third, while Tech say back then broke at pace when the opportunity arose. Quality save from Toby Hunt closing down Matthysen right before the half. Then Sinclair curled an attempt over the top. 1-1 at HT... during which we had another pitch invader in a dress at a National League game...
Always rate it when they let the kiddies run around on the pitch during the break. Make it special for ‘em.
More of the same after the break. Good fun. Sinclair had a pop sliding back onto his right foot. A couple times Cashy Tech were able to get that early switch out to target the space behind the WO wing-backs. One of those times it was Garbhan Coughlan on the end of the switch and up against a top tier defender like Justin Gulley he nonetheless managed to wax him with the little hesitation then burst of speed and Garbs lifted the ball past Toby Hunt on the angle... mate. That’s some damn fine striking. 2-1 to Tech.
Knight remained the nemesis of Sinclair by diving to push another free kick shot around the post. Hailemariam couldn’t pick out the bottom corner after Sam Mitrakas had slid him in. Meanwhile Luke Tongue blasted a free kick in that Hunt couldn’t hold, leading to a corner. And Hunt made another decent one off Taguchi after a ball over the top. It was almost a little too open. Something was gonna snap soon. That something was a penalty won by Cash – Matthysen slipping the ball through the legs of Gulley to get past him along the byline, with Gulls fouling him well outside the box but the contact continued into it and them’s the rules. Coughlan buried it. 3-1 after 66 mins.
It got silly after that goal. The Greeks figured there was nothing for it but to gamble on a comeback so they kept trying to raise the tempo and kept getting caught on the break in response. On came Kailan Gould up front... but before he could even touch the ball Cashy scored again. Low-ish cross from Coughlan intercepted by Scott-Greenfield but he bobbled it straight to Lyle Matthysen six yards out. LM dutifully poked in for 4-1. Still Olympic pushed on. Sinclair lifted another free kick slightly over the top. Gould almost got through on the run. Then as Hunt pushed away a cross from CT sub Yusuf van Dam it landed conveniently in front of Yuya Taguchi whose leaping volley thus made it 5-1 with ten mins remaining.
No more goals after that. Not for lack of trying – Kian Donkers hit the post for Cashmere T – but 5-1 was the way it finished. Nice to see National League debuts for Jack Ritchie and Dei Gatkek (brother of Wan) late on for Olympic, to go with van Dam for CT.
Strange game. It was genuinely evenly poised at the half but a couple Garbhan Coughlan goals and Olympic lost control against the kind of mercilessly organised team that punishes that kind of thing. It was the same as what we saw in the Saturday game: the team that rotated things drastically fell apart when the game began to get away from them. But the Greeks have bigger fish to fry next week. Won’t have enjoyed that getting away from them like it did, however they’ll bring back the rest of their big guns for the final as they seek to add the South Central Series to their Central League title for 2021. Cannot wait.
Elsewhere it was a lovely way for Cashmere Technical to close out the year. Five big ones, a hefty win the home fans to finish third in the SCS. A pair of goals for Coughlan to take him to three for the series. He was having plenty of joy out there skipping past defenders and whipping the ball around in that second half. Storer and Mitchell were excellent at the back too, while shout outs are in order for Fraser Angus who managed to get booked in four out of five matches of this comp. Also Taguchi and Matthysen were great, proving that this team may set up strong from the back but they’ve got plenty of flair in attack too. Next time we see that flair may well be in the Chatham Cup final...
MIRAMAR RANGERS vs SELWYN UNITED
Similar areas here where you had a finalist going through the motions ahead of next week up against a non-finalist who were therefore playing their last game of the season. Selwyn United yet to get a point in this comp despite some very solid battling performances. They were apparently missing a couple players who didn’t get their vaccine passes sorted in time but wouldn’t know it from the team - Mackenzie Caughey in for Jack Allatt was the only change. Allatt went off early last week after being rushed back from injury. Their other starting CB Dan Scholz was still out hurt too.
Stink news for Miramar during the week with the confirmation that Haris Zeb had broken his foot last game. Never the news you wanna hear – especially with their other starting wing-back, Jorge Akers, having suffered an awful leg break a couple weeks back. They’ll be able to sign each other’s casts at least. Best wishes to the both of them for their recoveries.
Rangers didn’t make anything near the alterations that Olympic made in their game. Nathan Simes and Flynn O’Brien came into the starting team by necessity but most of the big names were there. Schrijvers, Whyte, Mason-Smith, etc. Andy Bevin was on the bench but he was on the bench last week too. Yet what they did do was change the formation: shifting to a back four with Scott Midgley on the right and Liam Wood on the left. Make the formation fit the players available, as the saying goes. That meant Whyte/Dewar/Delhommelle in the middle with Simes and Barnett playing off SMS up front.
Miramar weren’t taking this one lightly. They were moving the ball around quickly with players drifting around searching for space. Central midfielder Hugo Delhommelle got around on the overlap for a low cross that was picked off by Pieter-Taco Bierema in goal. PTB also had no dramas with an Owen Barnett stinger of a shot. Some uncharacteristically sloppy touches in there sometimes and the Selwyn press did cause a few gasps from the home crowd on occasion. But the more Ollie Whyte got involved in attack, the better Miramar Rangers looked. 13 minutes played and Whyte combined with Barnett to get in behind the defensive line and he lifted one into the roof of the net, making a slightly tricky finish look easy peasy.
Rangers were doing some sexy things with the angles of their passing and all that. But Selwyn are Selwyn so it often ended with a crowded penalty area of defenders being able to scramble the ball away. Barnett did get a bit of space from SMS on the overlap but his shot went over the top. Then all of a sudden a mint curling cross from Jamie Carrodus, whose technical game stacks up with almost anyone in this league, caught Zac Jones rushing out a shade late (more about the quality of the ball than anything Jones did wrong) and Dorian Grault got there first with his head. Didn’t need much of a touch, just a wee bump. Back at even stevens, 1-1.
Whyte chipped a clever ball to the back post but the header was won by a defender. SMS chipped a clever ball into the middle but Whyte’s header was straight at Bierema. The pattern of the game was never going to change after Selwyn scored but it was a major vindicating boost to the visitors. PTB was able to scoop up a hard shot from Whyte at range. Then Jones did the same off Calum Murdoch. Afterwards it was PTB’s turn again off Delhommelle. Neither team afraid to pull the trigger if the opportunity arose. By the way, Bierema’s kicks outta the hand were enormous. Making the most of that Wellywood breeze.
Bierema also made a superb one-handed stop off Mason-Smith in the 37th min and another save low off a Whyte snapshot. Then one more after that from Whyte which he could only parry and Nathan Simes slipped it past him on the follow... but he was offside. PTB denied Mason-Smith 1v1 after a super ball from Whyte. Midgley volleyed one off target. Selly United managed to hang in there until the break but this was a lot to withstand. Having said that... they could easily have had a penalty when Grault went down in the box. Looked an alright shout to be honest.
Second half started with Simes lashing into the side-netting. How long could this continue at 1-1? Longer than Scotty Hales was comfortable with because on came Joao Moreira in the 55th min. Meanwhile this was a game with plenty of hard tackling, as you’d probably expect. Oliver Cosgrove and Sam Dewar went into the book in the first half. Flynn O’Brien got one for going in a little high on Dan Ede, who needed a bit of treatment but was able to continue. That was right in the midst of what was probably Selwyn’s best spell of the game and had Murdoch’s shot been just a little further inside than they’d have been up 2-1 on the hour. Instead it was drilled wide.
Rangers were undoubtedly missing the wide punch of their wing-backs so it was notable that Scott Midgley began getting up on that overlap and into the box. One of those moments he drilled one at the near post which was saved. Another he created a diversion to allow Joao Moreira to cut back inside and do this...
There it was. Emphatic. That’s what they’d been missing. 2-1 to Rangers on 64’, who then responded with a double sub of contrasting experience with Andy Bevin and James Marsh entering the fray. Selwyn also brought on Lear Otaki with Calum Murdoch struggling with cramp. Back to the action and Moreira had a far post tap-in ruined by a diving Bierema at his feet as Rangers kept on the way they’d been going. Whyte was sending fellas sliding. He blasted one more past the post before being replaced with 13 mins remaining by Max Falconer.
Miramar seemed have this one sorted. Taylor Schrijvers was delivering a blinder at the back and the only way they were gonna squander this was by their own mistakes. And even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. Falconer struck an effort of the underside of the bar which landed on the line and bounced clear. Unlucky brah. Selwyn lost two more players to injury as the game petered out. Isaac Topham went down with cramp, shout out to Marsh for doing the footballer’s duty in stretching that out for him. Then Otaki went down on his ankle quite badly as he dribbled down the left wing. Not good, hope he pulls up okay.
So... remember that thing about how only their own mistakes were gonna let United back into the contest? Yeah, that. For example Miramar really coulda done without the red card at the end. Schrijvers played a poor ball out which led to Sam Dewar sticking a leg in on Grault. Already on a yellow, that was him done a couple mins earlier than anticipated and it’ll also mean he’s suspended for the final next week. Bugger.
That call was fair enough. The penalty awarded to Selwyn deep into stoppage time for a Schrijvers shove on Grault less so. The arm was raised slightly but Schrivers was turning the other way and let’s be honest Grault was definitely looking for it. As he should do in that situation, the onus is on the ref to make the decision. And he made a very soft one. Jamie Carrodus buried it and for the second time this series Miramar Rangers drew thanks to a 95th minute penalty against them.
There you go. Nice for Selwyn to get that first point on the board. They really did cling on at times and the penalty was fortunate but they’ve had their share of unluckiness too so it balances out on the wider cosmic ledger. Fitting that Carrodus would score it... yet the man they’ve gotta thank most of all is Pieter-Taco Bierema for yet another magnificent goalkeeping display. Would say he single-handedly kept his team in the game at several stages but that’d be unfair because he was using both hands. And his feet too.
Miramar got quality from the usuals (although Schrijvers did let it slip at the end) and they won’t be worried about the draw for very long. The red card for Sam Dewar will leave more of a stinger, especially on top of the two injured wing-backs. Can’t expect ideal situations for a final though, that’s how it goes. This game was a free hit for them. Next week is what matters. We’ve seen multiple times over 2021 that there’s bugger all between Wellington Olympic and Miramar Rangers so strap yourself in for a brilliant end to the season.
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