Technical Maintain Unbeaten Run...Just

Cashmere Technical were pushed all the way by Nomads in the penultimate round of the Mainland Premier League (MPL), needing two late goals to come from behind to share the points in a 2 - 2 result.

Coastal Spirit racked up their biggest win of the season, defeating Nelson Suburbs 5 - 0. Selwyn secured their maiden MPL win when accounting for Universities 5 - 3 with Ferrymead Bays edging FC Twenty11 2 - 1. With one round remaining Technical have 33 points, Coastal move to 28 and Bays 26. Nomads are now in fourth place with 22 and Suburbs 21. FC stay on10, Selwyn are now on 6 with Universities on 3.

Nomads must be left wondering what they need to do to get up over Cashmere Technical, after holding the advantage only to concede late goals to be denied the win. After a scoreless first half, Technical hit the crossbar just after the break, Danny Knight then tipping a shot by Nomads, Byron Heath over the bar. With 15 to play, the stalemate was finally broken when Cory Vickers headed Nomads into the lead. A well-taken goal by Mason Stearn then doubled the Nomads lead. With three minutes of normal time remaining Daniel Thoms scored to give the newly crowned champions a sniff. Technical then dominated the remaining minutes and into added time the pressure finally saw teenager Alex Meaclem score his debut MPL goal maintaining his sides unbeaten run.

Coastal Spirit made the most of their scoring chances when over running Nelson Suburbs which ended Suburbs season long unbeaten home run. The goal spree started in the opening minutes when Haris Zeb scored the first of his four. Zeb then claimed his hat-trick when scoring twice in quick succession midway into the first half. Liam Hare then extended the lead with a stunning strike in the 76th minute. Minutes later Zeb bagged his fourth goal, the most scored by any player in an MPL game this season. 

Selwyn picked up a vital win when getting over the top of Universities in the bottom of the table clash. The teams traded early goals with Luis John putting the students in front in the 7th minutes with Aiden Barbour-Ryan replying immediately for Selwyn before Jared Meekin put Universities back in front minutes later. Dan Ede then levelled after 25 minutes. Barbour-Ryan then extended the Stallion's lead just after the break with Ede then also collecting a brace when finding the back of the net. Tobias Blaser then reduced the margin before Joe Arnott ensured the win then scoring Selwyn's final goal with three minutes to play.  

Ferrymead Bays and FC Twenty11 were involved in a tight encounter at Avonhead Park. Seb Schacht put Bays ahead when scoring the only goal of the opening half. Callum Smith then equalised around the 70-minute mark. Chances went begging for both sides until Mika Rabuka scored his maiden MPL goal to seal the win for Bays with eight to play. The result means Bays will finish no lower than third heading into the final round.  

Big Win For Coastal

Coastal Spirit were untroubled when defeating Halswell 7 - 0 in the Women's Premier League (WPL) to close within two points of leaders, Cashmere Technical who had the bye, with Waimakariri edging Universities 2 - 0. Technical have 17 points, Coastal 15, Waimakariri 11, Universities 4 and Halswell 3, with Halswell having played one additional round than their rivals.

Coastal racked up the biggest win of the season when over running Halswell. Coastal held a three-goal advantage at the break before going on to add another four unanswered goals. Mel Cameron and Arna Roberts both claimed a brace, with Tahlia Herman-Watt and Chloe Jones both scoring their first WPL goals this season, with Cody Taylor also claiming a goal to move her to the top of the Golden Boot ladder, the first to reach double figures this season.

Waimakariri made it two wins on the bounce when downing the students. Conner Duggan scored in the opening minutes and then Jayda Stewart doubled Waimak's lead when heading home the second goal after ten minutes. A tight game then followed with both sides unlucky not to score this this the first time since early April that Universities failed to score.     

Results / Scorers

Men's - Round 13 of 14

FC Twenty11 1 (Callum Smith) Ferrymead Bays 2 (Sebastian Schacht, Mika Rabuka) HT 0 - 1

Nelson Suburbs 0 Coastal Spirt 5 (Haris Zeb 4, Liam Hare) HT 0 - 3

Nomads 2 (Mason Stearn, Cory Vickers) Cashmere Technical 2 (Daniel Thoms, Alex Meaclem) HT 0 - 0

Selwyn 5 (Aiden Barbour-Ryan 2, Dan Ede 2, Joe Arnott) Universities 3 (Luis John, Jared Meekin, Tobias Blaser) HT 2 - 2

Golden Boot

15 Stephen Hoyle (Nomads)

12 Dan Ede (Selwyn)

11 Anthony Jones (Coastal Spirit), Lyle Matthysen (Cashmere Technical)

9 Nishan Biswa (Nomads)

7 Aidan Barbour-Ryan (Selwyn), Andy Tuckey (Cashmere Technical), Ben Wright (Nelson Suburbs), Byron Heath (Nomads), Haris Zeb (Coastal Spirit), Max Chretien (Cashmere Technical),

6 Callum Smith (FC Twenty11), Daniel Thoms (Cashmere Technical), Dominic McGarr (Coastal Spirit), Mark Peers (Ferrymead Bays), Max Chretien (Cashmere Technical) 

Women's - Round 9 of 15

Coastal Spirit 7 (Melanie Cameron 2, Arna Roberts 2, Chloe Jones, Tahlia Herman-Watt, Cody Taylor) Halswell 0 HT 3 - 0

Waimakariri 2 (Conner Duggan, Jayda Stewart) Universities 0 HT 2 - 0

Cashmere Technical the bye

Golden Boot

10 Cody Taylor (Coastal Spirit)
9 Emma Kench (Cashmere Technical)
8 Arna Roberts (Coastal Spirit)
7 Mel Cameron (Coastal Spirit)
6 Monique Barker (Cashmere Technical)
4 Ella Fong (Waimakariri), Jayda Stewart (Waimakariri)
3 Ashleigh Parent (Universities), Frankie Morrow (Cashmere Technical)