Mainland Premier League (Part 1)

Richmond in Mainland, Yuck

Richmond paid all of Nelsen Suburbs top players to leave and join them, plus a brief cameo by Brockie and a few Solomons. Turns out the guy pumping money in to the club was a dirty fraudster. They were coached by former All White Peter Simonsen, not sure whether he left due to poor results or they fact he wasn't getting paid anymore. 

Fifii was there too!

You lads going to come watch the mighty Caversham topple Ferrymead this weekend? should be an easy win against Mainlands finest!

There is no way travis wank is a Caversham supporter..Fact

Don't worry, there are no Bays supporters so the attempt to troll won't work.

There are a few out there!

Interesting to hear that Draper is heading off to England in search of a pro contract. He was pants for Ferrymead all season. Can't remember the clubs mention but it was in league 2 and the conference league.

I'd only go watch if it was Halswell. Draper bagged a few for TW last season did he not?

have supported the robbins since 95 - fact, this will be our year deli lama

The robbins? Let's not kid yourself travis

sorry typo 'robins' your not a cavvy man i take it Deli?

Hey now I don't come here to read about Soccer South or what ever you're called now.

You'll be down at Warren Park 2.45 today watching the Halswell vs Woolston Tech game then?

Normally I would when the lower divisions are cancelled but it's my birthday party today. Bloody nice day for football after all that crap we had the last two days.

How bout Nomads vs Western (at Avonhead Park of course) getting called off cos the lines weren't marked. Classic.

Nelsen 2 - Christchuch United 0. Relegation looking ever more likely.

How bout Nomads vs Western (at Avonhead Park of course) getting called off cos the lines weren't marked. Classic.

I hear you couldn't tell the position of the lines within all the mud to mark them.

Game changed by Mainland to Cuthberts Green at 2.20pm, what a joke, be dark before half time..
Other grounds at Warren could have been used.

Avonhead is quite a nice park too, pity really. Warren Park would've been closer than Cuthberts too and it's usually pretty firm there. I'm guessing not enough grounds were open there.

Avonhead could fit so many more football pitches on it than it currently does. They just have to organise it properly. Why not have 2 pitches that are up to MPL standard and play on them on alternate weeks? Giving the other pitch time to recover

Woolston Technical increased their lead to 12 points with a 4-0 win over Ferrymead Bays. Other results had Western 3 Nelson 0. Christchurch United 3 Burnside 2, Burnside should have had a penalty late in the game.
Nomads 2 Halswell 0.

Burnside heading for the drop even with a game in hand over the teams close to them.

Suburbs finally have a game at home, seems like it's been ages. Burnside shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but the amount of strikers leaving Nelson mid season has mean't scoring has been a bit of a challenge of late. Gagame Feni will finally become available in a few weeks too, which is great news.

So what has changed then? Has he turned 18 or rules have relaxed or???

He turns 18 on August 21st. Which is one day before the Halswell game.

Nelson Suburbs beat Burnside 5-1 today. Due to wet conditions the match was moved to Nayland College. Nelson scored within the first ten minutes through defender Mark Johnston who rounded the Burnside keeper. A Burnside defender was shown a red moments later, and with only ten men they were no match for Nelson who had numerous chances on goal, but due to poor finishing only managed five.

I'll try upload a link to a video of one of the goals, free kick on the edge of the box, rocketed straight into the stomach of a Burnside midfielder, he went straight down to the ground and the ball fell to the feet of Billy Scott who put it in the back of the net. Was very funny.

Looks like trouble for Burnside then. Could be auto-relegated down shortly. Makes for an interesting finish considering the top is pretty much done n' dusted.

I've got a couple of mates in the Burnside team, one of them would have been hobbling round on the sideline. He tore lateral ligaments in his ankle a couple of weeks ago. Probably one of their better players. The other guy I know usually plays reserve league football and isn't up to Mainland standard yet. Would've been a young guy playing in the middle of the park. Could you comment on how he went Luis Garcia? Will provide me with some banter next time i'm up in chch.

Burnside play Woolston Tech next week so will be another tough game for Burnside.
Burnside still six points behind but have two games in hand over Nomads
who play Nelson in Christchurch next week.

Burnside play Nomads in the second to last game for Nomads, this will be the game that sets which of these two will go down.

I'm not too sure who exactly the player is you're talking about?

Just hope he wasn't the red head on the end of a free kick straight to the stomach. Nelson were clearly a better team, opened up their defense all throughout the game but probably didn't control the midfield. So if your mate is a midfielder he probably did alright. Burnside barely threatened though, one screamer from outside the box which took a fantastic save to stop and their goal were the only chances I can recall. If Nelson had a decent finisher they could've ended up in double figures, but two of their strikers have gone overseas midseason. The keeper for Burnside had a shocker. Couldn't catch the ball and most goal kicks in the first half went out past the sideline. Did improve in the second half though.

I don't whether it's the fact they'd have to quit their job and move to Christchurch but I'm curious as to how no Suburbs players were in the Canterbury NZFC squad.

yeah he plays CM.

And secondly, Paul Dirou was in the Canterbury Utd team last season, and to be honest, he wasn't all that great from what i saw of him. Too slow, goes to ground too often and made silly challenges when under pressure.

The team last year would have been hard for nelson players to get into, with the likes of Clapham, Lancaster, Kamo, Collins, Terris etc. And with a couple of chch based Caversham players bolstering the ranks (Jeremy Wild and Darren Overton) I don't see how much more Suburbs would have had to contribute

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/4008625/Five-years-jail-for-tech-conman

Here's a little summary of Nelson's best players. These guys would have the best chance of making the NZFC team.

Matt Ayloff - CD - But always injured, been the best player this season but missed a third of the games. Probably too injury prone for NZFC.

Mark Johnston - CD - Returned to Nelson after a spell with Limestone College in the states, usually a central midfielder but been outstanding in defense.

Adam Smith - LW - Current Canterbury U19 player, set up two goals in their final. He's weighing up a move to Christchurch next year if he doesn't get a scholarship in the states. Former U17 New Zealand player and had a contract offered by the academy of Hull.

Sam Ayers - Plays anywhere, was a central defender last year, this season was a striker. He's just 21 and has blistering pace, would be the fastest player in the league I'd say. he was top goal scorer in the league before he went to the World Cup, and decided to travel the world afterwards.

Coey Turipa - NZ U20 keeper, played for Miramar at the start of the season and came in as a replacement for Eddie Newman who moved back to England. But I'd imagine he'd be back in Wellington before the NZFC

Gagame Feni - Wait and see how he performs when he can finally make his debut, top goal scorer at secondary school nationals, rated very highly in Nelson, supposedly the best young striker in the country. (Although he's a Solomon Islander)

Do you think Phil Whitley will put a prison football team together?

I take it that is the ex-Richmond City bankroller?

The Nelson lads will be able to put there claim in for inclusion in the Canterbury United squad on 11th September, Woolston Technical travel to Nelson for the last game of the MPL season.

Yeah, I was about to say the best way to force yourself into that squad is to impress Keith Braithwaite. To do that you're going to have to play well against tech. I'd be keen to have a look at this Ayers lad, how good is he at beating a player with the ball at his feet? Could be useful out wide.

Having Turipa in the NZFC would be great, both for him and for the future of NZ football. If this Phoenix reserve team get the go-ahead for this season, i'd bank on him being their stopper. And i'd like to see Feni in action too, if not in NZFC then hopefully in national youth league.

Sam Ayers is very good at beating players, Suburbs were down 1-0 to Halswell with only minutes remaining and he got the ball at half way dribbled 40m down the right and came back in to the centre and scored. His only downside is his height. I'm 90% sure he's played for NZ at age grade level. But he left to go to the world cup and is traveling the world now, not sure when he'd be back.

I think Turipa is planning on leaving New Zealand next year, said he wanted to try crack an Australian A-league youth team.

It'll be interesting to see how Gagame makes the step up to Mainland level. It was reported in the Nelson Mail that he'll be at Nayland College again next year, so I'm sure he'll be in the Canterbury set-up at some stage. He was training with the squad last season.

So is the tech squad mostly the NZFC side?

Not a particularly large amount of tech players, considering they won the league: Batty, Wortelboer, Pitman, Lancaster and Kamo. Possibly could have been 1 or 2 more if James Price and Adam Cowen weren't playing college football in the USA.

Not as bad as it was when Canterbury was under Monsef. May aswell have called themselves Western.