Three more games this week but three games which involved five of the top six teams on the ladder. In other words, given the precarious state of the league table, three games which had the potential to offer complete clarity to the top four make-up and complete confusion as to the order of that top four. Which is exactly what happened.
Twenty two thousand six hundred and forty eight people filtered into Eden Park on Friday night in Auckland to watch the Wellington Phoenix. That’s more than the Super Rugby got the following night. More than the Nix have ever had before for a regular season game. The biggest crowd any A-League game has witnessed this season outside of Sydney or Melbourne.
A person could get used to these midweek catch-up games. Early evening in the Aotearoa summer… not the easiest for the players but when you can settle down with the cricket on one screen and a livestream of Southern vs Auckland City on another… mate, that’s magic.
The man scores goals, it’s what he does. Chris Wood went a fair while this season struggling to lock down a regular starting spot and struggling for that because the goals weren’t flowing but both issues have been well and truly taken care of lately.
In the end the transfer window passed with three signings and two releases. Cillian Sheridan turned up good to go as soon as January began. Mitch Nichols and Reuben Way were given the flick after pretty unglamorous contributions over the first half of the season. Then Antony Golec and Justin Gulley were signed to fill things out.
Hamilton Wanderers hosting Canterbury United and really absolutely desperately needing a win to halt their downward spiral and keep their semi-final hopes alive. Lose and it’s basically all over for anyone outside the current top four.
As long as the Phoenix keep battling for points away from home and winning the ones in front of their own crowds then they can still make a real push for the top four. That’s the aim. This result did a little bit of damage to those hopes but it did a lot more damage to the Newcastle Jets trying to sneak back into the top six.
In the proper punk attitude of revolt, both gaffers flipped a middle finger to midweek tradition and named unchanged lineups from the weekend. Probably not too much choice for the WeeNix given the senior side are away in Newcastle for tomorrow night’s game, while Team Welly didn’t need to change anything following their six-goal explosion against Hawke’s Bay.
Liverpool cannot win the title this season. It must not be allowed to happen. We cannot open that pandora’s box and unleash such hitherto repressed joy upon the world. You Liverpool fans have suffered enough already and that’s why you need to suffer some more, for all the rest of us.
At this point there’s nothing special about when Chris Wood plays at Old Trafford or Anfield or Stamford Bridge, etc… he’s done it all before. When he manages to score goals at those hallowed turfs of English football though, that’s another story.
This season’s had all sorts of funky narratives but the one that matters most is this: Who can stop Auckland City? Like an asteroid heading for the Planet Earth, the Navy Blues just continue on their path unobstructed.
The dull light of the crescent moon peeked through the heavy cloud cover, casting dark shadows across the land. A heavy breeze barged through branches and leaves with utter disregard. Perhaps it would rain overnight. It was certainly long overdue.
The Phoenix needed to sign one player, instead they signed two. Justin Gulley and Antony Golec. A couple of defenders to bolster the ranks of what to be fair was already a pretty well-stocked crew but depth is always handy and competition for places, as Mark Rudan keeps on saying, is a crucial part of a competitive team.
The A-League draw always seems to do some weird things for the Wellington Phoenix and at the moment they’re embarking upon the gentle first steps of a 50-day stretch between games at Westpac Stadium… in as much as a trip to Perth can be considered the ‘gentle first steps’ of anything.
We’re in a World Cup year now, folks. Building towards the big show. Lots of football to be played between now and then and all of it is going to revolve in at least an abstract way if not an outright specific way around France in June.
Transfer season continues with the Flying Kiwis. This time it’s Katie Rood on the move, joining Lewes FC on loan for the rest of the season. This is a move that means a drop down from the Super League to the Championship division below it but for a player who has only played 106 minutes in the league this season (scoring a goal in that time, mind you), it makes a lot of sense.
Big deal on Saturday, friends. Big deal indeed as Auckland City welcomed Eastern Suburbs to Kiwitea Street for a good old fashioned top of the table clash, the unbeaten defending champs putting their perfect record on the line against the form team in the competition.
A quality keeper doesn’t always get the opportunity to show their worth. You don’t really want them to, if a keeper’s getting his jersey all muddy then something’s going wrong in front of them. But when a quality keeper does show their worth, then you’re really in for a treat.
The Welly Nix have been playing with house money for ages now. And they’d snuck a few lucky breaks along the way so a game like this was always coming. Rudan didn’t seem too worried. Still sixth on the ladder.
60 minutes across three subs appearances in the first half of 2018-19 Eredivisie. Clearly something had to change if the 27 year old wasn’t going to spend his prime years riding the pine. And something has happened. He’s left.