Flying Kiwis – June 21
Abby Erceg – Racing Louisville (American National Women’s Soccer League)
It’s nice when you have those weeks where everything just goes right... ask Abby Erceg and her Racing Louisville team because they just learned how that goes. Backing up from an impressive nil-all draw against the league leaders last week they played both a Challenge Cup game and an NWSL game in the past seven days and they won them each by multiple goals to nil. Three clean sheets in a row. Have some of that.
Challenge Cup first. That was midweek against Houston Dash and with the Challenge Cup operating during the league season for the first time, the main reason why Louisville have been so good in that competition is as simple as this: they’re taking it seriously. After the 0-0 draw with San Diego they kept the exact same defence and midfield for the Dash match changing only their front three. Erceg has played every minute of all fifteen games across both competitions. No midweek rests. She’s a defending CC champion from last year with North Carolina (when it was held in preseason) and clearly has intentions of winning it again.
In contrast, Houston didn’t quite turn up with the same focus so, after a slow start to the game, RL took control with a pair of goals in first half stoppage time. They’d gone close with a couple earlier shots over the bar then in the fourth minute added-on Kayla Fischer got open at the far post and cut inside to score. There wasn’t much more than about thirty more seconds to be played once the game resumed... but that was all Savannah DeMelo needed to whip one in with the outside of her boot first touch from outside the box. Another class strike from the team’s in-form creative force. Parker Goins later nodded in from an angled free kick delivery on 73’ and that was all it took. 3-0 to Racing Louisville who have now won 3/3 in the CC this year, sitting top of their group.
Nicely done. The quest for NWSL points has been a lot tougher... but that wasn’t an issue against Gotham FC. It was a game they probably needed to win in order to lift themselves into the playoff race – with Gotham sitting on the edges of that top six – and that they did in front of another home crowd.
It was DeMelo again who provided the spark with a 23rd minute scrambling goal for the lead, pouncing up off the ground to strike a loose ball into the corner from about 12 yards, the centrepiece of a strong half of footy. And it got even better when Thembi Kgatlana hit that underlapping run and scored only thirty seconds into the second half to make it 2-0.
From that point onwards it was more about the defensive effort as Gotham got desperate and took some risks. But that as fine because a) RL had a two-goal lead to protect, and b) Abby Erceg. Kelley O’Hara did hit the post for Gotham one time but that was as close as they got. Racing allowed their opponents a lot of possession in deep areas and then dealt with whatever low-percentage efforts they could muster. Not quite another borderline perfect passing performance from Erceg this week as she did go searching with a few long balls towards the corners to spoil the percentages. Did block five shots though, absolute wall at the back in another clean sheet.
Erceg is one of 22 remaining players to have been everpresent through all 12 NWSL rounds. She is also fourth in the league for completed passes (the top three are all Courage players, curiously) and second in overall passing success. She’s first in total blocks and twelfth for interceptions. Fourth in defensive clearances too. Ali Riley, not to be ignored, is seventh for tackles won.
Up Next: Hitting form just in time to play away against North Carolina Courage on Sunday at 11am (NZT)
Ali Riley - Angel City FC (American National Women’s Soccer League)
As we near the final month of the World Cup countdown, the one thing we really don’t want to see is injuries. But we did have a bit of a scare in the latest ACFC game when Ali Riley had to be subbed off with a few minutes to go after stepping into a challenge and then immediately dropping to the floor.
Not ideal. The game stopped to allow for some physio treatment and she’d be subbed off immediately after that. But you can exhale now because based on the physio trying to work on her leg muscles, as well as slipping her a cheeky gel pack, it looked like it was probably just cramp that she was dealing with. Nothing to worry about. Although it does hammer home the fact that we’re now close enough to the World Cup that now even relatively minor injuries may not recover before the showtime begins. There’ll be bigger scares where this came from (probably already have been within Football Ferns training camp).
This was a very busy week for Ali Riley. No midweek game to worry about but they did sack their manager on the back of Angel City’s horrid run of form. Freya Coombe got the boot after only two wins from 11 games which had ACFC sitting tied-last in the standings at the halfway point. Injuries hadn’t helped but clearly this squad was better than they were showing. So out went Coombe and assistant Becki Tweed stepped up in the interim. As club captain, Ali Riley couldn’t really avoid fielding questions about the coaching situation. However she could avoid answering them.
That’s how you do it. To be fair, there were also some very kind and generous comments towards Coombe in that press conference so don’t get the wrong idea. But yeah it’s clear that as far as the footballing stuff was concerned that whole scenario wasn’t working out so well.
Further evidence to that point: they played the league leaders San Diego Wave away from home in the first game after the manager got booted... and won. Last beat first, how about it? Ali Riley lined up at right back and had a fair chunk of work to do in the first half as ACFC had to survive a couple defensive scrambles to keep it even. One great save from keeper DiDi Haracic. The made it through that... but conceded after 56 minutes as Kristen McNabb’s thumping shot from distance flew between Riley’s legs on the closeout and sailed into the net.
At that stage you kinda just assumed it was all going one way. Ah but ACFC saved their best for the latter stages. Paige Nielsen found some space deep from a corner kick on 69’ and thumped in an equaliser - as always Ali Riley was one of the first to join the celebrations. And the Angels kept on rushing forward in search of a winner too, not content with holding onto a point. It was still 1-1 when Riley went off but literally within a minute of that substitution Mary Alice Vignola buried one on the overlap and Angel City had the best result of their entire season with a 2-1 victory over Southern California rivals San Diego.
Wild season that it is, the Wave drop from first to fifth thanks to that loss. Meanwhile ACFC leap a couple spots to tenth and they’ll need a sustained run of wins if they’re going to push for top six. This is how a run like that could start though.
Up Next: Monday at midday, Angel City vs Houston Dash (NZT)
Dalton Wilkins - Kolding IF (Danish Division 2)
Normally teams don’t celebrate their defeats but this was different. Despite a 2-1 loss against Esbjerg, there was nothing to be down about because at the same time B 93 only drew 1-1 against Thisted, the bottom team in the promotion rounds, which meant that Kolding won the Division 2 title on goal difference (by a healthy ten goal margin ahead of B 93). They’d already confirmed promotion. Now they’re going up as champs. The third New Zealand footballer to win a league title in Denmark this season after Marko Stamenic (FC Copenhagen) and Daisy Cleverley (HB Køge) in the men’s and women’s top divisions respectively.
Dalton Wilkins started and lasted 77 minutes. Got his usual yellow card in there too. Transfermarkt’s stats give him 26 appearances (19 of them starts) and within that he copped an incredible 13 yellow cards. To go with a goal and seven assists. This was his second Division 2 title having also won this tier with FC Helsingør in his first full season in the country... and as mentioned last week he’s about to run into his two old FCH buddies in the second tier next season: Elijah Just (Horsens) and Callum McCowatt (still at FCH).
Up Next: Enjoy that promotion/championship
Jacqui Hand - Åland United (Finnish Kansallinen Liiga)
A surprise defeat to Honka last week was nothing but a temporary stutter for Åland United who immediately launched back into their winning ways with a 3-2 win over HPS. Naturally, Jacqueline Hand was there on time to score the opener. Her seventh of the season as she keeps pace with Wilma Forsblom of KuPS in the golden boot ranks. Hand’s teammate Dana Leskinen is one of several players also on six goals just behind them.
This was not a straightforward victory. Hand’s goal came after quarter of an hour, a tidy left-footed finish as part of a rapid start from the home side. Things levelled out after that but just before the break Aada Torronen dashed ahead of her marker to break the line and score on 43’ to really set things up. They then began the second spell as convincingly as the first, including JH charging into the area and forcing a good save, except this time they didn’t get a goal to reflect it.
That turned out to be more of an issue than you’d have guessed. Because HPS picked a goal back on 58’ as Åland got snapped with a shortage of numbers at the back and all of a sudden they were vulnerable. Five minutes later HJK equalised and what was looking like a smooth win was now tied at 2-2 midway through the second spell. Eh, no dramas there. 74th minute of the game and a half-clearance fell to Dana Leskinen. Bang. 3-2 to Åland United. Catch some highlights here. They remain three points off the top two teams in the league and they can close that gap to one of them if they can beat HJK in their next game.
Now see if you can recognise a familiar face in the player of the game awardees from the last round...
They give out these star points for those things and tally them up over the course of the season. As it stands, Jacqui Hand had 10 star points which is fourth in the entire league and the best on her team. Anni Hartikainen of KuPS is first with 13 star points.
Up Next: HJK vs Åland at 10pm on Sunday NZT)
Max Crocombe - Grimsby Town (English League Two)
You can’t say this wasn’t coming. After playing every single minute for Grimsby Town last season, a whopping 59 games of football, Max Crocombe was offered a new contract pretty much as soon as the term ended. But more than a full month later he still hadn’t accepted that deal and at some point you’ve gotta take the hint. Sure enough, word finally came through from the man himself that he’d be departing. All in good spirits though.
Max Crocombe: “I had a good chat with the manager and it’s nice that I’m able to leave on good terms. It’s been a great environment to play my football over the last two seasons and it’s been an absolutely amazing ride. When I signed, I don’t think anyone would have predicted how much success we were going to have as a Club during that time. It was amazing to play my small part in those achievements. I want to thank everyone for their support during my time with the Club. My teammates, who I created such great bonds with. The staff, who have been brilliant from top to bottom – the gaffer, Doigy, Greg Howard, Steve Croudson, Jason, Andrew and Debbie and everyone else behind the scenes. And finally, the supporters, who have followed us up and down the country to support their team. They are a credit to themselves and the town. I’d like to wish the Club the very best of luck for the future. Grimsby Town will always hold a special place in my heart.”
GTFC manager Paul Hurst: “Max informed me yesterday that he’s decided to turn our offer down. He leaves us on good terms though, as we both have a lot of respect for each other, but we couldn’t quite come to an agreement and unfortunately that’s football sometimes which we both understand. He certainly played his part in the success we had over the last couple of seasons and helped create a lot of memories that we all share. I have nothing but good things to say about Max and I’ll certainly be watching with interest for the rest of his career. We would like to thank Max for his efforts in a Grimsby Town shirt and wish him well for the future.”
Crocombe has done an interview with Grimsby Live since then in which he said that he’d have been happy to stay at the club had it worked out that way, but that he was also feeling like it might be a good time to move on and that with GTFC putting pressure on a quick decision so that they can build for next season one way or the other he chose to step back from negotiations.
Alright then, so where’s he going? Ah now that’s something we’ll have to be patient with. There have been rumours about Scotland. Gotta imagine he has some leads if he’s rejecting a legitimate starting goalkeeping role.
Up Next: The suspense is palpable
Myer Bevan - Cavalry FC (Canadian Premier League)
He’s done it again. Myer Bevan with goal number six for the season to go with two assists, this was the second of those goals to come from the penalty spot. He’s clear first in the golden boot race after ten games. Get in there.
They didn’t win though. HFX Wanderers had already scored first mere minutes earlier and while it would stay at 1-1 for quite a long time, two second half goals eventually sent Cavalry to a 3-1 loss. Another slippery result for Bevan’s lads who have drawn six of their ten matches with two each of the others. Goal difference keeps them in fourth but they’ll wanna get a roll on soon. Helps that they’ve got a kiwi striker putting goals away on the regular though.
Up Next: Cavalry vs York United at 9am on Sunday (NZT)
Will Gillingham – Cove Rangers (Scottish League One)
Say hello to a new member of the club. Will Gillingham is a 24 year old defender, born in London but raised in Auckland after his family relocated when he was seven years old. He moved away as a late-teenager to attend university in America at UC Santa Barbara and also sprinkled in some lower division USL stuff while he was there. After five years in the States he decided to head back to the United Kingdom where he trained with Livingston for a couple of months, a Scottish Premiership club, though ultimately didn’t get signed. But now he’s landed a two-year deal at Cove Rangers in the Scottish third tier.
That’s the same division that George Stanger played at with Alloa Athletic (before he transferred to Ayr United one tier up the pyramid) so far from the worst place to land. Particularly as Cove Rangers just got relegated after finishing last in the Championship which hopefully means that they’ll be quite competitive in this division.
The relegation was a rough one. Cove Rangers went into the final game of the season a point ahead of Hamilton Academical, which would’ve gotten them into the playoffs to avoid the drop, but they lost and ended up last. But don’t let that fool you: this is club on the rise. They’ve been soaring up the divisions after years outside the league pyramid. The Championship stint may have come a little too soon for them but with that experience in the bank they’ll be planning on getting right back there in a hurry. Cove Rangers’ recent seasons have seen gone...
2018-19: Promoted as winners of the Highland League
2019-20: Promoted as winners of League Two
2020-21: Lost in League One promotion playoffs (after finishing third)
2021-22: Promoted as winners of League One
2022-23: Relegated from the Championship
As for Will Gillingham, fun fact is that he was in the same Sacred Heart High School team as Alex Greive back in the day while Danny Hay was still coaching them. Now Greive and Gillingham are both playing professionally in Scotland.
Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley: “He came on our radar through Gordon Young’s contacts in the States, so we had a look at him, and liked what we saw. Will is a player who likes to defend, which is important, he is strong and aggressive and will be a good presence in both boxes. We got good reports from Livi from his time there, and I had no doubts about making a move for him. Apart from his defensive attributes, Will can certainly use the ball, and he’s more than capable of stepping up into midfield and helping to spring attacks from there. He has a lot to offer, and I look forward to working with him. He’s definitely ready to make this move and it’s a good opportunity both for Will and the club.”
Up Next: Believe it or not preseason starts in a week or two
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