The Premmy Files – Men’s Premiership, Week 11
Wellington Phoenix vs Hamilton Wanderers
One of the beauties of the Premiership is how it combines serious football with an unserious environment. Like how this game between the WeeNix and the Tron Wands had to be delayed by more than two hours as Hamilton’s flight to the capital was cancelled the night before. Instead they had to take a bus up to Auckland and fly from there. At which point Kale Herbert’s team must have been diving deep into the ‘what else could possibly go wrong this season’ yarns with this coming after an injury time equaliser conceded last week to extend their winless streak to seven matches.
When they finally did get to Fraser Park it was an unchanged eleven from the lads who got the better of the Cantabs for 92 minutes last week (only to get got in that pesky 93rd). Still no Brock Messenger while Josh Signey remained outside the squad after missing last game with suspension. Pretty sure he shoulda been available since it was only a double-yellow red card that he got, a one-gamer, but Owen Comber did well last time so cool to see him hanging in there. Same deal for Dylan Morris at right back.
Those blokes were met by a WeeNix team that were reeling from that eight goal defeat in more ways than one. The psychic damage for sure. But also the suspensions of Finn Surman and Ben Old - it was Ollie van Rijssel who was sent off in mistaken identity for Old but Old got the retroactive suspension while OVR was cleared to start here. Which makes ya wonder... Old won’t be available until the last game of the season so why not just chuck him on an immediate plane to Wollongong to link up with the A-League team? If anyone deserves promotion from this squad then it’s him. Elsewhere George Ott got another start, meaning he lined up against a few of his old Hamilton buddies. Plus Kris Naicker came into the defensive line, as did Jaylen Rodwell, and Ole Academy goalkeeping prospect Kees Sims was handed a debut between the sticks with future superstar Alex Paulsen given a break. Probably had a sore back from picking the ball out of the net eight times in a single game.
It was a pretty interesting set up from Paul Temple’s side. Last meeting against HW they defended deep for most of it, scored on the break in the second half, but were pegged back late for a 1-1 draw. Yet through injury, suspension, university, and rotation only four of the lads that started there also started this one so it was a very different look. Specifically... a back three. Naicker, who tends to play fullback, sitting on the right of a trio with Rodwell and Kurtis Mogg while Alex Clayton and Ollie van Rijssel lined up at wingback. As you often see with these shapes though, Rodwell had a licence to push up into midfield when the team was in possession. Five at the back with width when defending, the extra man in midfield with fullbacks ready to push forward when on the attack.
To start with that back three was mostly stuck in deep defensive mode. A Xavier Pratt dummy down the left put Adam Davidson behind and he cut the ball back to Derek Tieku on the penalty spot but he couldn’t get control on the spin and his shot was easily saved by Sims. A few mins later Tieku lobbed to Pratt but his strong header was also saved. Good start by the debutant keeper. The WeeNix’s first foray forward came about a dozen mins deep when Ott almost escaped into space at the near post but it closed up and he was blocked. But from the resulting corner Matt Oliver had to make a genuinely brilliant save off Ott’s close range header. Good lord that was a save.
Jordan Lamb looked sharp for HW. He has done in all his opportunities this season as a player who can beat a defender one on one, though perhaps he hasn’t had enough of the finishing product when this team has needed it – outside of getting the winner off the bench against the Cantabs a while back. Lamb went dribbling to feed Tieku but he was blocked. All those WeeNix defenders getting in the way was becoming a regular sight already.
Then something bad happened: Tommy Semmy pulled up hurt right as he was about to stretch his legs out with the ball in space. He immediately trudged off to be replaced by Lewis Reid which meant a huge 75 minute window for another one of those NYL grads from Hamilton... but he’s no Tommy Semmy. The way Semmy just gave up his run like that was a very bad sign for a guy who has been battling muscle injuries all season. Fingers crossed he can play again at some point this season, HW haven’t been the same without him.
Back to business now where Tieku was starting to get annoyed at some of the treatment he was getting, while things were getting impatient in the Wanderers midfield. Comber couldn’t get the contact on a cross from the right. The same dude was easily denied by Sims soon after. Lewis Reid had a shot off target. The pressure was stepped up with Tieku ready to shoot on sight himself but it did have a directionless feel to it.
Then Alex Clayton stormed forward down the right side and beat Tino Contratti to the ball before cutting inside onto his left foot to slot it past Matty Oliver for the 1-0 WeeNix lead. They lost 8-0 last week. They were without a couple of their best players. Now they were leading 1-0 against a top four side with half an hour gone. Regardless of whatever else was gonna follow, big thumbs up for the mentality.
In fairness to HW, they were also missing key players. No Messenger, Signey, or Semmy. But same as it has been for a couple months they need those second tier guys to step up and it’s not been happening. Derek Tieku was getting furious now with calls not going his way. He combined nicely with Lamb but again Sims made a sharp stop. Wanderers were getting into some useful places but nothing was opening up for them against a WeeNix side that may be an U20s group but with guys like Kurtis Mogg and Adam Hillis there’s enough muscle there to hold their own which is exactly what they were doing. 1-0 at half-time.
After seven games without a win we were getting into must-win territory for Wanderers, as such there was major relief as Joe Harris made an important block on Riley Bidois after a quick throw almost exposed HW. Then they got back on the jump, as Sims pushed a Morris effort to safety at his near post before Lamb smacked one wide. It was corner kick after corner kick. Still no way through... until the 62nd minute. Owen Comber got tangled up by Jonty Roubos and that was a penalty. Unnecessary from the sub who had only come on for a hurt Alex Clayton minutes earlier. Derek Tieku missed the penalty... but he tapped it in on the follow before Sims could recover.
Meaning the focus for HW now became: could they score a mythical second? Because when they’ve scored twice or more they’ve won each time, but despite being the only team to have scored in every game they hadn’t got two in a game in any of those seven winless afternoons. After Tieku’s goal they must have had like 70% possession the rest of the way but they still couldn’t do much with those corner kicks, while a Joe Harris Territory free kick went straight at Sims, and time was ticking away.
With fifteen to play the WeeNix nearly landed a sucker punch. Van Rijssel it was with a great cross as they broke forward but Roubos lifted his touch over the top trying to stretch out for it. The same bloke had another chance as Tommy Raimbault sent him through. Roubos beat the offside trap and he rounded the keeper but then ran out of room and it got away from him for a goal kick. Not the happiest cameo that Jonty Roubos will ever have, sadly. Basically straight after that second chance Lewis Reid played a clever pass to Jordan Lamb when he could have shot instead and Lamb turned and shot and scored. A cheeky bit of misdirection with the turn and finally the WeeNix defence was broken (through open play).
That proved to be a 78th minute winner. Jordan Lamb’s second of the season, what was that about him needing to score more goals? Yeah boy. Only drama was he limped off clutching at his groin late on with Liam Fellowes getting a brief run. It was flawless time wasting from Wanderers as they closed the game out for a 2-1 victory that must have felt like a looooong time coming. Because it was. November 29 was the last time they earned a three-pointer. A streak in which they conceded an 86th minute leveller against Waitakere and a 93rd minute leveller against Canterbury. They had to come from behind to get it done as well. Not their best performance by any means but it’s their most crucial result in a while. Even lifts them up to third.
You have to feel for the WeeNix who put in such a committed performance. All their defenders were wonderful, with Hillis also having a strong game and Kees Sims looks a massive prospect himself. The WeeNix can’t play semis anyway so the fact that they’ve slipped out of likely contention doesn’t matter too much, what matters more is that they put in a fine response to last week’s travesty. Which they did. Also, quick shout out to Seth Karunaratne who came on late for a sneaky milestone debut..
Waitakere United vs Eastern Suburbs
Rightio, next game up and it was West against East in the City of Sails. Waitakere finally won another game last week having gone eight in a row without a dub. One of the star men from that thriller of a 4-3 win over Team Wellington was Gerard Garriga Gibert... but he also picked up his fifth yellow that day so none of his influence here. Luckily Sam Burfoot returned from suspension to take his spot. Elsewhere Rob Dymond returned in the back three but other than that it was all the same blokes. Eastern Suburbs also had a nice win at the last time of asking... that 8-0 blowout against the WeeNix. A couple red cards made the game a farce but damn there was some scintillating stuff from Suburbs. As such not a hair was out of place as an identical line-up strolled out at Seddon Fields. Stevie Hoyle did show up on the bench again though.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Suburbs were brimming with confidence after scoring eight last game. They were immediately knocking the ball around with zip and looking to take every restart quickly and five minutes in they almost struck as Adam Thomas slipped a clever ball in for Jake Mechell who squared for Kingsley Sinclair and Nick Draper made a supreme save but tbh you probably oughta score from here...
Had all the goal to aim for but put it in an area where the keeper could get to it. Still a great save tbf. As for Waitakere, they weren’t pissing around. A couple long balls from the get go. Any opportunity to get Nic Milicich on the long throw. And after a quiet first ten minutes they began to get a few things steaming off the back of all that as Jack Duncan curled one towards goal after a short corner which Danyon Drake saved, then a near howler from Drakey where he gifted the ball to Duncan 18 yards out but DD recovered to make an incredible save to tip Dunc’s shot off target. Looked like Drake had stubbed his toe as he tried to chip a ball out to the wing. A near-casualty of the rubbish surface.
Duncan was right in the action. He had another shot saved after Andrew Cromb had pumped a wonderful ball down the line, Danyon getting his angles perfectly there. Then another save down low at the near post after another short corner routine. Dunc with about four or five shots on target inside the opening twenty minutes.
Here’s a Classic Prem moment for ya, Eastern Subs with a corner kick after-and-including some sketchy Waitakere defending. It ends with Ryan Feutz volleying about three goals too high but keeper Nick Draper wasn’t happy about something (his poor clearance had invited the pressure in the first place) and he gave his post a good kicking in frustration. Leading to a stern word from the ref who then had to check the portable goal was still exactly where it was supposed to be after the thumping it took...
After the initial zippiness, Suburbs were now having a bit of trouble holding onto the ball in midfield. Sam Burfoot and Leon van den Hoven and Dane Schnell hunting like wolves in a pack... and soon enough their team had something to feed upon. Of course it came from a Milicich long throw-in. Hurled it into the box where Zac Zoricich managed to somehow flick an acrobatic touch off his heel. Dane Schnell held it up with his back to goal, sliding it to Duncan. And Jack Duncan made his fifth shot on target count as he drilled it low where it needed to go.
And three minutes later it was two. Right after Ryan Feutz had demanded a save out of Draper as he swung his boot through a ball that seemed to take forever to drop for him, Draper sent it long to where Van den Hoven ran onto the second phase and just kinda kept running towards goal. Nobody closed him down so he rolled the dice on a low shot which Danyon Drake couldn’t get a glimpse of until too late and it rolled into the bottom corner. Hard to tell if there was a deflection on it, there might have been a slight one given how Drake reacted.
Greive thought he’d made it three in the 32nd min when he pounced on a parried shot that Reggie Murati had unleashed but as Greive skidded onto the ball in a puff of rubber pellets... the offside flag shot up. Probably the right call based on the limited evidence that the replays offered. No dramas. He only had to wait another three minutes for his goal, Jaiden van der Heijden with his pockets picked by Sam Burfoot and Greive dashing away with the ball in a hurry before striking in his fifth of the campaign and his third in three games (but the first of those three from open play). Bloody hell, they were straight back on the attack again within seconds as Burfoot picked off a poor pass and next thing Schnell was one on one but couldn’t find a way past Drake, with Greive slicing his volley wide on the rebound. A reminder that this Suburbs team, this exact same eleven, won 8-0 last game. Now here they were getting sliced and diced down 3-0 in the first half. As the French would say: incroyable.
So what was happening? Well a significant hurdle for ES was playing on a surface unfit for football. The bobbles on Seddon Field wreaked havoc for a team that is very much about those one-touch passes. Suddenly those passes are flying off your shins and you’re losing the ball. A lot of their trouble in midfield was the same thing too, being unprepared for that trampoline bounce against a team that plays on this turf every second week. Suburbs did have a nice spell after the third goal in which Feutz had a decent chance that he couldn’t get on target... but you’d also have to say they were getting outrun in most areas. Whether there was some complacency after the 8-0, that’s possible. Can’t diagnose that without being in that dressing room. But no doubt about it that Waitakere were absolutely up for this.
Even still, if Easts could score next then you never know. Stranger things have happened. And they emerged from the sheds looking very much like a team that’d just suffered a bollicking from the coach. The energy levels were revived as Kingsley Sinclair had a crack within a minute of the restart. Reid Drake went close a little while after but Draper made a good stop, the save even better for being able to parry it out of danger as well as keeping it out of the net. On the hour mark Hoani Edwards went to his bench with Stephen Hoyle and Stafford Dowling both entering the arena and then Mechell seemed destined to score off a Dan Edwards low cross but his miss-hit his first touch and then by the time he got a proper shot away Draper had smothered him.
But all the while Waitakere were threatening too and on 63 minutes came a decisive moment in this match. Duncan holding off Edwards down the right, Greive getting on the ball in the box and whipping it across, Zoricich side-footing in the fourth goal of the afternoon and frankly folks there was no coming back from that. Incroyable times quatre.
Schnell couldn’t get on the end of a Greive through ball otherwise it woulda only been the keeper to beat. Drake made a really impressive save to keep Greive from stroking a second into the top corner. Zorro and Schnelly both had goal-bound shots turned away by defenders. Genuinely unsure how the Waitaks didn’t add a fifth during all that but then they subbed off Burfoot to give him a rest and dropped Greive and Schnell a bit deeper and that coincided (not a coincidence) with Suburbs getting back on the attack in search for a consolation. However yet again Nick Draper was too good, a subtle blinder of a game from that man. Log it in the books as a 4-0 win for Waitakere.
Wow, man. So Eastern Suburbs go from an 8-0 win to a 4-0 loss in the space of six days. A TWELVE goal swing. Absolute carnage. Also a reminder that despite the events of that WeeNix game this is still a team that has largely had to play without both Adam Thurston and Steve Hoyle who were key players when this team was at its best earlier in the campaign. Sean Bright too... they’ve actually only won one of their last five since Bright departed and were a late leveller away from that being four defeats aside from that 8-0er. We hadn’t seen anything close to this level of defensive frailty from them before, granted most of it stemmed from the midfield... what they woulda done for their old boy Leon van den Hoven on this day. Ah well, they’re still in the top four thanks to goal difference. It’s a tough run-in with Team Wellington (A), Hamilton Wanderers (H) & Hawke’s Bay Utd (A) on the calendar but semi-final places are earned, not gifted.
And although this wasn’t his finest day, quick shout out to Danyon Drake who even aside from his goalkeeping excellence is always a delight to watch play football...
Mate, them Waitaks. Burfoot and Van den Hoven were immense. Getting a foot in on everything, constant disruption, then steaming forward into attacking areas which led directly to two of the goals. Dane Schnell and Alex Greive as well. Jack Duncan. Zac Zoricich. The defence all chipped in too while this could have been a very different game without some of those Nick Draper saves. Last week I made the tongue-in-cheek joke about Waitakere only winning when they score four goals... well they did it again and they won again. Obviously when you score four goals you’re probably gonna win... but Waitakere haven’t won any of the eight matches in which they’ve scored less than four and have won all three when they’ve scored exactly four. Meh, 2-0 wins are boring, nobody needs ‘em. Just quietly these two wins in a row have Waitakere just a point off fourth.
Canterbury United vs Hawke’s Bay United
We’re getting towards the ruthless climax of the league now. The mid-season revivals of both of these clubs have been amazing storylines to follow as they’ve unfolded but as far as semi-finals go there’s not a lot of room there and there’s definitely not gonna be room enough for the both of these teams. That didn’t make this clash at English Park a must-win necessarily but dropped points would be rued come season’s end. For Canterbury Utd there were no changes to the side that drew away to both Waitakere and Hamilton... same XI for the third week running. The Dragons have four players who have started every game (Knight, Schwarz, Mitchell & Coughlan) as well as three more who have only missed one start (Matthysen, Taguchi & Field).
Hawke’s Bay Utd did make some alterations after their resurgent run lost a few teeth colliding with a brick wall in a 4-0 loss to Auckland City at home last week. City’ll do that to ya. Fergus Neil returned at left wingback with Jackson Woods on the bench for the first time this campaign. Hugo Delhommelle was also surprisingly benched as Karan Mandair played deeper and Cam Emerson got a first start up front with Jorge Akers having had a few noice cameos off the bench.
The other thing about this match-up was that here were two teams who tend to prefer sitting deep off the ball and pouncing from counter attacks and set-pieces. But obviously they couldn’t both sit back. Somebody had to take some initiative and it was the home side who seemed to wanna do that, the Dragons landing the early jabs as Lyle Matthysen struck a shot straight at Scott Morris. It was a very urgent and energetic start from the Cantabs and even when HBU did get the ball they mostly just gave it straight back. Before long Ihaia Delaney and Lyle Matthysen were combining nicely down the left wing, more of that lovely fluid movement from CU in the attacking areas, and as Delaney came wide to give the one-two back to Matthysen in behind it was Yuya Taguchi who dashed into the area from midfield to get on the end of Matthysen’s cross right in that pocket of space that Delaney created with his run, so pretty. Taguchi stroked it past Mozza in goal and that was the early lead for the home side in the 8th minute of the game.
That movement from the Dragons forwards has been one of the shining factors of their comeback from losing their opening three games (a streak broken by a 3-0 win against this Hawke’s Bay team) and the more guys like Coughlan, Delaney, Matthysen and Taguchi play together the better it gets. Not to mention George King, who is the only one of those five who has played regularly for this team in the past.
Soon after the goal Matthysen went and hit the post as CU immediately got back on the front foot... though that one didn’t make it to the livestream as for some reason a replay of the kickoff was hogging the screen. Not quite Fox Sports x W-League levels of gremlin-control-negligence but hey it’s free coverage of the national league, can’t complain. Andrew Storer then should have really done better with an open header from a Matthysen corner kick but it flashed off his noggin and past the post. Hawke’s Bay slipping and sliding all over this game trying to find some sort of foothold against the urgency. Cory Mitchell lifted one over the top. A couple low crosses didn’t quite find their targets. Yuya Taguchi was getting into some serious areas. He snuck one through for Matthysen on the counter but LM didn’t quite get the connection he wanted and it was saved.
Other than that there were quite a few fouls in the midfield as HBU expressed visible annoyance at the way things were going, the body language doctor would have been busy, while Garbhan Coughlan continued to lay claim to the title of: Most Fouled Player In The Premiership. Yet the longer the half went on the more you started to realise that those Cantabs chances weren’t coming so often as before. The Bay were looking a little more convincing and despite minimal opportunities of their own they took a very open 1-0 scoreline back to the sheds. Only a leap away from getting back on the horse.
It was another quick start for Canterbury in the second half as Matthysen hit a lovely ball underneath to Coughlan who sent it through to Taguchi. YT cut it back to Matthysen but Morris made a super stop to keep it out (although maybe it was going wide already?). But then finally it was Hawke’s Bay’s turn to ask some questions. Doing their best Bradley from The Chase impersonation. Danny Knight only just pushed a loosie past the post after Ahmed Othman had done some lovely work, then from the corner kick Othman delivered to Manny Achol whose header came back off the crossbar almost in slow motion.
CU went close again as Coughlan headed a King free kick over. Then King himself smashed one which Morris saved. Fair play to Scott Morris who was keeping HBU in the game. All the way until the 70th minute of the contest when the Dragons were made to pay for some tentative defending of their own. Very unlike themselves but, same as their earlier goal, a few bad clearances invited bonus pressure and with twenty to go Jorge Akers flicked a ball wide to Othman with room around him. He took one touch to set it up, then his second touch was a pinpoint shot across Knight to level this game up, how about it?
But then eight minutes later the Dragons retook that lead. Kaeden Atkins had already had to be sharp to keep Lyle Matthysen away from goal with some tightrope defending in the box but in the 78th minute it was Cory Mitchell with the shot blocked and substitute Eddie Wilkinson follow up to fire it home. Possibly one that Morris will feel he should have done better with but it’s not like it was straight at him, just couldn’t get enough of a hand on the dive.
This time Canterbury United were back to their usual assuredness with a lead. Jumping on passes, keeping that sturdy low block. HBU threw on Delhommelle and Woods (to go with Gavin Hoy who’d already been subbed in) but they couldn’t do what Wilkinson had done. There were a couple frantic moments late on, Akers with a flick-on from a corner but Luke Tongue got a crucial touch on it. Then Knight made a fumbling but effective save off Akers’ header from the following corner. Yet ultimately the Dragons did what the Dragons do and held on for that 2-1 victory at home.
Canterbury Utd have lost just once from their last eight games (taking 15 points) and this latest win means that they’ve still only dropped two points from a winning position all season – that being the draw against Waitakere (in which they were 2-0 up, 3-2 down, then equalised late for 3-3). Incredibly that Wilkinson winner was the fifth goal they’ve scored via a substitute this term... no other team has more than two goals from the bench. Which means that Jake Richards who has three of those five alone has more sub goals than any other Premiership team. Damn. This was Wilkie’s turn in the spotlight though. A crucial goal to give those semi-final hopes a big boost on top of excellent performances from the likes of Cory Mitchell, Yuya Taguchi, and Lyle Matthysen.
Bit stink for Hawke’s Bay, they ultimately paid the price for a poor first half hour or so but they still got themselves back in a position where they were right back in it with twenty to play, only they couldn’t maintain it. Fine days at the office from Morris and Othman. Atkins was more than decent too. The better team with the majority of the better attempts did win but yeah, so it goes.
Auckland City vs Team Wellington
There was a bittersweet feel to this clash of old foes at Kiwitea Street. There’s a chance that this will be the last time that we ever see Auckland City versus Team Wellington. There’s an even better chance that there’s one final clash in the playoffs but who can say? The future is not ours to know, dear pilgrims. In other news, the prestigious trophy that is the Charity Cup was on the line here in a return to the usual competitors in this fixture after Eastern Suburbs nudged their way in last season like a puppy dog intent on a chin scratch, unaware that their human has important other things to do.
Auckland City made two changes to the side that smoked Hawke’s Bay. Jordan Vale returned at right back with Alfie Rogers dropping out and Andrew Blake switching sides. Also Dylan Manickum was back so Dre Vollenhoven stepped out in respect of the hierarchy. Remember this is a City side in some imperious form having taken 13 points from their last five games – scoring 14 goals and conceding a mere three. The only game of those five they didn’t win was a last minute equaliser against Suburbs.
Then we had the visitors and the headline there was Jack-Henry Sinclair returning to the starting team in place of Haris Zeb after a couple impressive cameos off the bench on his injury return. Also two more predictable swaps as Ben Mata and Mario Barcia each returned from suspension with Alex Palezevic and Sam Dewar dropping out of the squad entirely – Ollie Whyte featuring on the bench having returned from Turkey. Team Welly’s big trend of late being a tendency to be 2-0 down inside fifteen minutes. First time they did that they recovered for a triumphant 5-2 win against the WeeNix. Second time they were stumped 4-3 by Waitakere.
By the way with the Charity Cup on the line they moved kickoff back two days out just in case they needed a penalty shootout to decide it – an occurrence that’d have no bearing on the league table but would be delightfully funky in that Classic Handy Prem kinda way.
This one had some weight about it. There’s nothing frivolous about this fixture and when the players carry that onto the pitch it magnifies even the little moments. Although Big Games also tend to have that early feeling-out period so despite Auckland City working plenty more touches in those danger zones early on the closest they came was a Cam Howieson free kick hoofed narrowly over. Granted, Cam Brown nearly had a ‘mare as he passed the ball straight to Sam Mason-Smith in the box but a heavy touch and a covering tackle from Adam Mitchell sorted that out. Logan Rogerson then lifted a bouncing Mohamed Awad cross at over from the near post under pressure from Scott Midgley... which was probably a better chance than it appeared. Same goes for a header from Sinclair as he ghosted in behind the line towards a Rory McKeown outside-of-the-foot ripper of a cross but it came off his shoulder and away to safety.
Fascinating from JHS, who seemed to have a free licence to be wherever the hell he thought the ball was gonna be, absolutely not just sticking to his wing. At times it looked like a back four as if they’d written him out of the backline entirely. Hanging out as a central number ten. At other times he was back in his normal spots. Love a bit of innovation.
That was the first milestone passed as Team Welly made it to the 15 minute mark unviolated. Scott Basalaj had strong hands down low for a Yousif Ali-Al Kalisy shot, then catching a Howieson cracker. Textbook from Big Bas. We hadn’t seen a lot of Hamish Watson however, he waited until the 27th minute to announce himself as he crashed a direct free kick off the crossbar, woah boy. Then Logan Rogerson got in behind Ben Mata to dash across the area only he got underneath a slight bobble and sent it into the clubrooms. It was a weird one like that, heaps of chances but it also didn’t feel like any goals were imminent. Too much imprecision. Watson had one amazing chance late in the half, linking with Barcia and SMS, and thumping it at goal but straight at Brownie. Looked like a handball in the build up anyway. Scoreless at HT but not for lack of trying.
Here’s a pretty half-time establishing shot, which zoomed all the way out from the flowers above the clubroom room. Hat tip to visual artistry.
Hamish Watson fired the first arrow of the second half with a long-ranger that Brown caught on the dive. The ACFC keeper had a tougher time in getting down for Bevin’s shot soon after following some sweet work by JHS and SMS. But then we came out of that replay and down to the other penalty area where Awad, whose sneaky vision had been a joy to watch all arvo, played a gorgeous slicing pass into Dylan Manickum’s path and he poked it past Basalaj and in off the post, 50th minute and we had the breakthrough. Manickum’s fifth of the campaign. From one end to the other so smoothly.
Awad had a flicked header which was easily saved. Sinclair pumped one low past the post from distance. On the hour mark it was a double swap by Scott Hales with Ollie Whyte and Kailan Gould coming on for SMS and JHS to keep the energy levels up but that first goal was looking rather massive as every attack of their own was a potential counter attack in return. Rory McKeown put in a tasty deep cross that nobody could get to... but not too long later both Al-Kalisy and Awad blazed wide from great situations. Then Logan Rogerson skipped past Ben Mata and drew a dangling leg. Not a word of complaint from Mata, that was a penalty. Howieson placed the ball and then slipped it down the middle as Basalaj dove to his left. Little bit of biffo in the afters as Bas tried to scoop the ball up but Howie kicked it into the net a second time for laughs.
A minute and a half later Logan Rogerson dashed down the left wing, angled back inside at full speed, and although Basalaj threw a shoulder at the finish it still looped over the line to make it 3-0. His fifth of the campaign to stay level with his buddy Manickum. 73 minutes gone. The Auckland City Ultras going ballistic. Rogerson himself not exactly holding back either. Old mate was one push away from either going super saiyan or busting a valve here...
Oh but we weren’t done yet, folks. An Andy Bevin sliding challenge on halfway dispossessed Mario Ilich as he sought to pass, with the ball rolling to Hamish Watson. Watto wasn’t hanging around to consider the meaning of life. No time for Socratic dialogue. He looked up, saw Cam Brown hovering, and he blasted in a remarkable goal from inside the centre circle. This is one of the bigger fields too, gotta be like 45 metres out there. Would! You! Look! At! This!
Astounding goal. But this time we really were done because no matter how much Team Welly sent at City, they couldn’t bust them down. Brian Kaltack with another supreme defensive outing. Mitchell right there with him. A couple chances for subs Dre Vollenhoven and Kayne Vincent on the counter but nah. 3-1 the final score as Auckland City extend their lead at the top to six points... they could even clinch top spot next week if results go their way. Not much else to say about an extremely in form City team. Some of their finishing has been pretty wacky but then it’s not like they’re having any dramas scoring. Howieson was great. Rogerson was too fast to handle. Manickum gave them the crucial first goal. Awad is never not a joy to watch. Kaltack and Mitchell had strong games against the in-form striker in the comp. The odds on ACFC winning the comp seem to shrink every week.
That’s consecutive defeats for Team Welly after nine unbeaten to start things. They weren’t bad at all here, Taylor Schrijvers and Scott Basalaj were both very good. Wan Gatkek and Hamish Watson had their moments. Perhaps just didn’t quite get the wingbacks going and they were often outnumbered in the middle. It’s a pretty massive one for them next week as the TeeDubs host Eastern Suburbs with neither team really in a position to drop more points after losing in week eleven. There’s currently three points between second and sixth on the ladder. Team Welly are clearly the second best team in the comp but this is where they begin to rue all those drawn games – they’ve actually only won two outta the last nine... and conceding 11 goals in their last four is a problem. That’s more than ACFC have conceded all season.
And of course... throw it up for the sponsorless Charity Cup. We didn’t get to see the presentation because god forbid that Sky Sport spend a second longer on the footy than they need to (even though kickoff was fifteen minutes earlier to allow for the possibility of penalties) so this glimpse might be the last we see of the Charity Cup...
It shouldn’t be though. If NZ Football have any sense then it’ll continue in the proper Charity Cup format where the defending Premiership champs take on the reigning Chatham Cup champs. Have it at the start of the year before the club season begins. Easily done, surely.
Yeah so as mentioned it’s Team Welly versus Eastern Subs at 1pm on Saturday. Huge implications on that with only three more rounds left. Then on Sunday at 1pm it’s Hawke’s Bay hosting the WeeNix, the bottom two teams with a wooden spoon still unclaimed. Auckland City host Canterbury at 2pm Sunday, the Dragons being the last team to beat City... and on telly at 4pm it’s a cracker between Hamilton Wanderers and Waitakere in which, given the wildness of both these crews, almost anything could happen.
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