Aotearoa Domestic Football Roundup – July 6
Men’s Northern League
Auckland City will be off to the OFC Men’s Champions League in a month’s time so they’ve got to clear up some room in the calendar. That means midweek games and while their meeting with East Coast Bays got rained off last week, they were able to squeeze in an Auckland FC Reserves visit to the Croatian Cultural Club on Wednesday... where City had a frisky time trying to break down the AFC defensive wall but eventually came away with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from their veteran strikers Angus Kilkolly (51’) and Ryan de Vries (86’). Second consecutive clean sheet for Matthew Foord in there, the 20yo Christchurch keeper who joined after getting some Pro League experience with Fiji’s Bula FC. Before that he was in the Wellington Phoenix Reserves for a spell. Same Nix to Bula to ACFC journey that was also walked by Fergus Gillion, who has also been a prominent figure since joining the club recently.
Neither of those two were City players before their Pro League excursions (although Gillion’s older bro Liam once was) however ACFC did lose a few fellas to that competition when squads were picked. Christian Gray was one of those, he rejoined alongside Gillion and Foord a couple weeks ago. And what do ya know, now Mike den Heijer, Nathan Lobo, and Matt Ellis have all done the same. Three lads from the AFC Pro League squad... though none were rushed back to face Auckland FC’s U20s in this match. Two other new signings for Auckland City: Ryan Watson, who went to the U20 World Cup last year, a playmaker from the Nix Reserves who had been playing for Western Springs; and Pavel Osmanick, a 26yo Czechian fullback who’s bounced around a bunch of clubs in his homeland. Really restocking the shelves midseason.
The job continued for the Auckland FC Reserves. Since they were already out of the cup, and same deal with Bay Olympic, those two were able to fit in their catch-up game from earlier in the season... remember the one where the teams turned up to find that nobody had painted the lines? Well, the lines were painted this time and Harley Hill scored a hatty within them. AFC went 1-0 up after three minutes when Hill was played through by Will Gross, that time he was thwarted by the keeper but Charlie Hale was there to poke home the rebound for his third goal in three games since swapping the Phoenix Academy for the AFC Reserves. Then it was Hamilton product Harley Hill’s turn with three of his own (10’, 34’, 62’). It wasn’t until the 84th min that Ryan Shen got one back for Bay Olympic.
Tough loss for BO after they’d appeared to have turned a corner in recent weeks. Awesome win for the Ressies who haven’t done a lot of winning this year but they’ve gone 4/4 against the bottom three clubs (Melville, Bay Olympic, Manukau). Some of those shimmies and fakes to create shooting space in the box from Harley Hill were magic... he’s up to eight for the season in only 13 appearances. That’s as many as Ralph Rutherford got to be the team’s top scorer last year. Rutherford (currently out with an ACL tear, otherwise he’d have been in the OPL squad) did also score one in National League so overall it’s Rutherford with nine goals, then Jonty Bidois and Harley Hill eight goals for the all-time leading AFC Reserves goal-scorers... after 1.5 seasons.
OFC Women’s Champions League
Before the Men’s OCL, there is the Women’s OCL ongoing as we speak. Auckland United began their quest for a three-peat by winning 11-1 against Drehu Athletic (New Caledonia), that game was covered in last week’s write-up. They’ve since followed that with a 7-0 win over Puaikara United (Cook Islands) in their second and final group game. Sasha Adamson got them on the board straight away (5’) although it took another half an hour before Talisha Green delivered a rapid double (34’, 35’) to break it open. Olivia Ingham scored a brace in the second half (55’, 68’) with an own goal in between (64’). And Charlotte Roche was off the bench and on the board at the end (89’). Zoe Benson also featured as a substitute for her first appearance back at the club she scored the winning goal for in last year’s National League final. And while she didn’t play, it was great to see Saskia Vosper’s name in the matchday squad as she works back from an ACL.
That puts Auckland Utd through to the semis without even a hint of trouble. They’ll face Tafea FC of Vanuatu on Tuesday at 9pm NZT, a few hours after the other semi takes place between Hekari FC (Solomon Islands) and Puaikura FC (Cook Islands). The final is on Friday at 3pm NZT. Cool to see that with the collapse of FIFA+, all the Oceania Football stuff has shifted back to the more user-friendly platform of YouTube – including live streams not only of these games but of the upcoming Men’s U16 Championships and presumably everything else too.
Men’s Central League
Just the one game in these parts, with the Wellington Phoenix Reserves needing a stoppage time equalsier from Luke Mitchell (90+1’) to grab a 1-1 draw with FC Western, who’d taken the lead through Leo Elder (75’). Western beat the WeeNix when they played them in New Plymouth a few weeks ago. Since then the Phoenix Reserves have drawn three games in a row. Slightly different team for them here with no first-team players involved at all (and only substitute Ryan Lee with any A-League experience at all) – none of Xuan Loke, Eamonn McCarron, Nathan Walker, or Jayden Smith have played during this draw streak. The 15yo phenoms Jack Clegg and Ben Trenberth weren’t featured either after being called up to the NZ U16 squad during the week.
What the Phoenix did have was Joe Chalabi making his first Central League start of the season in goal. Plus there was also a debut at this level for George Fullelove via the bench – he was given the club’s Manaakitanga award in the men’s academy for being a superb teammate during a 2025 season wrecked by a back injury. He’s on the pitch again now (and presumably still a good teammate). Leo Elder’s goal was a wicked half-volley off the left boot from distance, deceiving 17yo Chalabi with the bounce off the Fraser Park turf. That’s his fourth of the term. The equaliser from Mitchell was a brilliant direct free kick, not put off by the fact he had to replace the ball after the whistle as the wind shoved it off kilter. A couple of wonderful goals in this game. Chur to those lads.
Women’s Central League
Got some unfortunate news here with Taradale having withdrawn from the Women’s Central League. They’ve chosen to forfeit the rest of the season after it became too tricky to field a competitive team each week whilst playing out of Napier with the rest of the division based in Wellington or Palmerston North. Injuries, squad depth, work/study/family commitments were among the specific reasons given. You can see that struggle reflected in their results with some pretty hefty defeats in there:
Seatoun 2-1 Taradale
PN Marist 2-3 Taradale
Taradale 1-7 Petone
Waterside Karori 10-0 Taradale
Taradale 0-9 Wellington United
Taradale 3-4 PN United
Taradale 2-8 Victoria University
Taradale 2-4 Wellington Phoenix U18s
Taradale 2-6 Seatoun
They have at least been scoring goals, with multiple in each of the last four games. Those were all home games though, meaning that they would have had a lot of road trips to follow if they’d stuck to the calendar. Big shame. Hopefully it’s not too late for a few of those players to pick up transfers to other CL clubs... but it probably is (and those with rivalling commitments aren’t going to be any more available for a club in a different city). The lifeline is that there is still one more year of having a Central Football team in the National League so the year isn’t over for the best of that crew. The likes of Caitlyn Turner, Hazel Marwick, Ruby Gilbertson, and Megan Thomas have all been involved in that over the last couple years.
Capital Football were left with a mess to clean up here. What they’ve done is they’ve kept all the results form the first round of fixtures and given 3-0 default wins to the opposition for the second rounds. That also includes the Miramar vs Taradale round one match that hadn’t been played yet. Plus it includes Seatoun’s win last week in a second round meeting... that’ll now be a 3-0 win to keep things fair, which docks their goal difference very slightly though that hardly matters. We were anticipating that there wouldn't be relegation this year due to the clubs moving up to the new National League division next year but obviously that’s no longer the case. Taradale have been fined and will be ineligible to re-enter the top division until 2029. The table doesn’t change. Taradale were last and likely to stay last, though it does take any pressure off the likes of Seatoun and the two Palmy clubs who now don’t have to worry about wooden spoons.
Meanwhile, Palmerston North United kept up their sizzling form with a fifth win in their last six, putting the sword to Victoria University with a 7-0 result. Emphatic bounce-back after losing to Wellington Utd in their previous match to disrupt that run. They were on it from the jump here, scoring four times in the first half through Charlotte Moss (4’), Annabel Irwin (18’, 32’), and Georgina Irwin (38’). Then Shania McIntosh (56’), Vanessa Taylor (77’), and Elizabeth Dombroski (84’) kept up the good work. Annabel Irwin has scored eight of her team’s 21 goals, she’s having a superb year.
Very different story across town when Wellington United turned up and won 5-0 against Palmerston North Marist. Goals from Kennedy Corkin (16’), Hannah Pilley (39’), Lara Smith (56’), an own goal (60’), and Madeline O’Farrell (88’). Nice and emphatic with Pilley reaching 20 league goals with her latest effort. Neither Petone nor Waterside Karori had league games this week (WKAFC were in action in the cup) so the Diamonds were able to put some points on the board in their absence. They’ve now played the same number of games as Petone but are one point behind, while Karori will go level with WU if they win their match in hand. It’s Waterside Karori vs Petone next week... and the week after it’s Wellington United vs Petone. Could be a decisive fortnight in the Women’s Central League.
Chatham Cup
Sixteen teams remained, eight of them have now been eliminated after the fourth round of the Chatham Cup took place over the weekend. Still regional match-ups to this stage but a surprising number of non-top tier teams made it this far up north to keep things interesting. One of those teams sprung a serious upset as Hibiscus Coast made the trek from north Auckland all the way down to Hamilton where they won 1-0 against Melville United thanks to an 80th minute strike from Mitchell Browne. Smoothly worked goal too, with a sharp finish from Browne on the end of it. The Coasties aren’t far off making a promotion push in the Championship either. Lots to play for over the next couple months alongside the honour of being the last remaining team in either cup competition from outside the top flights.
There could easily have been another upset as Auckland United hosted Cambridge United. Goalless in the first half but then Cambridge took the lead via Joshua Clarkin (50’). Cambridge got within a dozen minutes of keeping it that way... until Oli Fay levelled things up (79’) and a second yellow for Matthew Dale (83’) made it even tougher for the visitors. Extra time was required... however, once they got there Ben Wallace (92’) very quickly put AUFC ahead and then the same bloke scored again (103’) to seal the deal on a 3-1 victory, AET. Auckland United progress.
As for the other two games in this region, they both went as planned. Fencibles United won 3-0 against South Auckland Rangers with goals from Dylan Laing-McConnell (7’), Dylan Morris (42’), and Dastgeer Lai-Sai (47’) ensuring there wasn’t any room for things to go awry. South Auckland Rangers were easily the lowest ranked team to make it this far (fourth tier of Auckland footy) but yeah they capped out here. Brilliant run though. And more momentum for a Fencies side that has now won eight games on the bounce across both competitions, scoring multiple times in each of them.
Nor did Auckland City have any issues winning 3-0 against Takapuna. Had to stay patient against a solid defence but once again it was the experienced forwards who got the job done: Dylan Manickum (55’), Ryan De Vries (57’), Angus Kilkolly (89’ pen). Didn’t see any of those second-wave OPL additions in this game although there was a run off the bench for Rhys Davies... assuming that’s the same Rhys Davies who used to play for the ACFC U23s (and made a handful of first team apps for Eastern Suburbs) prior to doing his full stint at Bellarmine University in the USA.
Napier City Rovers are into the quarters without even conceding a goal. They won 4-0 against Petone with Ben Stanley (14’), Aston Hurd (49’), Luca Barclay (55’), and a second for Stanley (89’) accounting for the scoring. That was an away game too. Last week Rovers went top of the Central League with a win over Wellington Olympic and they’re into the cup having scored 13 goals and conceded 0 across three matches (7-0 vs Waterside Karori, 2-0 vs PN Marist, 4-0 vs Petone). They’ve lost just once all season, against Miramar Rangers back in May. Napier City Rovers are setting the standard for clubs outside the big three cities as they so often do – no reason not to be targeting a double from here.
Miramar Rangers are also through having won 3-1 away against Island Bay United. Martin Bueno (13’) gave them a first-half lead and then Adam Hewson (50’) doubled that early in the second. Leo Villa (54’) was quick to respond but Joe Harris (65’) added a third for Miramar within a couple minutes of being chucked on and that was that. Miramar Rangers have also only lost once this year (1-0 to Western Suburbs a couple weeks ago). They’re level on points with Napier City, only behind by two on the goal difference, and have beaten NCR once already. Plus they knocked Wellington Olympic out of the cup in the second round. Unlike in the Kate Shepp, the Chatham Cup quarters are when it stops being regionalised so it’s probably not going to be a NCR vs MR quarter (we’ll find out soon). But it would be awesome if we got another instance of that rivalry before the year is done and dusted... perhaps even in the final? They should meet again in the National League too.
Those Central region games both went the expected way and it was the same story in the Southern region except even more one-sided. Cashmere Technical travelled down to face Dunedin City Royals and put nine unanswered past them. Zander Edwards (6’), Garbhan Coughlan (11’ pen), Edwards #2 (34’), Edwards #3 (40’), Rory Hibbert (52’), Danny Kane (62’), Edy Belingher (76’), Gabriel Gallaway (80’), Gallaway #2 (90+3’) for a 9-0 victory in the last sixteen, jeepers. Tech even subbed their reserve goalkeeper on for the last dozen minutes, that’s how safe they were. They’ve smoked the competition all year so it’ll be fascinating to see if they can keep that going if they draw a team from the Northern or Central Leagues next round.
And Nelson Suburbs won 5-0 against Northern AFC. Goals from Johnny Reynolds (7’ pen), Reynolds again (21’), Lennon Whewell (63’), Trevin Myers (65’), and Jay Anderson (89’). Nelson Suburbs made it to the semis last year and are one more win away from matching that this year (one of only three teams from last year’s quarters to qualify for this year’s quarters along with Auckland Utd and Fencibles). This was a fortuitous draw for Nelson, not so much for the opposition as for the venue. Getting that home tie against Northern, therefore making them travel most of the length of the South Island, was a pretty big deal considering that Northern (who are excellent at home) have not won a game outside of Dunedin all year.
Chatham Cup 2026 Quarter-Finalists: Hibiscus Coast, Auckland United, Fencibles United, Auckland City, Napier City Rovers, Miramar Rangers, Cashmere Technical, Nelson Suburbs
Kate Sheppard Cup
The KSC quarter-final draw served up some gold this year with four fascinating games... although one of the most fascinating will have to be played at another time because Auckland United’s Champions League stuff means they’re not around to take on Eastern Suburbs. Park that for a later date – the KSC semis aren’t scheduled until mid-August so there’s plenty of time to fit it in.
Alrighty, how about Ellerslie vs Western Springs then? Springs have been picking things up lately but in some rancid wet conditions, absolutely bucketing down around kickoff, they had a shocker start to this one conceding twice in the first twenty minutes. Arisa Takeda (9’) pounced at the back post against her old team and then Tatiana Mason stepped up from the spot (19’) after Rina Hirano, another former favourite of Western Springs, was bumped over in the area. Despite Indigo Kirk’s 76th minute snapshot goal, following up after Katie Rood’s free kick had been blocked (Rood’s first appearance of the year for Springs), that fast start from Ellerslie proved to be the difference. A 2-1 win for the Ponies gets them trotting into the final four.
The last two standing in the Central region were the Wellington Phoenix Reserves and Waterside Karori. The WeeNix always turn up for the cup so they had Brooke Neary, Lily Brazendale, and Mikaela Bangalan all with A-League experience in their starting eleven, going against one of the title challengers in the Central League (the Nix U20s don’t play Central League, that’s their U18s team). Karori have been very tracking nicely this year... but the WeeNix took and early lead through Sienna Candy (5’) and they never relinquished it. Superb goal from Candy feinting past her marker twenty yards out and then firing in. A second finally arrived when Brazendale’s pace took her through and she converted past the keeper (64’). Then Ruby Barber jumped off the bench and scored two late ones (84’, 88’) to make the scoreline look a bit rougher on the Wharfies.
4-0 final score in favour of the Wellington Phoenix Reserves... lots of goals but it was the quality at the back of Freya Des Fountain, Alyssa Eglinton, and Holly Robins that won them this game. With that, the Phoenix have made the final four in all three years of Kate Sheppard Cup entry. They’ve been knocked out by Auckland United on both previous occasions so they’ll be hoping Eastern Suburbs do them (and everyone else) a favour in that rescheduled game.
It was left to the two best teams in the South Island to see who’d progress there. Dunedin City Royals hosting Cashmere Technical. Tech took the lead in a hurry when Kailey Short (7’) latched onto one at the back post... but this was a very evenly contested game with chances at both ends. DCR eventually got level via an own goal after a swirling Charlotte Summers corner kick delivery (64’) but then Margi Dias won and converted a penalty kick (70’) and it was that contribution that sent Cashmere Tech into the semis with a 2-1 victory. Technical’s outstanding season continues... though there was plenty in there for DCR to feel they can get at them next time and make it a title race in the South Island League.
Kate Sheppard Cup 2026 Semi-Finalists: Eastern Suburbs/Auckland United, Ellerslie, Wellington Phoenix Reserves, Cashmere Technical
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