Technical Wrap-Up Title

Cashmere Technical have wrapped up the Southern League (SL) title and claim a spot in the Championship phase of the National League after defeating Ferrymead Bays 3 - 0, with Coastal now favoured to claim second spot after accounting for Dunedin City Royals 5 - 0 as defending champions, Christchurch United dropped points when drawing 1 - 1 away to Nelson Suburbs with Universities of Canterbury causing the upset when edging Nomads 2 - 1 with a late goal. Due to Coastal playing the Royals in their catchup game from the previous round, two games were deferred with Coastal meeting FC Twenty 11 on Wednesday evening with the Selwyn game against the Royals in a fortnight's time.  

Going into the final full round Technical sits on 46 points, six clear of United with Coastal on 39, but they have a game in hand against FC Twenty 11, which will be played on Wednesday evening. Suburbs are on 29, four clear of Bays. Nomads have 21, Royals 19, UC 11, three clear of Selwyn with FC Twenty 11 on 1. 

Both Cashmere Technical and Ferrymead Bays found the post in the opening minutes with Technical taking the lead when Garbhan Coughlan scored just before the break. Danny Kane then doubled the lead with his maiden SL goal early in the second half before Coughlan continued his rich vane of form in front of goal with the final goal of the game. The strike was Coughlan's 25 in the league this season and his 200th goal in all competitions in 138 games since during the game. 

Coastal Spirit made the most of several mistakes by the Dunedin City Royals which 'gifted' some goals, all of which came in the opening half. Alex Steinwascher opened the scoring in the tenth with the Royals then conceding an own goal. Kenshin Hayashi when bagged a double in the space of ten minutes before Steinwascher claimed his second on the half-hour mark. When rain continued to fall throughout the game the Royals rallied to have the better of the second half, twice hitting the post but could not get the ball in the back of the net ending the game with more strikes on goal and outnumbering Coastal 10 to 3 on the corner count.  

Christchurch United's hopes of qualifying for their third straight Championship round were dealt a major blow when dropping vital points in their first draw of the season. United had the better of the chances in the opening half both sides turned scoreless at the break. Ben Polak finished well to put the Nelson Suburbs ahead in the 64th minute but the lead was short-lived when David Yoo replied two minutes later. Both sides continued to attack and in the final minutes Suburbs keeper, Nic Van Hattem produced a stunning save to deny Yoo a second goal of the game with Suburbs also having a late chance to snatch all three points when replacement Jarvis Vaai shot just over the bar. United will now have to defeat Technical in the final round while hoping Coastal drop points either FC or UC to have any hope of finals in the top two. 

UC left it until added time to score the winner to upset Nomads. Caleb Cottom gave Nomads the ideal start when scoring in the opening minute. Pero Foreman then became UC's top scorer for the season when levelling in the 39th minute. Not for the first time this season Nomads missed several good chances to regain the lead and this was to prove costly when Todd Vermeir scored from out wide in the third minute of added time.  

The final round sees United hosting Technical, The Royals at home to Suburbs, the two bottom sides - FC and Selwyn clash with Bays taking on Nomads with UC up against Coastal.  

Results / Scorers:  

Cashmere Technical 3 (Garbhan Coughlan 2, Danny Kane)
Ferrymead Bays 0
HT 1 - 0 

Dunedin City Royals 0
Coastal Spirit 5 (Alex Steinwascher 2- incl pen, Kenshin Hayashi 2, own goal)
HT 0 - 5 

Nelson Suburbs 1 (Ben Polak)
Christchurch United 1 (David Yoo)
HT 0 - 0 

Nomads 1 (Caleb Cottom)
Universities of Canterbury 2 (Pero Foreman, Todd Vermeir)
HT 1 - 1 

Coastal Spirit will be expected to move ahead of United when they play FC Twenty 11 at English Park at 7:30 pm on Wednesday. Coastal will not only be chasing the win but will be chasing goals just in case goal difference becomes a factor in determining second place overall. 

Form:
Coastal D W W W L W 
FC L L L L L D   

Head-to-Head:
Played 3 - Coastal 3 wins 

Previous Result This Season:
FC 0 Coastal 7 

Royals and Technical To Decide Women's South Island League

Leader's Dunedin City Royals and defending Women's South Island League titleholders, Cashmere Technical will go head-to-head at the Forsyth Barr Stadium next Sunday. A win or a draw will be enough for the Dunedin side to lift the title, if Technical wins they will retain the title if they then defeat Nelson Suburbs, who sit at the foot of the table. In the penultimate round the Royals were untroubled to account for Suburbs, in Nelson 5 - nil, Technical needed late goal to defeat Coastal Spirit, 4 - 2 with Otago University accounting for Roslyn Wakari 2 - 0. The Royals now have 25 points, six clear of Technical with Coastal remaining on 16. University on 8, three clear of Roslyn with Suburbs on 1. 

The Dunedin City Royals made it four wins on the bounce when defeating Nelson Suburbs with Georgia Kennedy scoring the first of her two first-half goals in the 12th minute. Hanna McKay-Wright then doubled the lead before Kennedy completed her brace just before the break. Raegan Potter then increased the lead minutes into the second half with the final goal going to Abby Rankin, her first strike of the league, with the result being the sixth clean sheet for the Royals.  

As expected, it was a close contest between arch-rivals Cashmere Technical and Coastal Spirit with Anna McPhie opening the scoring after 15 minutes with Margi Dias then scoring against her former club to double the lead midway into the opening half. Coastal then hit back with two goals in eight minutes, Rebecca Wilson in the 32nd and Mel Cameron five minutes before the break, her eighth strike of the league to top the scoring ladder. Both sides then had chances to take the lead before Dias broke the deadlock with six minutes to play with Annalie Longo then ensuring the win when extending the lead in the final minute of normal time. 

In the Dunedin Derby, Otago University ended their three-game winless run by overcoming Roslyn Wakari.  Aynsley Martin opened the scoring in the first half and minutes later Jemma McCormick extended the lead.  

Results / Scorers - Round 9 of 10: 

Cashmere Technical 4 (Margi Dias 2, Anna McPhie, Annalie Longo)
Coastal Spirit SAS 2 (Rebecca Wilson, Mel Cameron)
HT 2 - 2 

Nelson Suburbs 0
Dunedin City Royals 5 (Georgia Kennedy 2, Hanna McKay-Wright, Raegan Potter, Abby Rankin)
HT 3 - 0 

Roslyn Wakari 0
Otago University 2 (Aynsley Martin, Jemma McCormick)
HT 0 - 2 

Three Teams Can Still Win CPL Title

Waimak, Cashmere Technical Reserves and Burwood are still battling it out for the New World Men's Premiership title after Round 17 was completed on Saturday. Leaders, Waimak defeated Nomads Reserves 3 - 1 after Waimak led 2 - 0 at the break. Second-placed Cashmere Technical Res. scored in each half against Ferrymead Bays Res., to win 2 - 0, with third-placed Burwood securing the biggest win of the round when overrunning neighbours Parklands 7 - 0.  In the other high-scoring game, Christchurch United U20 Academy defeated Selwyn Res, 5 - 3, with the final game seeing Halswell come from a goal down to draw 2 - 2 with Western.

Waimak and Technical both have 38 points, with Burwood on 33, Halswell on 27 with Nomads round out the top five on 25. Just a point separates the next four teams with Bays on 19, United, Western and Selwyn all on 18, with Parklands in the relegation spot on 2. 

Burwood and Waimak have yet to play their Round 9 fixture which could not be completed after to a Burwood player broke a leg late in late in the game. Round 18 has United hosting Technical, Bays taking on Nomads, Parklands facing Halswell, Waimak entertain Burwood with Western at home to Selwyn.  

Results - Round 17 of 18:

Cashmere Technical Res. 2
Ferrymead Bays Res. 0
HT 1 - 0 

Burwood 7
Parklands 0
HT 3 - 0 

Halswell 2
Western 2
HT 1 - 2 

Nomads Res. 1
Waimak 3 HT 0 - 2 

Selwyn Res. 3
Christchurch United U20 Academy 5
HT 1 - 3 

Close Final Round In Women's Premiership

The New World Women's Premiership saw close results in the final round with Universities of Canterbury (UC), who secured the title last weekend, drew with the sister side UC Maroon, with neither side able to score, and in the other Top 4 matchup, NW United secured second place when edging Halswell 2 - 1 with the Hawks having to settle for third place overall. In the Bottom 4 section, both games ended in 2 - 1 scorelines with Selwyn scoring twice in the closing minutes to defeat Cashmere Technical with Ferrymead Bays overcoming Coastal Spirit SAS.  

The final points are UC on 25, NW on 19, Halswell on 16 and UC Maroon on 14. Selwyn finished 1 one ahead of Bays with Technical with Coastal rounding out the table on 4 points.  

Results - Round 10 of 10:

Top 4 

NW United 2
Halswell 1
HT 1 - 1 

Universities of Canterbury 0
UC Maroon 0 

Bottom 4 

Cashmere Technical Res. 1
Selwyn 2
HT 0 - 0 

Ferrymead Bays 2
Coastal Spirit SAS Res. 1
HT 2 - 0

Article added: Monday 26 August 2024