Wait, aren't our banana skins Tech, Suburbs, ChCh Utd, Selwyn and any team from Dunedin??VimFuego
I'm looking forward to this weekend, and hope the mighty Coastal Spirit can make it through to the national league. Cashmere Tech must be the favourites to take the number one spot, with having pretty much the entire Canterbury United team on the books. They even got the 2 Coastal players that played for CU last year!
So it will be a real dogfight for the 2nd spot, and because it's a one round shoot-out, any dropped points in any round could be a killer. So we will need to be careful of our banana-skins of Selwyn and Nomads. Oh, just Selwyn then.
We have a vanload of people travelling to Dunedin for the South City Royals game at the end of August, and would really appreciate an accurate draw in the very near future too!
Any hope for CashTech and Uni in the upcoming Chatham Cup games? Tbh I can see at least one reaching SFs. Uni on much better form than NSU albeit in a worse league, and Hamilton have been really shark lately. But cup football can be a bit of a unique beast...
Cashmere Technical's progression in the Chatham Cup has led to changes in this weekend's fixtures: Otago University v. Cashmere Technical Sunday 8th August 1pm Logan Pk Turf
Selwyn Utd v. Cash Tech and Otago Uni v. Green Island have been postponed from 7th and 8th August respectively to later mid-week dates, yet to be advised.
Cashmere Technical's progression in the Chatham Cup has led to changes in this weekend's fixtures: Otago University v. Cashmere Technical Sunday 8th August 1pm Logan Pk Turf
Selwyn Utd v. Cash Tech and Otago Uni v. Green Island have been postponed from 7th and 8th August respectively to later mid-week dates, yet to be advised.
Ah I see, was a bit confused at first why NZF site was showing those two games as being delayed. Should be a real test of Uni - time to show if they really are a contender against the dominant team of South Island footy!
This weekend's action: Friday: 7:30pm Christchurch United vs. Coastal Spirit - ChCh Football Centre Sunday: 1pm South City Royals vs. Nelson Suburbs - Caledonian Otago University vs. Cashmere Technical - Dunedin Artificial Turf - brought forward from Round 5 Deferred Selwyn vs. Cashmere Technical Otago University vs. Green Island
Good bunch of games coming up this weekend, hard to pick most of 'em.
Coastal look in tune and Christchurch United not been impressive at all so far, but both have good teams. Coastal to grab another 1-0 win maybe.
Royals and Suburbs both not as many points as perhaps hoped by now, Suburbs winless but have had hard fixtures. Long way to travel, think that home advantage could be pivotal in this one so Royals to win 3-1.
Uni been really good so far and playing some great football... Cashmere I suppose had the blip against Coastal but all in all still look a classy team, gave Hamilton a footballing lesson. Cashmere 4-2 in my book.
Round 4 games: Saturday: 12:30pm (Update KO time) Coastal Spirit vs. Otago Universities 12:30pm South City Royals vs. Selwyn 2:45pm Cashmere Technical vs. Christchurch United Sunday 1pm Green Island vs. Nelson Suburbs
Cashmere easy-peasy over Uni today, caught a bit of the other game, Nelson dreadful from what i saw, from what i heard, SCR should've had a least 4-5?
Honestly wouldn't say so, yes Royals had a lot of chances first half and could have scored more than two, but Nelson had their moments too and dominated the second half in all honesty, a game that could have gone either way. Big three points for Royals but boy was it tight.
Didn't focus much on the other game, seemed like Cashmere were quite clinical first half then dominated the second? Certainly looked like Uni had their moments first half but seemed to simmer down second half once the game was done. Best score updates we've ever had from another game as we just have to turn around and look who is celebrating when we hear a roar!
Feel a bit for Nelson as with 1 point from 3 games they're all but out of National League contention, seems they've played three tight games against good opponents but only come out with a point to show for it.
Probably making determinations too early but for me looks like the current top 5 are the teams in contention... but we'll see what Selwyn show against the Mainland and then Southern champions first.
Updated Table: Green Island vs. Nelson Suburbs being played tomorrow Round 3 catch-up game between Otago Universities and Green Island will be play on Wednesday evening, 18 August, at 6:30pm. image.png65.47 KB
From NZ Football a few minutes ago - Southern League is considered as part of the National League:
All competitions and community football and futsal suspended this weekend
Following the government’s move to Alert Level 4 last night after a community case of COVID-19 was discovered, New Zealand Football can confirm that all community football and futsal across the country, as well as National League, Chatham Cup and NZ Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup matches, are suspended this weekend (21/22 August 2021).
While only Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula are currently set to be at Alert Level 4 for the weekend, with the rest of the country’s initial three-day period set to end on Friday 20 August, due to the short turnaround time between moving down Alert Levels, and the possibility of a lockdown extension, the decision has been taken to suspend all activity out of an abundance of caution.
Daniel Farrow, General Manager, Football at New Zealand Football said:
“We never want to be in the position of suspending activity across Aotearoa but to give clubs and players certainty, New Zealand Football and our federations believe this is the best decision for the game.”
“Even if the areas outside of Auckland and the Coromandel do exit Alert Level 4 after three days, it gives clubs very little time to make the necessary preparations for activity the next day. With the Delta strain of the virus we felt it made sense to not rush this process and make the decision now to allow clubs to inform their members in good time”.
At Alert Level 4 all football and futsal activity is suspended across the country. This includes this weekend’s semi-finals of New Zealand Football’s cup competitions where Miramar Rangers v North Shore United and Cashmere Technical v Western Suburbs in the Chatham Cup, plus Coastal Spirit v Hamilton Wanderers and Wellington United v Eastern Suburbs in the NZ Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup, will be rescheduled.
For information on what activity is permitted at Alert Level 4 please visit Sport NZ’s website. New Zealand Football will be publishing football and futsal specific return to play guidance when Alert Level changes allow activity to resume.
Surely the National League national round is in jeopardy now
Yes it doesn't look good at the moment. We are only 3 games off finishing the Southern League, so we will be ready to go before the Northerners. But with longer lockdowns in Auckland it's not looking good, which sucks when Coastal are in 2nd place to qualify and have a great run in!
Still reckon it could be done. With the Northern League and perhaps even the Central League, surely it could just be called as is? Central NL spots and relegation is sorted and Northern looks relatively settled.
That would put Auckland City, United, ESFC, Birks, Miramar, Olympic, Wests, Nix Reserves, and probably Cashmere and Coastal in the national round.
Still reckon it could be done. With the Northern League and perhaps even the Central League, surely it could just be called as is? Central NL spots and relegation is sorted and Northern looks relatively settled.
That would put Auckland City, United, ESFC, Birks, Miramar, Olympic, Wests, Nix Reserves, and probably Cashmere and Coastal in the national round.
