2026 Men’s National League – Week 5
Ferrymead Bays vs Cashmere Technical
There were two South Island Derbies this week. The Women’s NL saw a very close game between Otago University and Canterbury United... the Men’s NL served up Ferrymead Bays vs Cashmere Technical where the margins weren’t expected to be quite so slim given that Tech won 4-0 and 5-0 in their South Island League meetings... although there was a much closer 4-3 win for Tech in the Chatham Cup. Plus whatever may have happened before, this is a genuine derby: their home grounds are less than four kilometres apart.
Yuya Taguchi was still overseas so Cash Tech kept it simple with the same eleven that had beaten AFC Reserves 3-0 in week four, scoring twice inside of seven minutes to take control of that match. Not only have they got Garbhan Coughlan bossing the Golden Boot and Lyle Matthysen charging towards Assist King status but they’ve also only conceded twice along the way (Callum Cooke’s two goals in the loss to Napier City). Huge contender-affirming match to follow against Auckland City but first they had errands to run in the Ferry Road Derby.
As for Bays, they were also missing an international played with American fullback (and long throw extraordinaire) Nic Falco heading back to the States to attend a wedding. Treye Butler and Jacob Killick were recalled to the starting team in attack while Ilan Mastrocola-Simon got the understudy duties at right-back. Still no Omar Cameron, their top scorer who hasn’t played since week one. Haven’t seen trickster winger Jackson Cole at all during the Nats either. Not quite full capacity Ferrymead though they’re still putting forth a good account of themselves.
Friday night footy at Ferrymead Park and it was the away side, Technical, who were straight into it, moving the ball quickly in search of more early strikes. Bays handled that initial spell of pressure and were able to ease things up with some territory of their own... only to concede a soft one when Garbhan Coughlan’s flick header landed between defender and goalkeeper, allowing Lyle Matthysen to swoop in and nod it home himself in the 14th minute. Bugger. An instant of hesitation and Tech mad them pay for it. Real table-turning scenario for Ferrymead Bays to concede from a long throw considering that’s the iconic element of their own attacking weaponry.
Ferrymead were battling away, scrambling when needed, seeking runners in the channels in the other direction... good for easing the pressure on their defence but they weren’t doing anything to test Pieter-Taco Bierema in the Tech goal. The match reached an impasse where not much was happening. Coughlan was happy to hack down Daniel Thoms tracking back, copping a yellow to break up the counter knowing that Bays weren’t doing anything to them from structured situations. The scrappiness made for a fine Finn Caughey performance in midfield, embracing the chance to throw some weight around, and there were still glimpses of that Matthysen magic. But mostly the clock just ticked by.
Until a few minutes to go when some slick work from Coughlan on the break ended with substitute Edy Belingher isolated against Mastrocola-Simon... didn’t look to be much in it but the ref pointed to the spot. Must have caught him with the dangling leg. Garbhan Coughlan scored the penalty. Cashmere hadn’t looked like conceding but it’s always risky with that narrow margin. The second goal put a fullstop at the end of the sentence.
This was a crafty Cashmere Tech victory against a familiar foe. Fourth clean sheet from five games for Bierema. Coughlan has scored in all five fixtures and has ten goals in total. He did limp off towards the end so fingers crossed that was only fatigue... though even if he doesn’t play another minute he might still win the MVP award, he’s been that good. Cannot wait to see how they go at home against Auckland City next week. It always felt like Tech had it in their grasp but a dogged defensive display from Ferrymead Bays meant they were never fully comfortable which does make you wonder what might have been if they’d kept it at 0-0 for longer. Respect to Liam Pritchard and Noa Prestel who have been great in every game despite this now making it three defeats on the bounce for Bays. They’ve been losing but they’ve been competitive in every game except the Miramar one.
Ferrymead Bays 0-2 Cashmere Technical
14’ | 0-1 | CT | Matthysen (Coughlan)
87’ | 0-2 | CT | Coughlan [p] (Belingher)
Auckland City vs Auckland United
There was a Christchurch Derby on Friday night and there was an Auckland Derby on Saturday arvo - the Dominion Road Derby no less, between the last two undefeated teams this season. Other than the first half against Wellington Olympic, Auckland City have looked excellent of late and they had home advantage at Kiwitea Street. No changes from the eleven that did a very professional job in beating Miramar Rangers, though they did have one of the most experienced benches you’ll ever see in a National League game with Ryan De Vries, Angus Kilkolly, Alfie Rogers, and Adam Mitchell as the outfielders on hand in case of emergency... talk about a gluttony of wealth. Auckland United were also coming off a tidy clean sheet victory (against Ferrymead) hence they only made one change which was Julian Cristales Barrios returning to the midfield alongside Adama Coulibaly who was so impressive in that week four outing.
These are two teams that favour the tactical approach to football so you’re always looking for where the pressure points might arise. One obvious one was the way that United persisted with playing short from their goalkeeper while City persisted in trying to rush them into turnovers. Freddie Martin is very good with his feet but Pavel Osmančík had multiple instances where he almost picked off a pass or at least rushed him with a shadow bearing down on him. The energy was good from United in response although it did feel like they were more likely to break. City were recycling possession beautifully. They were also asking questions from corner kicks, with a big handball shout denied from one while Nathan Lobo had a shot multi-deflected wide from another.
Auckland City got their reward midway through the half. It was Michal Douděra who drifted wide and fizzed a dangerous cross into the middle where Osmančík fluffed the first header but Ryan Watson kept it alive at the back post. Gerard Garriga similarly fluffed at his shot attempt though fortunately it sliced off his boot to where Osmančík was lurking and he did the rest. Sorta walked backwards into that goal but it was a fair reflection of how the game was going. Twenty-five minutes deep and that crucial first goal had arrived – and Miramar Rangers learned last week how difficult it is to get at ACFC when they’re playing with a lead.
City proceeded to knock the ball around and suffocate the game and they were doing a fine job of it with that wonderful CB combo of Christian Gray winning headers and pinging long balls and Nathan Rostron dribbling from the back and passing like a midfielder. El Profesor and El Estudiante. Gray almost set up a goal with the first act of the second half when he whacked one long for Osmančík who struck wide from twenty yards. But then Auckland United almost levelled up against the run of play when Wallace rolled one under his boot for Barrios to take a pop, slightly outside the area, and if it weren’t for a superb stretching save by Louie Caunter then that would have really shaken things up. Rostron then made a very good lunging block against Jack Beer soon afterwards. Goes to show that no matter how well you’re shifting the ball through the thirds, no matter how well you’re winning first-balls at the back, you’re always vulnerable with a 1-0 lead.
So Auckland City went and scored two more. They subbed on Angus Kilkolly and Ryan De Vries for a massive jolt of attacking experience and they were both hungry on the press as Auckland United set up to play short from a goal kick in the 74th min... although it was the third man through the middle who got the turnover and with it the goal. Gerard Garriga Gibert jumped on a pass intended for Tiahn Manuel and there was the high-field turnover goal that they’d been threatening all along. Shuno Koto hit the post from a tight angle for United to keep it frisky but then Nathan Rostron made sure of matters with a header from a corner kick. Kilkolly collided with keeper and wasn’t able to finish the game so ACFC had to do the seven minutes of added time with a man down having already used their subs. But that was nothing they couldn’t handle.
Another clean sheet, another game scoring multiple times, another victory for Auckland City. That Navy Blues pedigree is rising to the top once again. They’re now the only remaining undefeated team which sets up a tantalising clash away against Cashmere Tech next week, especially the Coughlan vs Gray/Rostron duel. Chuck Louie Caunter in there too because the ACFC goalie is having an awesome run. Also thought Reggie Murati and Michal Douděra were undercover stars in that performance. Auckland United did get found out a little bit although they were right in that game with twenty to go. Bit of extra luck somewhere and you never know.
Auckland City 3-0 Auckland United
25’ | 1-0 | AC | Osmančík (Garriga)
74’ | 2-0 | AC | Garriga
86’ | 3-0 | AC | Rostron (Lobo)
Auckland FC Reserves vs Birkenhead United
Something unprecedented happened on Saturday evening when Auckland FC were beaten 5-2 away against Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League. It began beautifully with Luka Vicelich scoring his first goal at that level but the pace in transition of Wanderers tore AFC to shreds in the second half as they conceded five times in a game for the first time ever. It’s a much younger squad this season with quite a few blokes elevated from the National League and Pro League squads into bigger roles than they could ever have expected during the Steve Corica days and that’s going to mean a far less consistent outfit. You know what though? A 5-2 defeat was still better than what the Ressies served up the following day at Fred Taylor Park.
No Marley Leuluai for AFC this time – he’d played three of their previous four and the team has generally looked stronger with him out there – although they did have the service of Aaron Cartwright for the third week on the trot. Harley Hill returned to the starting eleven, as did Nathan Martin and Damion Kim while Northland’s Will Gross was handed his first MNL starting berth. All four of those guys had come off the bench in the 3-0 loss to Cash Tech in week four. Gross replaced Luke Carter in the line-up (the 15yo spared the physical bombardment of playing against Birkenhead United) so Carlos Ranui slid into central defence with Gross on the right. For Birko, the only change to the side that beat NCR was Kian Donkers rising into the eleven after scoring off the bench in that game. Two weeks in a row that a bench striker has scored and then been rewarded with a start the next week, this following Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit whose place Donkers took. No Monty Patterson for the second game running.
Everton O’Leary and Shiv Nair started for Birko having both been with AFC last year. O’Leary stayed with them for Pro League but Nair didn’t really get the opportunities he’d have liked so maybe that’s why he’d already put two AFC fellas on the turf within five minutes. Unfortunately for the young’uns, this was going to be that kind of game as Birko put their shoulders to good use throughout. Such as when Donkers went barging fellas over with a run into the area, backheeling an assist for Josh Redfearn only for Will Gross to block him on the goalline. Donkers was also in that AFC Pro League squad... plus he spent some time trialling with the A-League side. Safe to say he had a point to prove as well.
Goalkeeper Eli Jones shared the pitch with Donkers during his only Pro League appearance and he was a busy man from the get-go, making good saves against Bidwell and Nair amidst having to be constantly alert to the aerials from this cross-heavy Birko team with all their size and strength. It was via the latter – a Devin Slingsby long-throw – that the breakthrough arrived. Bobbling wee touch from Charles Bidwell at the near post and then Kian Donkers vultured in on the line. The AFC fellas were adamant there was an infringement in there somewhere but can’t rightly guess what that could have been. The ball ended up in the net regardless. Donkers has been credited with the goal on the NZF Match Centre although Birko’s social media team gave it to Charles Bidwell... who bloody knows. The second goal was much more definitive. Ranui had initially won the shoulder-to-shoulder with Donkers but he didn’t clear the ball at the first attempt so Donkers swept in from his blindside and smashed in a low volley. Two in five mins for Birko.
The Reserves got back into the grind for a while but getting out of their half remained a near-impossible challenge. Josh Redfearn headed a third goal in off the post from a Slingsby cross five mins before the break and with that any hope of a result was pretty much gone. The second half began and Donkers almost immediately chipped an effort off the crossbar. That was a rare respite for AFC. There wouldn’t be many more of those. Pretty soon Donkers had another when he got around his marker to head home from a lovely Slingsby cross and, just a couple minutes later, Slingsby’s long throw wasn’t dealt with by the AFC defenders and this time it was to the benefit of Charles Bidwell.
Birko rang the changes for the last half hour otherwise this could have really gotten nasty. Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit replaced Kian Donkers in one of those changes and RCDT soon got himself booked after a cheeky scuffle in the corner with Ranui (who was also yellow carded). And, fair play, AFC did take advantage of all the ins and outs, creating their best couple chances during the ensuing calibration period. Harley Hill was involved in both – one he spun out of pressure and then was brilliantly tackled by a sliding Dion Buckingham in the area as he sought out a shot; then, after Jones had made a lunging leg save to stop Carlson-Du Toit from making it six, Hill got the ball around halfway and combined sweetly with Louis Wicks before dashing through on goal, cleverly lifting the ball over Oliver Pocock with his left. There were claims of a foul as he wriggled clear of Christian Rodriguez but to no avail. That’s a fourth of the campaign for Hill, who has netted in every game he’s started.
Birko would still get the last laugh though. Evan Paez with the corner kick delivery, Dion Buckingham with the header. Eli Jones tripped over trying to cover his back post but the referee wasn’t having it – may have actually been a teammate who bumped him from behind. Mark it down as a 6-1 win for Birkenhead United, who corrected their goal difference worries in one thirsty gulp.
Five games deep, Harley Hill and Charlie Hale are the only two dudes who’ve scored for AFC Reserves... although it’s the defence that’s by far the bigger issue for Rory Fallon’s team. That’s now 16 goals conceded in those five outings (they conceded 10 in 10 during the 2025 MNL) with multiple concessions in every game. The thing about that is Eli Jones played pretty well here, showing poise and strength claiming those aerials and making a couple sharp saves. But his backline was losing way too many duels in front of him and coughed up the ball in some terrible areas. It could easily have been more than six if Birko hadn’t eased up. Cool to see Loeki Van Baarzel appear off the bench. The 18yo centre-back seemed to make a really positive impact when he first arrived during the Northern League – they won 4/6 games when he started and only 4/16 when he didn’t feature. This was his first National League appearance. S’pose these struggles are less surprising when you consider that the blokes who’ve started at CB this season are converted fullbacks (Ranui and Riley Dalziell), a converted midfielder (James Mitchell), and a 15-year-old (Luke Carter). All have played enough central defence in their time for that not to be an excuse... but they’re still learning.
Looking back at that first goal... it doesn’t really look like Donkers touches it, more likely that it bounced on Bidwell’s foot and looped over the line before KD could get there. That’s how the Birko socials credited it and it was Bidwell who got centred in the celebrations from his teammates, no Donkers, so we’ll go with that unless there’s further clarification. That means no hatty for Donkers, though it does mean an unexpected brace for defensive midfielder Bidwell. It also means that can go down as a Devin Slingsby assist, giving the American wing-back three for the game plus another goal which came from his long throw. The Ressies couldn’t handle how dangerous those deliveries were, be it corner kick or open play or long throw. Birko were too big, too rough, too strong for their young opponents and now that 4-0 opening round loss to Cash Tech really does look like an anomaly.
Auckland FC Reserves 1-6 Birkenhead United
24’ | 0-1 | BU | Bidwell (Slingsby)
28’ | 0-2 | BU | Donkers
41’ | 0-3 | BU | Redfearn (Slingsby)
55’ | 0-4 | BU | Donkers (Slingsby)
58’ | 0-5 | BU | Bidwell
73’ | 1-5 | AFC | Hill (Wickremesekera)
83’ | 1-6 | BU | Buckingham (Paez)
Napier City Rovers vs Wellington Phoenix Reserves
It was a busy Sunday for the Wellington Phoenix. Doubleheader for their two A-League sides at Sky Stadium... meanwhile the Men’s Reserves were on the road at Bluewater Stadium in Napier, where it must have been a bugger to find parking because the annual Napier U19s tournament was going on all around the wider grounds. Tauranga City won the Men’s competition for the second year in a row, beating Fencibles United in the final. Fencibles United defeated Ellerslie on penalties in the final of the Women’s competition. Should mentioned it’s really only North Island clubs who enter that competition – Coastal Spirit host a concurrent equivalent for South Island clubs where Ferrymead Bays Men and Cashmere Technical Women won the titles.
Interesting stuff going on with both teams. The WeeNix had their bye last week, following a battling 1-0 loss against Birko which saw them sit deep in a back five (in response to a 10-0 drubbing the week prior). They returned to their usual shape having had a couple weeks of training since then, no more emergency measures. Oliver Grosso and Waisea Henry, both NZ U19s reps this year and both having come up from Christchurch United for this phase of the season (Grosso is a former WeeNix striker anyway), were elevated into the eleven. Joe Chalabi returned in goal. With Kyle Koch and Dan Nelson recalled at fullback, it meant they had the same GK-DEF-MID combinations as in that 10-0 game. Time for a bit of redemption, perhaps? Napier City welcomed back captain Jim Hoyle after a couple weeks out with a broken nose. He played with a protective mask for about ten minutes before presumably deciding it was annoying (on a very toasty afternoon) and going facially naked the rest of the way. They put him at right wing-back rather than his usual position in the back three, probably to protect him from making too many headers.
There’s plenty of buzz around the Wellington Phoenix A-League team after back to back wins to begin that season. The second of those games hadn’t kicked off when this one did but the good energy was clearly feeding through into the Reserves regardless, with the lads taking inspiration from having seen their mate Luke Mitchell get a starting debut in that season opener. There was a level of intensity and tempo at the outset that we hadn’t previously seen from them in these Nats. Fletcher Pratt and Waisea Henry were especially keen to get at it with the ball at their feet. Ben Trenberth, the only ALM-contracted dude in the squad this week, had a great early chance that Will Tønning did well to save.
Which is not to say that they were on top because NCR quite desperately needed to win this match having only taken four points from four games with a bye to follow... so they did what a team in their situation ought to against a team of U20s players by targeting set pieces and second balls. Through that measure, Napier City were able to impose themselves in the Phoenix half, drawing a few gasps from the crowd with sighters that didn’t quite find the intended target. Nevertheless, the Nix did have some outlets. Grosso was running lanes on the break and one of those drives led to a cheeky backheel assist for Henry to try curl one bottom corner across goal. But Tønning made another good save.
Even though Napier City controlled most of the first half, it got a bit too sideways from them at times and those two Nix chances were arguably the two best moments of the opening forty-five. Not enough cutting edge from the home side... but they soon fixed that. Barely a minute into the second spell, Aston Hurd jumped in front of Joe McIntyre in the area and drew a penalty. Callum Cooke scored from the spot and there was the breakthrough. All that huffing and puffing and then the goal came drifting along like a leaf caught in a gentle breeze.
Other than the anomaly game where they ran into a rampant Garbhan Coughlan, the pattern for the WeeNix has been similar all year where they can hang in there defensively, and they can even move the ball quite cohesively through the midfield, but for whatever reason they cannot score goals. The promise of the first half evaporated once Napier settled into the lead and all hope was gone entirely after Leo Brown ran around the left edge and into the area where he somehow squeezed a narrow shot past Chalabi for 2-0 after 65 mins. Might have been a slight deflection in there though the Nix keeper’s frustrated reaction, kicking out at the post, suggested he felt he should’ve done better.
A third would follow with five to go, after the subs had been rolled by both sides, when Liam Schofield took a short corner wrap-around move and then crossed for Aston Hurd to nod home. Good reward for Hurd who got the start up top ahead of English import Jacob Fenton and quietly went about getting a goal and two assists. Rovers have two wins and a draw at home… and two defeats on the road.
So it was goalless at the half and then Napier City rolled it from there. They probably would have done so even without the sudden penalty though that did obviously accelerate the procedure. Rovers turned it on in the second half for the win against Cashmere Tech on this same ground so that’s just how they operate, staying patient and then pouncing when the time arrives. It may have taken a while to find any joy in the attacking penalty area but they bossed every other part of the field... although they weren’t quite able to get Will Tønning out of there with a clean sheet. It was too late to matter to the match but Jack Clegg scored a ripping volley in stoppage time to put the WeeNix on the board – the closing moments of their fourth game and that was their first goal from open play. The only other one they’d scored was Jack Clegg from the penalty spot. This broke a drought of more than 330 minutes without scoring.
Napier City Rovers 3-1 Wellington Phoenix Reserves
47’ | 1-0 | NCR | Cooke [p] (Hurd)
65’ | 2-0 | NCR | Brown (Hurd)
85’ | 3-0 | NCR | Hurd (Schofield)
90+1’ | 3-1 | WP | Clegg
Eastern Suburbs vs Miramar Rangers
Lastly, it was back up to Madills Farm for a slog-a-thon between the two teams with the most yellow cards this season (not counting staff members because we’ve seen a few of those around the grounds too). It was discipline that let Eastern Suburbs down last week in the loss to Welly Olympic, while Miramar were simply beaten by a better team when Auckland City dealt them their first defeat. Both of these sides were boosted by returning creative players: Noah Karunaratne (ES) and Martin Bueno (MR) making their first appearances of the campaign. And not a moment too soon.
Didn’t take long before Roberto Alarcon Saez put a heavy shoulder into the back of Martin Bueno... who got straight back up and in his face then fell back over again claiming he’d been headbutted. Immensely silly behaviour all around – for which Bueno was given a yellow card and Abarca, well, he saw a red one waved in his direction. Officials deemed he’d gone for the throat of Bueno during the afters. And, look, if that was harsh then let’s break it down further because he probably deserved a yellow for the initial foul and if the reactions weren’t already worth dual yellows then the stupidity of doing all that two metres in front of the linesman should have been. After spoiling a chance to get points away against Olympic last week due to a red card, they’d done the same bloody thing a mere ten minutes into the very next game.
It was pressure on from that point. Jack De Groot made a very good one-handed stop to tip a header from Lewis Thompson over the bar at corner kick time, along with a couple near misses where Rangers forwards couldn’t get contact in great areas. But then JDG came flying out to grab a ball in behind and absolutely cleaned up Nicolas Bobadilla for a penalty. Beautiful dummy from Bueno within the move. Glad to report that this time De Groot resisted the urge to bump the crossbar off kilter like he did last week... meanwhile Bueno calmly converted down the middle to put Rangers ahead after half an hour. De Groot’s a former Miramar player, don’t forget, while Bueno had a couple stints with an Eastern Suburbs crest on his chest.
Subs have had some practice playing with ten men lately and even before conceding they’d been doing some nice stuff working very hard off the ball to compensate for the disadvantage. Tough to maintain that intensity throughout, especially after falling behind, but they kept it going long enough to equalise late in the half. Noah Karunaratne began the move with one of his typical surging dribbles though paid the price when he pulled up clutching at his hamstring. Nevertheless, the move continued and when Spencer Cameron whiffed a chance to clear the ball in the area, Jake Mechell made no mistake. Sadly, that would be the end of Karunaratne’s game with Keen Mandizvidza sent on to pick up where he left off.
To repeat: it’s tough to maintain those levels playing so long with ten men. Miramar came out for the second half and promptly got on the front foot again, with Jordan Lamb dodging two tackles to set up Bueno, whose shot was saved from close range by JDG... and the forays continued until Martin Bueno slammed in a header from a Lewis Thompson in the 57th. Sharp from Bueno and also sharp from his teammates to quickly separate him and Lucas Abarca, since Bueno seemed to want to rub it in the defender’s face while the defender signalled that the forward oughta get a second yellow.
Lissette drew a good save out of Oliver on the end of a corner in between Bueno’s second and third, could have been an equaliser there. Suburbs definitely did not go down without a scrap. Nope... they went down because of a scrap. A few of them, actually, since along with the red card Adam Thomas also bumped Andy Bevin over to concede his team’s second penalty of the day, converted by Bueno with ten minutes remaining. And Bueno would add a fourth when he and Adam Hewson combined on the counter, with the Uruguayan tapping home to complete the afternoon’s festivities. Curious celebration for a bloke playing at a former club to go framing his current jersey.
Eastern Suburbs did get a couple of red cards during the Northern League so maybe we shouldn’t be shocked by this villain turn of theirs. But, damn, the quantities of goals they’re conceding is shocking. They’ve let four past them in three consecutive games... more than they allowed during the entire 22-game Northern League. Crazy stuff. Exacerbated by red cards and penalties, okay fine, but those things are all connected – you’re not gonna win games in the Nats without discipline. But there has been some good news because even though Suburbs have randomly started conceding bundles, De Groot has remained great between the sticks and guess what? He’s been rewarded for all those saves with a Pro League contract at Bula FC.
Martin Bueno will not have retained many fans among the Eastern Suburbs faithful after that display but boy does that man know how to score goals. His four-bagger matches what Garbhan Coughlan (CT) did against the WeeNix and what Will Mendoza (AU) did against Napier City a few weeks ago. Three separate dudes with four-fors already this season. Sends him rocketing up the Golden Boot charts after only 89 minutes of work (he hobbled off at the end, probably just a bit sore after not playing for a month). He had plenty of assistance though, in fact there were four different assisters for his goals. Lewis Thompson had a rager of a game at left-back. Nico Bobadilla and Andy Bevin were as crafty as ever. Makes you wonder how they might have gone against Auckland City if they’d had Bueno available last week but nevertheless this was a result to catapult them back into contention.
Eastern Suburbs 1-4 Miramar Rangers
10’ | RED CARD | ES | Alarcon
31’ | 0-1 | MR | Bueno [p] (Bobadilla)
44’ | 1-1 | ES | Mechell (Echague)
57’ | 1-2 | MR | Bueno (Thompson)
80’ | 1-3 | MR | Bueno [p] (Bevin)
89’ | 1-4 | MR | Bueno (Hewson)
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cashmere Technical | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 2 | 18 | 12 |
| Auckland City | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 10 |
| Miramar Rangers | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 10 |
| Birkenhead United | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Auckland United | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Wellington Olympic | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Napier City Rovers | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 7 |
| Ferrymead Bays | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 4 |
| Eastern Suburbs | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 1 |
| Auckland FC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 1 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | -13 | 1 |
| TOP SCORERS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Garbhan Coughlan | Cashmere Technical | 10 |
| Will Mendoza | Auckland United | 6 |
| Harley Hill | Auckland FC | 4 |
| Lyle Matthysen | Cashmere Technical | 4 |
| Martin Bueno | Miramar Rangers | 4 |
| Callum Cooke | Napier City Rovers | 3 |
| Kian Donkers | Birkenhead United | 3 |
| Yuya Taguchi | Cashmere Technical | 2 |
| Sam Lack | Napier City Rovers | 2 |
| Finn Caughey | Cashmere Technical | 2 |
| Jack Beer | Auckland United | 2 |
| Jacob Killick | Ferrymead Bays | 2 |
| Charlie Hale | Auckland FC | 2 |
| Julian Cristales Barrios | Auckland United | 2 |
| Owen Smith | Miramar Rangers | 2 |
| Ben Mata | Wellington Olympic | 2 |
| Gianni Bouzoukis | Wellington Olympic | 2 |
| Luke Stoupe | Wellington Olympic | 2 |
| Jack Clegg | Wellington Phoenix | 2 |
| Pavel Osmančík | Auckland City | 2 |
| Josh Redfearn | Birkenhead United | 2 |
| Charles Bidwell | Birkenhead United | 2 |
| MOST ASSISTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lyle Matthysen | Cashmere Technical | 6 |
| Garbhan Coughlan | Cashmere Technical | 4 |
| Jack Beer | Auckland United | 3 |
| Aston Hurd | Napier City Rovers | 3 |
| Devin Slingsby | Birkenhead United | 3 |
| Yuya Taguchi | Cashmere Technical | 2 |
| Finn Caughey | Cashmere Technical | 2 |
| Alex Ballard | Cashmere Technical | 2 |
| Will Mendoza | Auckland United | 2 |
| Matt D'Hotman-De Villiers | Auckland FC | 2 |
| Owen Smith | Miramar Rangers | 2 |
| Gavin Hoy | Wellington Olympic | 2 |
| Kailan Gould | Wellington Olympic | 2 |
| Liam Schofield | Napier City Rovers | 2 |
| MOST CLEAN SHEETS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pieter-Taco Bierema | Cashmere Technical | 4 |
| Oliver Pocock | Birkenhead United | 2 |
| Louie Caunter | Auckland City | 2 |
| Evan Ovendale | Ferrymead Bays | 1 |
| Jack de Groot | Eastern Suburbs | 1 |
| Scott Basalaj | Wellington Olympic | 1 |
| Freddie Martin | Auckland United | 1 |
Next Week’s Fixtures
Napier City Rovers – BYE
Wellington Phoenix Reserves vs Auckland FC Reserves
Miramar Rangers vs Wellington Olympic
Auckland United vs Eastern Suburbs
Cashmere Technical vs Auckland City
Birkenhead United vs Ferrymead Bays
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