2024 Men’s National League – Week 4
Wellington Phoenix Reserves vs Coastal Spirit
We began this week at the Logan Park turf where the WeeNix, one day before their senior side kicked off their A-League season, were relieved to be able to host Coastal Spirit. Relieved because Coastal’s two home games so far had been a draw against Wellington Olympic and a 5-0 win against Western Suburbs. Their previous away game was a 6-2 loss to Western Springs. Big disparities, although the Nix themselves were undefeated from two away games but had lost their homer.
If the Phoenix Reserves were hoping for a trickle down of senior players now that the A-League side were in matchday mode, that didn’t happen. But we did get to see Luke Brooke-Smith make his National League debut, while Luke Supyk was back with his third start of the term, same deal with Dublin Boon in goal. So three players with first-team contracts. More than last week when they only had one (Alby Kelly-Heald), less than the first two weeks when they had five and four. They did have Daniel Makowem and Tze Xuan Loke at fullback though, both having played Aussie Cup for the first team. Same deal with Lachlan Candy and Fergus Gillion in midfield. Gillion has been everpresent this year, as has Dylan Gardiner (the only two players to start in all four rounds for the WeeNix). So still plenty of talent to rely upon. Loke would end up being an unused sub for the A-League side the following day. Meanwhile Coastal Spirit changed absolutely nada from their 5-0 win against Western Suburbs and nor should they have.
Luke Brooke-Smith is a tremendous talent, the Northlander having been playing senior football at Cambridge when he’d only just turned 15 and carrying that on this year with Hamilton Wanderers. Now he’s earned a rare Wellington Phoenix scholarship gig for a player from outside their own academy – he’s got three-quarters of the season to break Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues’ record as the youngest A-League debutant for the club. This was an exciting chance to see what he’s up to... and he did have an early sighter which Ellis Hare-Reid was able to save. To be honest though, we didn’t see a whole lot of LBS. That’s coz most of the ball was down the other end where Coastal’s press was putting the WeeNix into panic mode.
Joe Cornille made a wonderful low block to deny Alex Steinwascher his first NZ National League goal. The American striker scored 19 goals during the Southern League but nothing through three games of MNL. But he was pretty instrumental in their efforts last week and he was all over this one. As was Dan MacLennan who ran in behind onto an angled long ball but dinked it over the top. Boon made a sharp diving two-hander save from a Daniel Boys free kick. Steiny was blocked again, this time by Makowem inside the six yard box before Boon palmed another MacLennan shot high to safety.
Coastal Spirit were playing direct and physical and the Phoenix Reserves were barely hanging on. A goal had to happen... and in the 27th minute that man Alejandro Steinwascher was the one to deliver it. David Yoo had turned with space to advance, feeding Steiny who played a one-two with MacLennan (great little layoff from Big Mac) and then bang bottom corner pick that one out.
The Nix Ressies definitely had the potential to score a few goals on the occasions when they were able to get over halfway, as they showed when a sharp Brooke-Smith turn almost led to him setting up Lachlan Candy but Weston Bell got in the way. A similar chance from the other side saw LBS set up Ryan Watson whose effort was straight at Hare-Reid who saved. Some sneaky LBS influences there. But nothing like the aura that Alex Steinwascher brought. 41st minute and he made it 2-0. Drifted wide to collect a pass up the line from Daniel Boys. Shaped his run infield. Threw in a shimmy or two. Smacked it in off the crossbar (possibly with a wee deflection off Dylan Gardiner). That took us to half-time... and then straight after the resumption, Steiny was at it again with a velvet touch in off the post after David Yoo had taken on his man out wide and stabbed a great low cross into the perfect area. Yoo scored a hat-trick last week but this time it was Steinwaschers’s turn.
It was all over in that moment. Coastal kept creating chances, the most notable being a Steiny effort off the post with twenty to go, but there wasn’t anything weighing on them because the result was never in doubt. The Wellington Phoenix Reserves are an U20s side up usually against far more experienced players. Often they’re able to deal with that but not this day. They were left susceptible to the Grown Man Footy that Coastal brought to the party and it turned this game into a single-note affair. They roughed them up, they won the fifty-fifties, they dominated the aerials... and the Nix looked like they didn’t wanna be there. Which is a weird one because the HeNix reserves had competed really well in other games. At least there was a competitive club debut for Luke Brooke-Smith, as well as a decent outing for Dublin Boon. There’s real potential in that CB pairing of Dylan Gardiner and Joseph Cornille too.
Coastal Spirit also roughed up Western Suburbs last week, scoring a lot of their goal directly after midfield duels had won them possession (especially the aerials). Not much different here, you know. Joe Hoole and Mason Stearn again led the charge. Riley Grover had a very smooth game in defence. No doubt about Alex Steinwascher scooping up Man of the Match honours but take note that his three goals all had a different player assisting them. Four weeks into the season, Coastal Spirit are the only team with more than one clean sheet and they’ve got three of them. They did concede six times in the other match but can’t deny the overall trend. They’ve split between a back three and a back four and have kept cleanies within each shape. Steinwascher and Yoo are the only two players to have scored hat-tricks in the men’s comp to date. It’s been a superb first month of National League footy on the whole, continuing the most successful season in this team’s history.
Wellington Phoenix Reserves 0-3 Coastal Spirit
Goals (Assists)
27’ | CS | 0-1 | Steinwascher (MacLennan)
41’ | CS | 0-2 | Steinwascher (Boys)
48’ | CS | 0-3 | Steinwascher (Yoo)
Cashmere Technical vs Wellington Olympic
Moving onwards, the other Christchurch club had more of a task on their hands. Fresh from grabbing a very applaudable point on the road against Auckland City, Cashmere Technical got to host a resurgent Wellington Olympic side that had just rediscovered their goal-scoring touch in a 4-1 win against Eastern Suburbs. English Park was the venue. Out on the turf where Cashy lost 4-0 to the WeeNix a fortnight earlier.
Cashmere Tech were happy to have Garbhan Coughlan back in the side while Zander Edwards also made a start in the forward line. Unchanged back four for the fourth week in a row. Pieter-Taco Bierema made another start in goal, though Danny Knight’s shoulder was feeling good enough for the bench. Although it may not have been his shoulder that kept him out last week: the commentary word was that Knight and Coughlan actually missed last week’s game to attend the wedding of former teammate Andy Tuckey. Fair enough.
Wellington Olympic also made two changes and those were a return for Aaron O’Driscoll in defence and Dan McKay in the midfield. Nothing to worry about there, two excellent players (O’Driscoll was arguably the best CB in the entire competition last year with Christchurch United – and his objective here was to shut down his Irish compatriot Coughlan). That meant Hamish Watson was only on the bench, with Gianni Bouzoukis fortunately recovering from the knock that force him off last week. Tor Davenport-Petersen was suspended following his red card. Also, this game marked the 150th club appearance for Ben Mata at Olympic. Incredibly, he’s scored 62 goals in that time despite being a centre-back. 38 of them came from penalties, 22 of them from headers (plus one rebound from a penalty, leaving one odd-goal-out for the archivists to track down).
The round three win clearly perked the Greeks back to their usual selves because they didn’t waste any time getting going. A couple of tantalising crosses from Isa Prins. A long ball from O’Driscoll that dropped for Jack-Henry Sinclair to bring down on his chest and thump into the post from a tight angle. It was bright stuff from Olympic, who were rushing high and applying the pressure. Eddie Wilkinson got plenty of touches to impose himself after a slow start to the term. He fizzed a half-volley over the top. As for Tech, they were in the same mode as last week: hanging deep and trying to counter. They did win a couple of corner kicks and Edwards was finding hints of space wide on the right... but the Greeks were all over it, again going close when Dan McKay forced a good save from PTB, then even closer when Prins tried to flick one in with his heel only for the ball to roll past the far post. There was enough going on for the Greeks to feel they should have been winning, yet not enough that Cashmere Tech wouldn’t have been pretty happy with how they were restricting things. 0-0 at half-time.
Less than a minute after the game restarted, Joseph Hopper surged through midfield and fed Sinclair out wide, who sped his way into the area and smacked a shot off the post. Bouzoukis then had a follow-up effort blocked by Tom Schwarz. That was good – Olympic needed to stretch the pitch out. The space is always out wide against these guys whereas you’ve gotta put the hard-hats on for the contestable balls in the middle. Eddie Wilkinson soon burst into space and struck the same post from the same angle as Sinclair had earlier. Three times off the woodwork for Olympic, frustrating areas... except that Isa Prins kept it alive and Wilkinson was able to score with the bonus attempt. Can’t say it wasn’t coming.
They scored again three minutes later. More swelling pressure in that attacking third and Schwarz couldn’t get rid of the ball. Bouzoukis lifted it over to the back stick for a hunting Isa Prins to make it 2-0. Prins then nearly made it three with a curling free kick that clipped the crossbar. Make that four off the woodwork. Cashy Tech knew they were in trouble because they made a double change on the hour with captain Tom Schwarz one of those replaced (dunno if that was tactical or fitness but Schwarz was getting targeted by the pacey Olympic dudes). Lachie McIsaac and Sam Richards came on. Olympic made a triple change with Bouzoukis, Mata, and Hoy coming off and Hamish Watson, Adam Supyk, and Jonty Roubos replacing them. Brave stuff from Paul Ifill given the calibre of those outgoing fellas... then again, the incomings were pretty prestigious themselves. Hamish Watson would have scored with his first touch if the offside flag hadn’t ruled it out.
There also seemed to be a change in formation for Olympic: 4-2-3-1. And, what do ya know, Cashmere Tech, who had hardly threatened beyond hopeful crosses into the area, suddenly got going with a tenacious run by Matthysen which led to Garbhan Coughlan getting a hint of space in the area and that’s usually all he needs. Scott Basalaj maybe should have done better with the shot from an ungenerous angle but Coughlan is a natural finisher. Those ones aren’t coincidental.
That made it 2-1 after 72 minutes. Game on. Weirdly, Olympic continued to push the ball over the top, keeping things open in search of a third goal. Cashmere Tech were now sniffing an equaliser and there wasn’t a lot being done to put them off the scent. Sure enough, with three minutes to go, Lyle Matthysen flung over a smooth cross and Garbhan Coughlan stuck a foot out to squeeze it in off the post. Wow.
Cashmere Technical are a rugged yet skilled team of footballers whose commitment is never questioned. They’re bloody tough to beat. They’re even tougher to beat if you play fast and loose with a 2-0 lead on their own turf. Olympic hit the woodwork four times. They changed a defensive shape that was working great. Don’t wanna say it but they threw that game away. 2-2 was the final score. Having already dropped points this season this leaves the Greeks in an increasingly frisky spot if they want to defend their title.
Despite the ending, Olympic were really impressive for most of this game. Eddie Wilkinson and Isa Prins delivered their best footy to date, while Joe Hopper put in another beaut in the middle. They did enough to have been three or four up, they just lost a bit of game awareness and much of that does need to fall back upon coaches Paul Ifill and Ekow Quainoo. Going for goals is very much the Olympic way but they needed this win, were in a position to get it, and let it slip through the grasp. However, Cashmere Technical’s scrambling defence was excellent and Garbhan Coughlan (with help from blokes like Matthysen and Yuya Taguchi) did those clinical striker things when necessary. Coughlan was hardly involved for most of this game yet when the opportunities arose, he took them. All class. He’s one of five players on three goals after the first month of action.
Cashmere Technical 2-2 Wellington Olympic
50’ | WO | 0-1 | Wilkinson (Prins)
53’ | WO | 0-2 | Prins (Bouzoukis)
72’ | CT | 1-2 | Coughlan (McIsaac)
87’ | CT | 2-2 | Coughlan (Matthysen)
Birkenhead United vs Napier City Rovers
Next up, Napier City Rovers took their undefeated status with them up the motorway and over Auckland’s Harbour Bridge to take on Birkenhead United with the teams possibly heading in contrasting trajectories. NCR have impressed each week but it has been diminishing returns. After getting all the rewards for their tough defence and tireless press (standard Rovers traits of fitness and intensity) in the 4-0 win against Western Springs they followed that with a decent battling draw away to Eastern Suburbs and then a disappointing home draw against the WeeNix in which they absolutely mashed them but simply could not find a second goal - an early penalty decision that wasn’t given in their favour didn’t help but was far from the only problem in a game highlighted by great goalkeeping and less-than-great finishing. They ran out with a couple of changes to their side: Ethan Richards replacing his brother Kieran in midfield and Ben Stanley jumping in out wide. That also constituted a change in formation, leaving the back three behind for a 4-2-3-1.
Contrastingly, Birkenhead have gotten better with each match. It started with a 3-1 loss to Auckland City, okay that happens. A comeback 3-3 draw against Western Suburbs followed in the pouring rain. Then they finally got full reward with a fine performance to beat Western Springs 3-1 across town. Only two changes for them, with James Taylor given his first start of the season while the irrepressible Curtis Hughes was back in the eleven also. No Monty Patterson who sat out with a back strain, while it’s been revealed that wing-back Everton O’Leary will miss the rest of the Nats through injury. Rookie keeper Marcus Nevin made his third start from four games to keep those U20 minutes ticking over (Nevin turned 20 earlier this year, Taylor is also 18yo).
Birko’s pace of play was an immediate hit with the balcony at Shepherd’s Park. It was also a funky match-up against the sturdy, deep defensive set of Napier City. BU lose plenty without Patterson up top but movement is not one of those things, especially not with Daniel Bunch buzzing around after a great game last week in which he scored a couple goals (and made the TNC Team of the Week). That speed and those combinations led to a couple of half chances for the midfielders, including a Luke Jorgensen volley over the top. It also led to a tenth minute corner kick taken expertly by Dylan Connolly and headed in by an unmarked Ardri McArthur who didn’t even need to jump. Speaking of players who’ve been in great form, there are two more of them for ya. Uncharacteristic from Rovers... getting sliced by pace is one thing but you always expect them to own the set pieces.
Rovers nearly snuck a goal when Stanley’s lobbed cross dipped awkwardly under the bar and Marcus Nevin had to be brave to keep Oscar Faulds from pouncing. But then came some controversy, as Cam Emerson chested down a ball in the area so that he could thump it to safety, but before the ball could drop Ardri McArthur came flying through and they both sorta kicked each other. Those ones are always distasteful because the defender had the ball, he was playing the ball, and the attacker’s stepped across from his blind spot. But the ref whistled for a penalty to Birkenhead so a penalty it was. Daniel Bunch scored from the spot. No stress. 2-0 to the home side after 27 mins.
Faulds made a mess of a ball over the top that wouldn’t drop for him so he tried to flick it goalwards with his head... but there’s a reason you don’t see very many 1v1s converted with headers. No power, easy save. At the other end, William Tønning did well to close down Curtis Hughes in the box. It went on like that for a while, with Birko continuing to have more of the action, until an injury stoppage that ended with Cam Emerson being replaced by Kieran Richards. Not a happy day for Emerson. That did mean a Richards Bro midfield tandem ensued though. 2-0 at half-time.
Interesting to see Birkenhead make two changes at the break with Joby Reid and Troy Putt on for Hughes and Taylor, possibly just keeping everyone fresh (although Hughes had needed some treatment in stoppage time). They’d have to make another one within a few minutes because Ardri McArthur got hurt in a challenge and had to be replaced by Jaylen Rodwell. Nothing changed. William Tønning was doing important things sweeping out behind his defensive line and attacking the ball in the air, although he did drop one which LVDH volleyed over the top. Birkenhead kept moving the ball smoothly and at speed. Haris Zeb was bringing out the dribbles – he set up a good look for Putt which Tønning saved. Zeb created his own shot next but it was blocked and Putt put it over on the follow-up.
This was a fantastic Birkenhead performance and it seemed like only a matter of time until they added a third... yet what actually happened was that Rovers scored from their first decent chance in ages when Ben Stanley’s low cross was expertly guided in by Oscar Faulds at the near stick. Suddenly, randomly, it was 2-1 and Rovers were back in rage. Faulds wasn’t far away from scoring from a flicked header off a corner two minutes later. From being completely on top, suddenly Birko were wobbling... typical Rovers to soak up pressure and then pounce when the opportunity arose.
However, Birkenhead’s back three was up to the challenge with Dino Botica winning headers and giving his forwards that platform to counter from again. Troy Putt had some lovely touches too. Finally, Joby Reid pulled out the twinkle toes on the byline to set up Daniel Bunch for his second of the day. Consecutive doubles for the #11, raising him to the top of the Golden Boot standings with four strikes. Sam Lack pulled one back in stoppage time when he collected a pass on the turn and curled a shot on target that Marcus Nevin, who’d otherwise been wonderful in goal, fumbled into the net to open the door back up again for Rovers with a couple of additional minutes left. But Miles Palmer, one of the Birko subs, shut that door and locked it when he got himself a clinching goal on the brink of the final whistle. Nothing but a cheeky goal of the season contender. Swish. 4-2 final score.
It says something about Napier City that it felt like they were clinging on for most of this game and yet there was a twenty minute stretch (plus another six minutes in stoppage time) when they were a single moment of magic away from getting something out of this game. This team is hard to beat. It was a difficult day for them but they hung close and relied on some Oscar Faulds poaching to stick around. This is why they’re so dangerous. But their press was pretty much negated by Birko’s own directness and energy. Birkenhead won the midfield duels through the excellent Luke Jorgensen and Leon van den Hoven. Daniel Bunch continues to bring the goods and their rotation of slippery wingers around him never let up. Dylan Connolly and Haris Zeb caused havoc on the wings while Dino Botica led a sturdy defensive showing. That’s two wins in a row for Birkenhead who ought to be thinking about grand final possibilities if they can keep this up.
Birkenhead United 4-2 Napier City Rovers
10’ | BU | 1-0 | McArthur (Connolly)
27’ | BU | 2-0 | Bunch [p] (McArthur)
66’ | NCR | 2-1 | Faulds (Stanley)
86’ | BU | 3-1 | Bunch (Reid)
90+1’ | NCR | 3-2 | Lack (Mason)
90+7’ | BU | 4-2 | Turner
Western Suburbs vs Auckland City
At the beginning of this round, Western Suburbs were last with comfortably the worst defence while Auckland City were first with the equal-best defence. Winless versus undefeated. Endeavour Park was the venue for this week’s fancy broadcast – every week there seems to be one game picked out for human-camera-operator coverage (compared to the mostly VEO-cam stuff we’re seeing in the rest) and Auckland City have managed to get those honours three weeks in a row now. ACFC rocked up in the capital with Conor Tracey returning between the sticks and Nathan Lobo making his first start. Gerard Garriga was back into the midfield as well, while Adam Bell got a rare opportunity on the wing.
Western Suburbs didn’t change a whole lot from last week’s capitulation against Coastal Spirit but they did have Quillan Roberts back from international duty. Sadly for him, a 3-1 loss to Guatemala and a 5-1 loss to Suriname meant a lot more plucking of the ball out of the net. He was in... as were Jamie Wildash-Chan and Malcolm Young. Both had come off the bench in all of the three previous games. Young used to play for Eastern Suburbs so bonus points for moving from Eastern Suburbs to Western Suburbs... albeit we’re talking about different suburbs there (one in Auckland, one in Wellington).
You’ll be glad to know that Stipe Ukich was right into the action, hurting Harry Fautley in a collision in a display of his strength (and mongrel)... but then soon afterwards bringing out the dancing shoes to skip through some pressure after silkily brining down a loose ball just outside the area. He spun into a crossing position and while the cross didn’t hit its target, Dylan Manickum kept it alive before Mario Ilich’s pass was sumptuously converted by Adam Mitchell’s heel. Clever stuff. Early goal for the Navy Blues.
That instigated the expected game flow, with Auckland City knocking the ball around cleverly and creating a few more chances. Myer Bevan had one which he didn’t quite catch thus Roberts saved, same as he saved a couple of Ukich efforts as the teenager continued to find space on the left. But before anything else could happen, Malcolm Young sliced a run into the other penalty area where he was clipped on the heel and won a spot kick. Looked like Mario Ilich with the foul. Or maybe Marco Lorenz. It’s hard to say because there really wasn’t much contact at all... but the ref had a great view and he gave it. Lucas Meek buried the spot kick so no dramas there. Conor Tracey saved one against Ben Mata a few weeks ago but not this time. 1-1 after 20 minutes.
That rattled Auckland City a bit. A few wonky mistakes crept into their game and the frustration was evident (particularly from Ilich). They soon settled things down by passing it around, reclaiming control, Mike den Heijer everything cleaning up... yet it was Lucas Meek who struck a wicked volley slightly high in stoppage time. Wests were looking pretty good. Then again, we already know about their terrible second-half record: 2 goals conceded in 1H (0 GD), 10 goals conceded in 2H (-9 GD).
Ukich got himself booked at the start of the second spell by reacting to a shirt-pull by tripping up his marker off the ball. Kinda petulant. Cam Mackenzie also got yellowed after taking down Bevan. It was getting feisty and that attitude boiled over on 50’ when Quillan Roberts got stuck on the ball, coughed it up to Myer Bevan, then hauled Bevan back to keep him from scoring an open goal. Blatant red card and penalty. Alas, they didn’t have a goalie on the bench so Finn Diamond had to chuck the gloves on and let’s just say the technique left plenty to be desired. For a split-second he forgot he was the goalie and moved to stick a foot out, only to remember and just sorta fall to his knees. Bevan scored from the spot for the second week in a row and Auckland City were up by a goal and up by a man.
The chippy fouls continued with Thomas Scott also getting booked for Wests. Diamond did make a save to deny Ukich at close range, this time embracing his initial instincts by simply sticking a foot out and sending the ball clear – eliciting high fives from his defenders. Lucas Meek kept hustling away for Wests to give them an outlet. Angus Kilkolly came on for ACFC. Kentaro Ozaki and Reggie Murati would follow... but Western Suburbs did a good job of crowding things out in the middle of the goal in support of their makeshift goalie (who’d usually be doing the crowding himself) and that caused the rest of the game to slip away with the predictability and inevitability of sand in an hourglass. It would have been tough anyway but, down to ten men, Wests just didn’t have another gear in them and Auckland City weren’t going to risk the lead they already had.
2-1 final score, that was that. Nothing special about it. Adam Mitchell had a strong game while Marco Lorenz again brought his quality to the fore. There wasn’t enough Stipe Ukich in the second half but he was dangerous whenever he was involved. Auckland City move to 10 points from four games and are still undefeated. They had a scare in the first half but they coasted after the red card. Lucas Meek did look bright for Wests but the service wasn’t there and he was up against an elite defensive group. At least he finally got his first goal of the Nats. Harry Fautley, Thomas Scott, and of course Finn Diamond deserve credit for their defensive efforts too. Diamond brought an agricultural vibe to the goalkeeping position but you know what? He only conceded that one penalty. Nothing else. It may have been another loss, and they may have had their keeper red carded, but this was sneakily the best Western Suburbs defensive outing of the National League so far. The playground crowd seemed to appreciate it, at least.
Western Suburbs 1-2 Auckland City
4’ | AC | 0-1 | Mitchell (Ilich)
20’ | WS | 1-1 | Meek [p] (Young)
50’ | WS | RED CARD | Roberts
52’ | AC | 1-2 | Bevan [p]
Eastern Suburbs vs Western Springs
Lastly, we had a Madills Farm meeting between two familiar foes. One of those cheeky Auckland Derbies that usually serve up the tasty stuff. That was definitely the case last week when Birkenhead beat Western Springs 3-1, now Springs had the opportunity to take out some revenge on an Eastern Suburbs side that were previously beaten 4-1 by Wellington Olympic.
Western Springs copped a red card to midfielder Jackson Manuel in that match so he was suspended for round four and replaced by Oscar Ramsay in the only change to their starting side. A strength of the Swans has been the consistency that Scott Hales has produced with his selections... believe it or not that one suspension-enforced change is the only one he’s made through the first four weeks of this competition. The ten other players have started every game. No other club comes close. Having said that, they did concede multiple goals in each of the other three games so there was still work to be done. Happily, Emiliano Tade was on the bench after missing the opening rounds while he worked on his coaching badges.
Eastern Suburbs also got a red card last week so no Nikko Boxall. Kelvin Kalua and James Mitchell rejoined the back three around Aaryan Raj to make that work, with Jackson Jarvie returning to his usual wing-back role. There were also recalls for Luke Mitchell and Kodie Nicol who’d started the first two weeks but didn’t start the Wellington Olympic defeat. Noah Karunaratne popped up on the bench in search of his first National League minutes outside of the Wellington Phoenix system. There’s also been news around the destination of Kane Wintersgill, who all of a sudden left his post at Eastern Suburbs two weeks ago for “an exciting opportunity” at a foreign professional club. Turns out that club is Al-Arabi Sports Club in Qatar (not to be confused with Al-Arabi Sports Club in Saudi Arabia) where he’ll presumably be joining the staff of newly-appointed head coach... Anthony Hudson (apologies for the jump scare).
This was one of those pesky occasions where the teams happen to arrange themselves in very similar formations. Mirrored back threes. Lone strikers with roaming support underneath. It’s like they were copying each other’s homework... with the peskiness stemming from how often those situations end up in stalemates. This one followed the usual pattern. Good football but limited attacking fizz.
Kodie Nicol gave Suburbs a rise with a good shot on target from deep in the area, but Oscar Mason not only made the save he equally importantly parried the ball clear of the rest of the hounding Suburbs strikeforce. Otherwise it was Springs who found more joy in those the spaces between the lines, granted the Lilywhites back three were scrambling well and not letting anything get behind them. A few times Springs might have pierced them with better weighted pass but nah. The pitch seemed pretty lumpy too. Still beats the artificial surfaces we see sometimes but chuck in the coastal breeze and these weren’t ideal precision football areas.
Shout out to James Mitchell who stepped up with a necessary block from a Riley Manuel shot, getting rocked in the face for his troubles. Ouch. Oscar Browne also smoked a low shot past the post after Matt Ellis drifted infield and found him with a through ball underneath, and there was a good save down low from Vadym Patkevych after Manuel again shifted into shooting room. It was getting to where Western Springs really needed to find something to show for this pressure... so they got the ball to the bloke who’s been their most reliable creator so far: Matt Ellis.
Ellis collected the ball with defender Daniel Atkinson isolated on the left wing. He threw in a shimmy and then got his body between man and ball as he dribbled along the outside edge of the box. Atkinson leant in too far and took him down. Penalty. Clear foul, it was merely a matter of whether it was in the area or not... and to be fair it looked like it probably was. If the foul started outside then it surely carried on into it and that’s all it requires. Oscar Ramsay pulled rank with the pen and put Western Springs up 1-0 after 40 minutes.
Minutes later Ellis got after Atkinson again, this time running onto a long ball from his keeper, and Atkinson pretty blatantly dragged him down. Out came the red card. It appeared to be a straight red, although he had been booked earlier so it didn’t really matter in the context of this game (though in the contest of his suspension it will). Two weeks in a row with a red for Eastern Suburbs but this one would be far more consequential because it meant a full half with only ten men when they were already trailing by a goal.
Ralph Rutherford swapped out to right wing-back to cover the absence and the half-time response was to bring on Dejuan Naidoo and Noah Karunaratne. Two good dribblers to help them out in transitional moments (since more structured possession was going to be tricky with the man disadvantage). Except they couldn’t often get to those transitional moments because Western Springs weren’t losing the ball in dumb places. Springs also weren’t creating much, that Subs back three of Kalua/Raj/J.Mitchell was excellent, but of course they didn’t need to as long as they could prevent the Lilywhites from doing anything. Although, just to be careful, they subbed on Emiliano Tade ten mins into the second spell.
Long story short, Eastern Suburbs hadn’t been creating anything noteworthy post-red card. Not even half-chances... though maybe a few quarter-chances where Jake Mechell might have feasted if he’d been able to do something incredible like bring down a ball dropping thirty metres out of the air or hold off two defenders all by himself. They subbed him off with twenty to go at which stage it felt like a helpless defeat was on the cards. But then, with about 5-10 minutes to go, they finally did something proactive and changed to a back four to get an extra man in support of striker Dylan Laing-McConnell.
The plan was instantly effective. DLM almost broke through but got denied by a clutch last-ditch tackle from Aidan Carey. That was close but it wasn’t as close as the chance that fell to Dejuan Naidoo in the 89th minute. A smart dummy by Rutherford put the fella into shooting range. Oscar Mason made a nice stop there but Naidoo jumped on the rebound, took it around Mason with one touch, and then... well, it’s hard to tell from the stream but it looks like he managed to hit both posts with a tap-in from a couple of yards out. Hard to fathom how he didn’t score, though the angle may have been trickier than it appeared. Regardless, that was the moment they’d hung around for, the one chance they got... and it went to waste. Write it down as a 1-0 win for Western Springs.
There ya go, Western Springs actually kept a clean sheet! Took them four weeks but they earned every bit of this one. Would have been nice to see Western Springs put some more hype into the search for a second goal but that’s probably more a credit to the Subs defence than a criticism of Springs. Both defences were superb. Tobin, Carey, Mogg vs Kalua, Raj, J.Mitchell. Vadym Patkevych made some saves in the Suburbs goal as well. It wasn’t a great spectacle but it was a high calibre game of NZ National League football, from which the Swans had that decisive extra bit thanks to Matthew Ellis and his elusive running. That five-minute spell prior to half-time made all the difference. Laing-McConnell did also have a headed chance in the final seconds... makes you wonder why they waited so long to make those tactical alterations because it was only in the last five minutes that the Lilywhites found any joy. Ah well, things to work on.
Eastern Suburbs 0-1 Western Springs
40’ | WS | 0-1 | Ramsay (Ellis)
43’ | ES | RED CARD | Atkinson
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