On paper, this did not look like much of a challenge for Auckland United. But the selections did make it interesting as AUFC opted for rotation while CU reintegrated a couple of their Cashmere Tech players in the frontline

No biggie, just the Mediterranean Cup against the old foes of Auckland City up at Kiwitea Street. Probably the best rivalry we’ve got in the National League these days

It took absolutely no time at all for Erika Skindlov to give it a burst up the left wing and then a low cross for Ella McCann who pulled out the heel flick to score against her old team... 27 seconds on the clock as that one rustled the net

Cashmere Technical 10-0 Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Now that’s a hiding. Tech were 5-0 up after only 29 minutes at Garrick Park so it was a fortunate thing the scoreline wasn’t any worse than that

We’ve got National League footy during the Daylight Savings months one last time. It’s the end of an era as the WNL federation teams fall away one by one and we prepare to shift into a full winter season

Birkenhead United vs Cashmere Technical… one of these two teams went undefeated throughout their league season to win a regional championship, although lost to Fencibles United in the Chatham Cup. And so did the other.

It was all about the Cup Finals last week but other games of football also took place over the past fortnight, including a trio of regional catch-up games and some very important National League qualifiers

The closest of all the title races was this one, with Auckland United and Eastern Suburbs having gone back and forth throughout the year leaving us in a position heading into the final week of matches where, barring anything shocking, goal difference would determine the champion.

We’ve still got a title race in the Men’s Central League despite one of this weekend’s results and because of another. The ‘despite’ comes from the Saturday slate of games where Petone held Wellington Olympic to a 1-1 draw…

Cashmere Technical were supposed to seal the deal for the Southern League title when they hosted Coastal Spirit on Sunday... but it turns out it didn’t even have to wait that long. Instead they were crowned champs a day earlier without having to do anything…

They’ve done it, Birkenhead United are champions of the Northern League with four games to spare – the first trophy winner to be confirmed across the top men’s and women’s footy leagues this year

Friday night under lights at Ferrymead Park was the scene for a second versus third scrap-out between Ferrymead Bays and Coastal Spirit... although the scrapping only went in one direction…

Might as well start with a heavy win on this side too because Wellington Olympic 9-0 FC Western was a completely anticipated result but the margin was something else, considering how Western had been going alright of late

The top of the Central League table has taken another reshuffle after Napier City Rovers won 3-2 against Wellington Olympic in a fantastic game of footy. Luke Stoupe put Olympic ahead after 23 mins…

This was the week that the Oceania Pro League players returned. Four weeks after Auckland FC lifted that championship (overshadowed by another one they lifted that same weekend), we have begun to see the various kiwi players involved in that competition dispersed back around the league

The funky thing about this round is that the top four, separated by just two points, all played each other... and nothing’s any clearer now than it was a week ago. That included a wonderful game between Western Suburbs and Napier City Rovers which…