Cashmere Technical, Christchurch United and Nelson Suburbs have yet to drop a point in the Southern League after the latest round was completed over the weekend. Round 3 games saw 22 goals scored. Technical led the way, winning 6 – 0 over Nomads. Leaders United edged Ferrymead Bays 3 – 2, with Suburbs defeating Mosgiel 3 – 0. The other two games resulted in the first draws of the season, Dunedin City Royals and Coastal Spirit sharing six goals, with Selwyn and Green Island playing out a 1 – 1 scoreline. United have 9 points, Technical and Suburbs are on 6 (with a game in hand), the Royals and Green Island are on 4, with Bays a further point behind. Selwyn and Coastal are on 1, with Mosgiel and Nomads yet to score a point. Coastal and Nomads also have a game in hand, with Selwyn having two. 

Technical dominated Nomads in the opening half, with Tech’s pace causing havoc as they continually got in behind the Nomads defence and took the lead when Jacob Richards smashed home a powerful shot just to the right of the goal. Fraser Angus then scored from close range after the Nomads failed to clear their line. Richards then set up Lyle Matthysen, with Matthysen adding his second minutes later. Nomads created several chances early in the second half, with Daniel Thoms heading goalward, seeing Tech keeper Harri Rowe driving at full stretch and turning the ball away. In the 64th minute, Matthysen was brought down in the area, and he took the resulting penalty, which keeper Dublin Boon blocked, but Garbhan Coughlan was first to the rebound to extend the lead. Late in the match, Matthysen scored his 100th goal for Technical to complete the route. 

United was pressed hard by Bays, and after a tight opening period, Mika Rabuka opened the scoring on the half-hour and with Bays going to the break on level terms when Michael White found the back of the net in the 42 minutes. Play continued to be tight before Daniel McClay put the Rams ahead from the penalty spot with 18 to play. Substitute Sanni Issa increased United’s lead late in the game, with Bays reducing the margin when Ryan Nicholson scored in added time. 

Coastal’s Liam Cotter scored in the opening minutes against the Royals in what was the only goal in a keenly contested contest. After the break, the home side started strongly and was level when Ollie Peterson headed home. Treye Bulter then put Coastal back in front after having been subbed on. The Royals were level again within minutes when En Watanabe scored from close range from a good build-up after 67 minutes. Three minutes later, the Royals took the lead for the first time when Ben Stanley smashed the ball home. Both teams then had chances to score, but with normal time up, Aashish Rai beat the off-side trap to find the back of the net to earn a share of the points.

In a somewhat scrappy game at times, Selwyn somehow turned at the break scoreless after wasting several clear chances, with the best coming after just seven minutes when Mitch Cockburn headed onto the crossbar. The chances dried up after the break, which saw Green Island work their way back into the game and after several half-chances, they took the lead when Joshua Kotkamp finished well to open the scoring with 15 to play. Selwyn's reply came within minutes when sub Luke Jerkovic scored from close range from a rebound after Green Island keeper Luke Schaffer-Swan couldn't take the ball cleanly. 

On Sunday, Mosgiel had an early chance, but the shot was pushed wide after a mistake in the Suburbs defence, with Suburbs then having a ‘goal’ ruled out for offside. There were chances at both ends before Suburbs took the lead when Scott Wallace found the back of the net in the 37th minute, with the lead doubling when La Bu Pan scored just before the break. The second half was an even affair until Josh Moffat scored deep into added time from a corner.   

Nomads and Selwyn will back up on Tuesday evening at English Park in their catch-up game from the opening round. Round 4 games will be played on Easter Saturday with United hosting Suburbs, Coastal facing Green Island, Technical clashing with Selwyn, and in Dunedin, Royals meet Bays, and Mosgiel takes on Nomads. 

Southern League - Round 3 Results / Scorers

Dunedin City Royals 3 (Ollie Peterson, En Watanabe, Ben Stanley) Coastal Spirit 3 (Liam Cotter, Treye Bulter, Aashish Ria) HT 0 - 1 

Ferrymead Bays 2 (Michael White, Ryan Nicholson) Christchurch 3 (Mika Rabuka, Daniel McClay - pen, Sanni Issa) HT 1 - 1 

Nelson Suburbs 3 (Scott Wallace, La Bu Pan, Josh Moffat) Mosgiel 0 HT 2 - 0 

Nomads 0 Cashmere Technical 6 (Lyle Matthysen 3, Jacob Richards, Fraser Angus, Garbhan Coughlan) HT 0 - 4 

Selwyn 1 (Luke Jerkovic) Green Island 1 (Joshua Kotkamp) HT 0 - 0 

Top Two Unbeaten

Coastal Spirit SAS and Cashmere Technical both made it two from two in the New World Women’s Premiership (WPL). Coastal defeated Universities 4 – 0 with Technical accounting for Nomads 5 – 0, with the winner’s now on 6 points and Universities and Nomads yet to claim a point. 

Coastal and Universities turned scoreless in a tight opening half, just the third time in 29 games that the defending champions have not scored in the first half of a WPL match. Mel Cameron put Coastal up just after the break with the match turning when Coastal took control and added three more goals in the space of five minutes. Rebecca Lake added the second followed in quick succession by debuts WPL goals to Isla McPherson and Sam Whyte. 

Nicola Dominikovich opened the scoring for Technical after ten minutes, with the goalposts saving Nomads many times before Jonelle Arthur and Emma Kench added goals just before the break. Leigh Alexander, who spent the past six seasons playing and working in Australia, extended Tech’s lead on the hour, with Lisa Evans completing the scoring with her debut WPL goal. 

The league now takes a break due to the Morrison Mitsubishi Reta Fitzpatrick Cup, which gets underway next weekend, with the WPL sides receiving a bye. 

New World Women's Premier League – Round 2 Results / Scorers

Cashmere Technical 5 (Lisa Evans, Emma Kench, Leigh Alexander, Nicola Dominikovich, Jonelle Arthur) Nomads 0 

Universities 0 Coastal Spirit 4 (Mel Cameron, Rebecca Lake, Isla McPherson, Sam Whyte) HT 0 - 0 

Western Top New World CPL Table

Western is out on their own on top of the New World Men's Championship after Round 3 was completed on Saturday. Western came from behind to edge previously unbeaten Waimak, 2 – 1. FC Twenty11, the leaders coming into the round, dropped their first points when held to a 1 – 1 draw by Universities. Mid Canterbury won a nine-goal thriller over Parklands, 5 – 4, with Millar McLauchlan scoring the ‘winner’ in the added time. Burwood moved into the top three when defeating Halswell 4 – 1. 

Western move to 9 points, FC 7, Burwood and Waimak both have 6, Mid Canterbury 3, Universities 1 with Halswell and Parklands both yet to claim a point. Round 4 will be played on Easter Friday, with Parklands hosting Halswell, Universities face Mid Canterbury, Waimak entertains FC with Western set to play neighbours, Burwood, in the Ohea’s Derby.    

New World Canterbury Premier League – Round 3 Results / Scorers

FC Twenty11 1 (Munash Saruchera) Universities 1 (Arron Browne) HT 1 - 0 

Halswell 1 (Patrick Cameron) Burwood 4 (Hugo Toye 2, Kane Kilbride, Navneet Prasad 1) HT 0 - 1  

Mid Canterbury 5 (Luke Martin 2, Joel Chand, Nicholas Eden, Millar McLauchlan) Parklands 4 Danny Lingard 2, Josh Hardy, Marcus Livingstone) HT 2 - 1 

Waimak 1 (Danny Looney) Western 2 (Rodrigo Balcazar, Avery Addei) HT 1 - 0 

Written by Gavin Searle.
Article added: Monday 11 April 2022