With the way that the last couple weeks of results have broken, Wellington United are right back in the mix for the final. They’re also smack bang in the middle of a run of fixtures that sees…

The parity around this competition meant that Christchurch United and Auckland City were both within three points of second place as this game kicked off so technically they are both still title challengers... but the vibes have been peculiar.

Last Saturday, Auckland United nearly got stuck against a magnificent defensive display from West Coast Rangers until a controversial late penalty maintained their 100% record... and it wasn’t going to get any easier having to play four days later, on a Wednesday night, away against an Eastern Suburbs

Birkenhead were grand finalists last year. Wellington Olympic just won the Chatham Cup. Both have intentions of getting back to North Harbour Stadium (or wherever the final happens to be) in a few weeks but they also both lost last in round four. Gotta bounce back.

Now, this was one of those games that you circle on the fixture list. The premier dynastic club in the country against the team that pipped them to the NRFL Premiership title.

It’s taken this long for Eastern Suburbs to finally have a home game... their men didn’t qualify so Madills Farm has been solely for the dog walkers over the past month. But the club flags were up on Sunday as Canterbury United came to town

Western Suburbs won 8-0 against Coastal Spirit two weeks ago in the biggest Men’s National League victory for a decade... and yet managed to bookend that record win with a pair of defeats….

Unstoppable force. Immovable object. Through the first two weeks, no team’s games have involved more goals than Western Springs (15 goals: 8 for, 7 against)... and no team’s games have involved fewer goals than Petone (3 goals: 1 for, 2 against)

Fresh off the Derby win last week, Auckland FC were back to familiar territory as they ran into a fellow Northern Leaguer for the first time in this competition. In other words, a team that’s faced them before and understands how they play

It’s a weird one when you can say that both teams scored four goals last week yet the outcomes were completely different. Wellington United scored four but conceded five as they fell short in defeat away to Western Springs…

Okay, settle in now, grab yourself a cuppa, because we’re reached the round’s headline act: the derby has arrived in the National League. Three times these clubs met in the A-League last season and three times Auckland FC came away victorious…

The last time these two teams met was in the Chatham Cup quarter-final in late July, when Christchurch United, playing at home, blew a 2-0 lead with ten minutes to go and ultimately lost 4-2 after extra time.

On a relatively nice and only mildly windy Saturday afternoon at Petone Memorial Park began a brand new National League season... and immediately we saw an upset.

Will this be the season that a team from outside Auckland wins the Women’s National League? You never know - there are no foregone conclusions here.

The regional leagues are over and the cups are complete. Now it’s time for the main event: the New Zealand National League.

It’s been Auckland United vs West Coast Rangers all season for the trophy in these parts. Auckland United won their first six games in a row before losing 2-0 away to Rangers. WCR went on to win their first nine games in a row but…

Which brings us to the most important game of the week: Tauranga Moana vs Hibiscus Coast. If Tauranga won, they’d secure their spot in the top division for another year at HC’s expense. If the Coasties won, they’d go ahead of Tauranga on goal difference

It was semi-final weekend for both of our national cup competitions with the last four clubs in the pots scrapping it out for a trip to North Harbour Stadium.

The shenanigans in the latest round of Men’s Northern League were almost indescribable but let’s do our best because this much craziness ought to be recorded for posterity.