Canterbury United vs Team Wellington

We’re so close to the end of this whole Premiership thing that it’s now time to start saying our farewells to some of these teams, such as the Cantab Dragons who have two more home games, maybe a semi-final if they’re lucky, and then it’s kaput. Well... for the men’s side anyway. The imperious Canterbury Pride women’s team will get to continue their reign of dominance for at least a season longer – it’s only the Auckland clubs in the Women’s Prem that are immediately reverting to club forms.

Huge game for the hosts even regardless as they sought to leap up into the playoff spots. But to do that they’d need to topple the second-placed TeeDubs who are just rounding into some serious form. Small matter of seven goals that they put past Eastern Suburbs last week. One change for the Dragons after their loss to Auckland City – Ihaia Delaney was out and Ben Stroud was in. Not a straight swap... which meant Stroud in at right back and Luke Tongue pushing into midfield. Then for Team Wellington it was Zac Jones who remained in goal, Scott Basalaj only fit enough for the bench in case of emergency, as they kept the same line-up that dealt to Suburbs so brutally. Ben Mata on the bench. Rory McKeown in at left CB. Jake Williams holding his spot at wing-back. Another run for that Barcia/Whyte combination in midfield. And of course Hamish Watson lurking for more goals.

Crazy start to this game, as Ben Stroud whipped a fantastic ball from deep in onto the run of Garbhan Coughlan in behind and he seemed through on goal just seconds after kickoff... until Taylor Schrijvers gave him a shoulder in the back and knocked him over. Penalty? Nope, play on. It almost looked too simple to be awarded but Coughlan had a decent shout there having been nudged over from behind. Fair play to him for getting up and chipping a tricky cross into the middle for Jones to punch away rather than staying down and having a moan about it. Schrijvers came outta that clash needing a bit of medical treatment but he was okay to continue.

There are a few ways in which teams play into Canterbury’s hands. One of the main ones is not being up for the physical battle so switched-on work from the TeeDubs to be dropping shoulders and marking tightly from the get-go. Unfortunately that made the next ten minutes into a scrappy arm-wrestle... until eventually the Wellingtonians began to knock the ball around with some more pace. A Jack-Henry Sinclair pass through for Sam Mason-Smith led to a cross that wasn’t dealt with all that convincingly. Interesting to see the strikers keen to drift wide to their respective edges (targetting the fullbacks rather than the large units that are Andrew Storer and Tom Schwarz), also interesting to see Schrijvers go in the book for a similar shoulder in on Yuya Taguchi to his previous one (but near halfway so different standards, so it goes). Then a mirror image foul on Coughlan by Watson went unchecked. The fourth official actually had to go have a word with a few fans after the Schrijvers card to tell them to shut their traps.

The Dragons would get into some areas then Dragons would be let down by poor crossing, such was the trend. Then a dash before the half-hour point of the game Whyte won the ball back on attack, slipped it to Watson who fed Jack-Henry Sinclair, and JHS shrugged off his injury-plagued season to bring back a flash of his supreme 2019-20 campaign as he thumped that ball low across goal and inside the far post for the opener. Super finish, and there you go with the breakthrough supplied from out wide. The plan working nicely for Team Welly so far.

Canterbury nearly levelled straight away as Coughlan crossed into the near post where Taguchi turned it goalwards but Zac Jones was well-positioned to make the save. The Cantabs were always at their most dangerous when those secondary runs were streaming past... but there wasn’t a lot of joy to be had anytime they engaged those TeeDubs defenders. Then in the 42nd minute came a real knockdown punch as Ollie Whyte stepped up and drew in a couple defenders, evading them to flip it wide towards Sinclair’s run. JHS squared it to Watson who let it roll to Bevin on the run and that fella took one gorgeous touch to lift the ball a few inches off the ground between the centre-backs and then dashed onto it to slot past Danny Knight and make it 2-0. By the beard of Zeus, what a beautiful goal.

Poor old Ben Stroud didn’t quite last the half. He’d had two separate injury breaks then soon after the second goal he clashed heads with Hamish Watson (yikes) and that caused some blood to flow so it was third strike and you’d better have a sit-down as Eddie Wilkinson replaced him – Luke Tongue back to right back. That was the state of things at half-time.

As for the second half... that was when things got a bit weird. At no point did it feel like the game was out of Team Welly’s control, Taguchi did have a nice volley on target about 35 seconds in but as impressive as the technique was it was still a simple save. Sinclair remained the main outlet for TW, though Sam Field finally got a couple wins against him with some tidy challenges, while Schwarz made a great recovering move to step in between JHS and the ball when it looked like he was about to shoot with only Danny Knight to beat. Meanwhile Zac Jones was strangely booked for time-wasting five minutes into the half... “there’s still 40 minutes to go, goalie!” was the shout from a vocal spectator.

No Hamish Watson goal was yet forthcoming. He went close on 56 mins as Sinclair picked him out (after some slick work from Bevin) but his low nudge with the laces didn’t have enough power or control and Knight made a good save diving low to his right. Probs needed to put the left boot through it instead. Then a sneaky moment up the other end as Jones was caught out of position but Scott Midgley had him covered to punt Eddie Wilkinson’s toe’d attempt away. The Cantabs were only ever a moment from getting back into it but that precision wasn’t quite there – that tendency probably contributing to quite a niggly last twenty mins, egged on by a large crowd of Cantabrians on a lovely sunny Christchurch afternoon. But while this was a rough game, it was never a dirty game.

In the end a 2-0 win for Team Wellington felt kinda routine. Not at their best, but good enough with the right tactics. JH Sinclair had a strong game looking as good as he has since he returned from injury. Andy Bevin continued his hot form. Ollie Whyte was just excellent, keeping that ball moving in midfield and playing with a tempo and a tidiness that is so enjoyable to watch. Played a part in both goals, remember. Obviously the defence did their jobs nicely too... and while Hamish Watson didn’t score, he did set up one goal and if he got a touch on that second one as the ball got to Andy Bevin then he might well argue he got an assist for that one too. Either way, his hold-up play is top notch and he certainly doesn’t need to score every week to be contributing to this team.

Not so flash for the Cantabs, they’ll need to win next week against the WeeNix and hope other results go their way if they’re gonna extend their existence into the semis. It could happen. They never really created the chances that they needed and when that’s the case, you can’t argue with defeat. Guys like Schwarz, Mitchell, and Coughlan always do their jobs but a lack of something extra was evident. Otherwise just frustrated by a better team... but they’re still in it with a week to go. Imagine saying that after they lost three in a row to kick things off.

Wellington Phoenix vs Auckland City

Bottom on the ladder against top on the ladder, one team ineligible to make the semis and the other already guaranteed first place. There are no meaningless games in this comp but this was probably as close as you’ll get to that status. With nothing to play for (for the next two weeks) that meant ch-ch-ch-changes for Auckland City as Conor Tracey was given his first appearance of the season. Last term he was great and Cam Brown couldn’t get a run. This time Cam Brown’s been great and Tracey couldn’t get a run. Too much goodness for one team – although the standard of keeping’s been pretty high across the whole league lately. It didn’t stop there either. New signings Kayne Vincent and Sam Brotherton got starting debuts. Maro Bonsu-Maro got a run. As did Albert Riera. Mario Bilen was back out there for his first start since week three, he lined up as a defensive midfielder with Brotherton and Kaltack at CB (in the now-usual back four shape). Phew... there we go, on the other hand just the one change for the hosts as Oskar van Hattum came in for George Ott.

Neither side was too interesting in wasting energy pressing the back four so the two sides took turns in knocking it around the defence before losing it further forward. Sam Brotherton did have a header on target from a corner but not with any kinda heat that’d trouble Paulsen. Cool to see Brotherton throwing himself about in defence too – love a bit of hunger from a returning pro.

You could tell Auckland City were missing a few of their main soldiers. Cam Howieson, Mario Ilich, Adam Mitchell, Dylan Manickum, Mohamed Awad... all absent. And what we got instead was a lot of unfamiliar stuttering in their build up play. The ball would die at the feet of Kaltack or Bilen as they looked up and found no options – a handy reminder how talented and valuable Howieson and Ilich are in the way that they play. This isn’t a team that takes excessive risks, they don’t need to. Not gonna send both fullbacks bombing forward and leave themselves vulnerable. They back their playmakers to unpick locks through persistent progressive footy but when a few of the most important lads to that model of play were missing... it was noticeable. Which in turn highlighted the lack of Manickum and Awad dropping into deeper areas to collect the ball. It just wasn’t there, other than a few spare occasions when Bonsu-Maro or Rogerson’s pace earned a bit of space.

Hence this first half was one that passed largely without action. It was only at the very end when the WeeNix strung a couple quick moves to shake things up. The 42nd minute of the match, that was when Luis Toomey curled a shot over the crossbar. The first clean attempt at that either side had managed to date. Ollie van Rijssel also dragged one wide after a feed from Ben Old soon after. A couple smooth counter attacking moves from the home side, breaking the pattern of defenders winning basically everything, though nobody cried when half-time was announced by the referee’s whistle, that’s for sure.

When the teams returned, Mario Bilen had dropped into a back three which made a lot of sense since he was sitting so deep he was basically in one anyway and this way the fullbacks would at least have licence to make use of that deep cover by getting further up. Except it didn’t quite work at first because 51 minutes into the game they conceded. It was a really nice move from the WeeNix with Rodwell pushing the ball forward to Old’s feet, who worked a one-two with OVH before sliding in Alex Clayton (on at the break for Naicker). Then just as it looked like Tracey would collect that cross, Riley Bidois appeared out of nowhere to touch it over him for the goal. Apples, aye? How about them?

There were already signs of the sleeping giant awakening coming out of HT but conceding the goal really did give Auckland City a wake-up call. Plus it also maybe played into some of the weaker tendencies of the WeeNix by giving them a lead to defend. They’ve had quite a few games where they tried but failed to do exactly that – including last week (2-1 up vs HBU with 20 to play... ended up losing 3-2). Yousif Al-Kalisy was the first guy to start picking up the tempo with a few daylight robberies of the ball, including one which set up MBM for a decent chance that Paulson two-handed away to safety.

They were starting to run out of time though. Dre Vollenhoven came on and provided some extra energy in place of Vincent, yet with about twenty mins left they would have been in massive trouble had Ben Old’s early cross on the break intersected with Riley Bidois’ run... but nah just out of his reach. Vollenhoven then finally gave ACFC a decent shot at goal with a bomb from outside the box that he got under a little too much. Then he got a shot off in traffic on 75 mins after a quality team move but it was straight at Paulsen. They needed something more than that and they needed it fast.

Then this happened...

Luis Toomey going in a little high and a little late on Logan Rogerson on the wing there. Not a lot in it but he was already on a yellow card and had already had a warning. Toomey looked bemused. It was definitely not an overly dangerous one but that’s the way the cookie crumbles and the WeeNix would have to close it out with ten men.

Ollie van Rijssel went into Toomey’s CM position (Tooms himself had dropped deeper after Adam Hillis was replaced – probably at least in part, with a slice of irony, because he was on a yellow card), with Harry Bark coming off the bench (for OVH) to slip into OVR’s left back role. Rightio, all set to defend the last quarter of an hour and... oh damn they’ve already conceded. Logan Rogerson getting the ball from MBM who didn’t have room to turn and shoot, Rogerson however having more than enough room as he lashed in a low shot off the inside of the far post. His finishing can be pretty inconsistent but that strike was perfect. 79 minutes on the clock and scores were tied.

Mario Bilen was perhaps lucky to escape with only a yellow when he went in with his sprigs showing on Ben Old... and then after that the game kinda slowed down. Auckland City lost a touch of urgency after getting back on equal pegging while the WeeNix just didn’t have the numbers going forward. Under the circumstances both teams were pretty fine with a draw, although Logan Rogerson did go close twice more, once where he touch got away with him running across goal trying to bring down a bouncing ball then the next time Alex Paulsen closed him down just in time. There was frustration from the Phoenix lads when the final whistle blew, this was their final home game after all, but so it goes. 1-1 the way it ended.

All four starting centre-backs had impressive games. Finn Surman, Kurtis Mogg, Brian Kaltack & Sam Brotherton. Partly that’s because of the aforementioned way of the game but they still won almost all that was there to win. Al-Kalisy, Rogerson and Vollenhoven were the trio who really sparked the comeback for the Navy Blues so shout out to them. Also shout out to Riley Bidois who continues to be a goal scorer at this level – his fifth of the season after three in the last.

Waitakere United vs Hawke’s Bay United

Once upon a time Hawke’s Bay United had lost five games in a row. The first five games of the season no less. Fast forward to the penultimate round and they were still in with a shot of the semis thanks to a hefty turnaround in fortunes which began in the sixth game... with a 2-0 win over Waitakere United. Jesse Randall with both games that day in Napier. Now it was time for the return leg with neither team capable of handling another defeat. Even a draw would be a blow – no more second chances from here.

Waitakere United with three changes after the last-second loss to Hamilton as Dylan Hobson and Nic Milicich came into the back three... which makes it nine different back three combos in 13 games. Also Nathan Lobo swapped in for Reggie Murati, Zac Zoricich swapping sides to the right (Hobson, Milicich & Zoricich all being the sons of, if you were wondering). Hawke’s Bay made two changes from the comeback win over the WeeNix: Scott Morris returning with the gloves and Gavin Hoy rewarded after a couple smooth cameos off the bench to win his starting spot back up front at the expense of Cam Emerson. Hoy’s 50th HBU appearance... though he was overshadowed in that regard by player-coach Bill Robertson’s own milestone...

This was the telly game and all praise to [insert deity here] that it was also the last time we’ll have to watch a game at Seddon Fields this season, last time we’ll have to see that trampoline bounce and bobble and the puff of rubber pellets that has inhibited so much football over the summer. Even the home coach, Paul Hobson, was talking about the difficulties of it in his pre-game yarn to Sky Sport. The away coach, Chris Greatholder, also spoke about this needing to be more of a ‘territory battle’ than a possession battle. Not exactly what you wanna hear before a match but we know the situation.

Both teams started this game with a busy energy, Waitakere winning the midfield battle but HBU controlling the width. Not a lot going on for either goalkeeper in those stages but Alex Greive and Ahmed Othman both worked their way into dangerous areas, Othman doing so a couple of times. HBU had a couple attacking set pieces. Gerard Garriga Gibert had a shot blocked by Bill Robertson’s arm which the ref didn’t spot. There was a wonderful move down the right by Jorge Akers with Hoy setting up Karan Mandair but his shot was over the top. 25 minutes in on the steamy turf and this one was high on ambition but low on genuine clear chances. Blame the terrible playing surface, blah blah blah.

Waitakere had the better of that territorial duel towards the latter stages of the first half. Morris pushed a Dane Schnell shot wide that was maybe already going wide. There was never any hesitation to pump the ball into the box from any dead ball scenario. Jackson Woods did go close for HBU when he blasted past the far post but not a lot else was happening. HBU pretty much happy to sit their entire midfield behind the ball and leave the strikers and maybe an enthusiastic wing-back to do the counter-attacking work. Keeping it a hundy... bit of a mud half of footy, really. Which was ironic given there was no mud involved.

Thankfully proceedings heated up after that and how exactly nobody put a finishing touch on Alex Greive’s low ball across goal was a mystery. Schnell and Zoricich were both there. Neither could get the tiny touch it required... and the ball hit the post and escaped. Greive was getting into string-pulling mode and that’s a danger for any team in the league... though all of a sudden HBU got out on the break and Hoy fed Manny Achol running through before Nathan Lobo chopped him down. Bit of chaos for a few seconds as players from each team plead their cases... the ref deciding on a yellow card to go with the free kick, nothing more. Right on.

That was the pattern. Waitakere mostly bossing things but with HBU a constant threat on the break. Alex Greive had a shot which flew over the top. That just seconds after Sam Pickering surely handballed in the area having misjudged a header. No call on that though. Greive smashed another one wide – if it’s gonna come for Waitakere then it was gonna come through him. Here’s a glimpse at that handball...

That’s a bullet dodged is what that is. The other thing was that if neither of these teams could find that necessary edge in front of goal then we were staring at a first 0-0 draw of the entire season. 65 mins and it was Hoy and Achol combining again for Hawke’s Bay with Hoy holding off a couple markers and slipping a cheeky ball between through to Achol but he couldn’t beat Nick Draper. Hoy had a chance of his own soon after in a moment of broken play but his shot was straight into a defender. Then some hesitant goalkeeping from Draper against the looping turf bounce caused some chaos which led to Hoy having another crack but again he hit a covering defender, even with the keeper out of the picture. It was just that lack of precision in front of goal, aye?

And they were made to pay for that on 72 minutes. Leon van den Hoven, on as a sub, figured enough of this bullkaka, I’m gonna have a crack. He blasted it, Scott Morris got a big hand to it... but just when it looked like he’d made an incredible stop it dropped into the net. Morris had come back out for the second half with the baseball cap on so you know the sun in his eyes was an issue. Plus he so nearly saved it... LVDH’s stunned reaction was pretty good evidence that he wasn’t expecting that to go in. Nearly a brilliant save, instead it goes down as an error. No margins for error in this sport, friends.

Two minutes later Karan Mandair’s arm blocked a cross from Sam Burfoot and this time it was a penalty. Greive shot down the middle, Morris once again got a hand on it and once again couldn’t stop it from creeping in. Greive did just enough to earn his sixth goal of the season – and third from the penalty spot (only Cam Howieson has scored as many from the spot). Waitakere dominating the early stages of the second half to no avail, then just as they’re under some serious pressure they go and score a couple. Still the scoreless draw ice-out continues!

Cam Emerson should have dragged one back on 78 mins but he scooped over the top off Zac Madsen’s cross (two subs combining) from about nine yards out. We’ll be kind and say maybe there was some turf bounce that got the best of him. Draper made a great diving save over his back shoulder to keep out a deflected shot from Madsen out on the right again. Achol had a shot headed away. Mandair dragged a low shot for a simple save. Waitakere went into game management mode for the last ten minutes but with HBU having to commit forwards that still gave them some useful moments on attack, such as when Morris dove to palm away a Schnelly effort. Nah, 2-0 would do it. Waitakere finally win a game without needing to score four times... and crucially they keep that playoff fire burning.

On the other hand, Hawke’s Bay will be feeling rather bummed by all that because it ends their hopes to go beyond next week, can’t get top four now, and it’s not like they were played off the park. They had their chances, especially just before the first goal. Didn’t take them... that’s what happens. Bill Robertson was immense for them at the back in his 100th game. Gavin Hoy had one of his best showings. Manny Achol was involved in heaps. As were the wing-backs of Woods and Othman. But that one little pesky problem of not putting the ball in the net meant those efforts were wasted.

Waitakere, in contrast, did score a couple goals and that was what matters. Once again it was Alex Greive running the show in attack. Sam Burfoot covered a heap of territory. Nick Draper had a solid game. Now they’re up in the top four at the conclusion of a round for the first time since week two... meaning that if they win against Auckland City at Kiwitea Street then they’re in. Easier said than done, of course.

Eastern Suburbs vs Hamilton Wanderers

Bringing us to the most consequential game of the lot where Suburbs and Wanderers battled away at Madills Farm (finally, a game on grass). Wanderers playing to book their place in the top four after a recent surge in form while Suburbs have been trending in the opposite direction and are trying to grasp for a something to hold onto lest they tumble the whole way down the side of the cliff. Let’s just, ah, take a quick peek at these tactics, hmm...

Oh tell you what, that’s a curious one. See the red dots there? Looks like a cheeky back three. After conceding ELEVEN unanswered goals in two games, Hoani Edwards’ side could certainly have been forgiven for changing up their shape and initially it did indeed look like a back trio with Adam Thomas, Christian Gray and Robi Sabo sitting in... but someone was probably out of position because pretty soon they looked it was clear that it was just their standard 4-3-3 shape with Sabo and Kelvin Kalua at fullback. That board looks more like in-possession and out-of-possession shapes with the front three up top. Two CBs, with a holding mid ten metres in front to allow the wide defenders to get forward. That kinda thing. Anyway, all up there were three changes to the personnel – Thomas, Kalua & Campbell Strong coming in for Rogerson, van der Heijden & Feutz. Elsewhere Wanderers picked the same eleven that topped Waitakere, though with no Tommy Semmy in the squad as he continues to battle them muscle injuries. Prioritising the Semmy for the semis, it seems.

The first few minutes of this match unfolded in a splattering of free kicks that kept anything from really happening. Then Wanderers began to construct a couple things off the back of Joe Harris long throws, with Derek Tieku and Jordan Lamb looking onto it. But then, out of seemingly nothing, a Suburbs counter attack was stopped by Dylan Morris’ late covering challenge on Dan Edwards and despite being a considerable margin away from the goal, this was the result...

Yup, not sure about that one. His leading leg was off the ground but he slid in front of Edwards so it can’t have been for the danger of the tackle. Had to be for chopping down a player through on goal except Edwards still had a lot of work to do. 18 minutes played and Wanderers down to ten men. I tell ya, the refereeing in this league sometimes... goddamn.

In response Wands dropped their wingers into a 4-4-1 with Xavier Pratt having to play at right back. That cost them their off-ball coverage across the Suburbs backline which therefore meant pretty easy possession at the back, Suburbs instantly switching from back foot leg glances to front foot drives and stringing a few attacking moves together largely involving Kingsley Sinclair getting in behind from the right wing. The combined effort of that defensive group kept Suburbs to very few shooting opportunities though, fair play to them, while Derek Tieku always provided some respite with his hold-up stuff. He might have actually done better with a back-post header that dropped like a feather and into Danyon Drake’s hands.

Speaking of respite, Tommy Semmy had a decent possie, aye?

Suburbs kept on working crosses towards the far post but nothing was doing there. Sinclair did fire one over the top though for the most part Wanderers had to be pretty stoked with how they were dealing with the man disadvantage. And if they weren’t, they certainly were soon after when they took the lead. Pratt chipping a free kick into the area where Christian Gray could only skim his header as he back-tracked and Tino Contratti swooped in behind him to score. Poaching 101 from Contratti... who probably would have five goals this season were he better able to keep his headers down and whatnot. Instead this was his first of the season but he bloody loved it. Down to ten men since the 19th minute but Wanderers took a 1-0 lead into the sheds for HT.

No doubt that the Suburbs lads got a rark up at the break because they came out with the frenetics on display. A couple awkward balls into the area were followed by Sinclair having a low driven cross/shot pushed onto the post and in five minutes there they looked more dangerous than they had all first half. It was enough encouragement to chuck Ryan Feutz on there for that bonus creativity... bit surprising he didn’t start but once they were up against ten men it was inevitable that they’d want his pace and skill out there. Meanwhile a slick Jordy Lamb run did lead to Josh Signey popping one wide at the other end just to keep everyone on their toes.

At which point Reid Drake scored a brilliant goal. Robi Sabo drilled in a low cross that almost accidentally made its way to Reid Drake who brought it under his control, dummied to send a defender past him, then picked out the top corner beautifully. That’s how it’s done, kids.

You’d have thought Eastern Suburbs might run away with it from there... but they didn’t. Wanderers produced the kind of top notch game management skills that have eluded them through most of the season, winning free kicks and playing the territory game and all that. Joe Harris and Tino Contratti were bossing pretty much everything that found its way into their area – Stephen Hoyle was getting visibly frustrated with it all. By the time we got to the last five mins it was ten men behind the ball on defence with no exceptions. Wanderers perfectly happy with what they had at 1-1... and for good reason. A draw was enough to book them into a semi-final spot with a week to spare.

Suburbs barely had a relevant shot to speak of after the goal. Contratti in particular was absolutely fantastic, even without the goal he’d have been man of the match for his defensive exploits alone with a sheer determination to win the ball any time it got within his line of sight. A couple sharp intakes of breath as Adam Thomas smacked in a few low crosses but there was always someone there are the near post to deal with them. Seven minutes of injury time later, the final whistle blew and you know what that means...

That, folks, was the fifth 1-1 draw of Wanderers’ season. Lots of missed opportunities amongst those five games but they’re also five massive points that have helped get them to where they are. The three wins at the start of the campaign are doing some heavy lifting on the table but 8 points from the last 4 games has also steadied them to where they now cannot be caught in third place. In fact if they beat Team Wellington in the capital on Saturday then they’ll finish second and earn a home semi. Delightful stuff... Canterbury’s game against the WeeNix will be the last turf game of the season. Already mentioned the central defenders. Adam Davidson was pretty good too, even if Kingsley Sinclair did slip away from him at times. Derek Tieku did his thing in a much more undercover way – no goals for he or Hamish Watson means that Watto keeps a one-goal lead on that Golden Boot heading into the decider next week. Surely the respective coaches don’t rest their star strikers, right? Surely not. And Brad Whitworth and Josh Signey, the two English midfielders, did a heap of work in there too. Especially Whitworth.

The Playoff Hunt

Eastern Suburbs aren’t out of this though. It was a disappointing result as they never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. A little short of ideas, short of some of that creative guile perhaps. It’s a draw that’ll feel like a loss with the man advantage that they had for 70+ minutes... but that point could yet be massive for them as it keeps them ahead of Canterbury. Basically there are three teams competing for one position now and none of them are playing each other. Waitakere have the upper hand on points but they also have the toughest game. Here’s the situation...

• Waitakere United (17 points, +3 GD) – away to Auckland City (Sat 3pm)

• Eastern Suburbs (16 points, +1 GD) – away to Hawke’s Bay Utd (Sun 4pm)

• Canterbury United (15 points, -6 GD) – home to Wellington Phoenix (Sat 2pm)

Where it gets even trickier is that NZF have used a head to head tiebreaker to split teams, which presumably is still the case (Auckland City sure thought so as they claimed the Minor Premiership last week). With all three of them having played each other, Waitakere has the tiebreaker over both Canterbury (meaning that if Waitakere don’t lose, then the Dragons are out regardless) and Eastern Suburbs. Suburbs also have the tiebreaker against Canterbury (a win each, but 3-2 to ES on aggregate... assuming that’s how this works). But Canterbury have the most winnable game, home against the bottom team.

Bloody tough to predict, that’s for sure. The other game, which decides second place (and the Golden Boot), is on Saturday at 1pm if you were wondering. Oh and that game is also a preview of a semi-final as Wanderers and Team Welly will meet again the following week at the home of whoever wins. My God, what a weekend of football this shall be.

Support what we do on Patreon if you reckon we’re worthy of some kinda financial recompense

Also whack an ad to say cheers and sign up to our email thing (for a Week 13 Team of the Week!)

Keep cool but care