Mainland Premier League (Part 2)

Suburbs now leading Universities 4 - 0.

Final score Nelson Suburbs 5 Universities 0

Points with all teams played 14 round: Technical 35, Suburbs 31, Bays 24, Coastal 21, Universities 15, Western 14, Halswell 10 ChCh United 7.

How Good is the 3 horse race in DIV 1 !!!!!!

I went to the Nelson Suburbs v Universities game today

This is what I wrote on it  If anyone is interested

absolutely agree! 3 completely different teams/cultures/styles and 3 completely different coaches! Who do you think will go up? And most importantly do you think with it being such a close battle this year that it will prepare them better for competing in the MPL?

I see the Selwyn v Nomads match has been listed at 15 Aug. Interesting....

Correct, at Tulett could be a Div1 decider but not if Nomads play the rest of the season as they did against Coastal.

Nomads didn't look like an average [as they have other weeks] Div 1 team last Saturday.

It will be a test of who has the squad depth. Injury/suspension issues start to kick in now. They all have to play each other still. Waimak/ parklands have what it takes to cause a upset or two aswell. From a neutral perspective I hope it goes all the way to the last round with all 3 still having a chance of promotion.

It was a strange weekend of results if you look at the previous weekend. Nomads 'only' (for want of a word) lost 3-2 to a good MPL side, but the previous week lose 3-1 to an average Div1 side. That same average side who beat Nomads 3-1, then went and drew 2-2 with Hornby on the weekend who are bottom of Div1.

Yes and Scottie rd, don't forget Selwyn only just got beat 3-2 by coastal having held them until the last 10 minutes!

Whatever happens, we are in for a great final round of matches although I have to pick Selwyn as my overall winners. 

Sparepart, you are definitely right about 3 different styles etc. Nomads have the experience which could count for a lot, Selwyn have goals in abundance and FC are tremendously organised! I'm more excited about division 1 than I am about the MPL I must admit! On another note, I'm not sure it will add to any of the teams once they are in the MPL, that is a completely different beast!

  I think promoted teams need to get out of the habit of picking up the players that have come from the relegated team which seems to have happened over the last number of years. Obviously you want some players with the experience of the MPL to knows all the in's and out's associated with it, but a more often than not a team is relegated over a 21 game season because it and their players aren't good enough. So you can either make them better with better coaching, or you can't and you get stuck with the same poorer players. Universities were in the easiest position to avoid that with talent coming to study and naturally progress to the football team. Other clubs only have a finite source of talent to choose from, unless they go looking across the country, or unearth a star in the lower divisions

  From what I have seen, all of the 3 teams at the top of Div1 would need to strengthen for next year. The 21 game season for Div1 will help, but it's a bit different travelling across town to play rather than travelling to Nelson. I really don't know who will finish top, obviously I hope Selwyn do, but it will be tight. No doubt both Nomads and Selwyn will be hoping that last game of the year on August 15 means nothing with the title already sewn up.

I think there are a few out there more excited about Div 1 this year. I think whichever of the 3 sides gets promoted will do just fine in the MPL. Selwyn and Nomads both pushed Coastal all the way and Coastal certainly aren't one of the weaker MPL teams. Going to be an exciting last round of football that's for sure! 

Table showing points for MPL Clubs for rounds 1 - 7 and 8 - 14 for this season and the one below for the entire 2014 season.

2015

Club	1 - 7	8 - 14	Sub Total
Cashmere Technical	18	17	35
Nelson Suburbs	14	17	31
Ferrymead Bays	12	12	24
Coastal Spirit	14	7	21
University	10	5	15
Western	7	7	14
Halswell United	4	6	10
ChCh United	1	6	7

2014

Club	1 - 7	8 - 14	Sub Total	15 - 21	Total
Cashmere Technical	21	18	39	15	54
Western	16	10	26	19	45
Ferrymead Bays	9	13	22	12	34
Nelson Suburbs	9	16	25	4	29
Coastal Spirit	7	9	16	8	24
Halswell United	7	5	12	7	19
University	5	4	9	7	16
Nomads	5	6	11	5	16

The following is the points that the champions gained to win the title (all 21 game season) since 2010 in  ( ) the points after 14 rounds:

2010 Woolston Tech. 55 (39)

2011 Ferrymead Bays 45 (29)

2012 Ferrymead Bays 46 (29)

2013 Cashmere Tech. 49 (30)

2014 Cashmere Tech. 54 (39) 

and the same for the relegated side since 2010 in ( ) the points after 14 rounds:

2010 Burnside 14 (10)

2011 Nomads 18 (5) Relegated on least goals scored rule after ChCh United had finished on same points and goal difference

2012 ChCh United 12 (10)

2013 FC Twenty11 6 (2)

2014 Nomads 16 (11) Relegated on goal difference after Universities had same points

English Cup: Coastal score just before the break to lead Burwood 1 - 0.

English Cup FT: Coastal 1 Burwood 0

I see a couple of transfers between ChCh United to Nomads currently in the denied status.

What were peoples thoughts on the Burwood v Coastal game?

Lotsa possession and shots for Coastal especially in the first half however Burwood came back strong in the second and could've sent it to extra time . Was a traditional cup game.

Totally agree lots of possession but once again woeful finishing upfront. Im not sure wht Xaviers plans r but i didnt think the lad Meysum deserved to play a full 90 minutes, again. I thought Dante was going alright n expected to see him and a few other young lads playing a full 90 minutes especially considering tht it was a cup game. Was definitely a traditional cup game of two halves with coastal dominating in the first n Burwood coming back strong in the second n were extremely unlucky. Mainland football needs to sort their sh1t out n get these boys in Div 1 or 2. 

Not going to happen unless in their wisdom MF get rid of Bays and Tech and turn it into a qualifying league. On a postive note the 3- round Div1 competition I'd say is proving a huge success. Pleased Padmore from Selwyn pushed for it.  

Burwood or Coastal???

Hahahaha after yesterdays game, either side.

Looks likes Christchurch United is getting in reinforcement from the WaikatoBOP region, three transfers pending.

How does the transfer window work exactly? My understanding is that once 30 June rolls around nothing can be done and it is shut. There are a few pending transfers dated 1st July. My mistake? 

I may be wrong but:

a) for a transfer between clubs within Mainland Federation request had to started before 30 June but can be completed after 30 June

b) transfer between two NZ Federations anytime but the player must reside within the Federation if they are transferring to after 30 June 

c) anytime for an International transfers if the player is over 18 years

Of course any transfers must comply with any other regulations as well.  

English Cup draw out for the next round. Nomads v Coastal version2. Tech have Western next Tuesday night.

with the other two quarter finals:

Waimak vs. FC Twenty11 - 14 July

ChCh United vs. Hurunui Rangers - 21 July

And in The 'Reta' Cup

Semi Finals

Cashmere Technical vs. Coastal Spirit - 4 Aug.

Halswell vs. Parklands - 11 Aug.

Mainland Premier League

Men's

Cashmere Technical 6 (Tom Schwarz 2, Liam Oxley 2, Jeremy Wild, Aaron Clapham) Halswell 0 HT 3 - 0 (Cashmere retain Hurley Shield) 

ChCh United 0 Ferrymead Bays 3 (Chris Murphy, Michael White 2) HT 0 - 0

Coastal Spirit 4 (Joshua Lis, Tristan Nichol, Gareth Turnbull 2 - incl pen) Western 0 HT 0 - 0

Universities 2 (Hamish Foy 2) Nelson Suburbs 4 (Ryan Stewart 2, Omar Guadiola, Atkin Kaua) HT 1 - 2

Congragulations FC2011 Woman

Well done

luiz Garcia, what happened with Nelson Div 1? 

Some big wins in Div 1, both FC Twenty11 and Nomads reached double figures without reply over Bays and Hornby with Waimak drawing with Parklands 1 - 1 and Selwyn were ahead 4 - 0 of Technical at half time, unsure what the final score was.

Selwyn won 6-0 in the end

if FC play like they did yesterday they will have no problem playing in mpl. even with there reserve team on a 14 game win streak this club has great potential next year!

Looking back in recent season of the teams that have been promoted here are the stats - all 8 teams and 21 round season points gained shown in ( ):

2012 : FC Twenty11 promoted - finished 7th (16) and in 2013 finished 8th (6) - relegated

2013: Nomads promoted - finished 7 (13) and in 2014 finished 8th (16) - relegated

2014: Universities promoted - finished 7th (16) and in 2015 currently (15) in 5th place

2015: ChCh United currently sitting in 8th (7) place and odds on to be relegated

Odds on? Still 6 games to go and they still have to play Halswell so it's still anyone's game. Goal difference is pretty close too, I wonder if it could come down to that like it has before. Or worse, how Nomads were even on points and goal difference in last place and got relegated as it then came down to goals scored!

Maybe a good time to see what people's  thoughts are on a ten team top league with two rounds the 3 sides fighting for promotion all offer something different. They have shown they can compete in cup games 

I dont think 10 team league is a bad idea, I'd rather see a 8 team qualifying league replace div 1.

I also don't think its a 2 horse race for relegation, western are pretty close to it too.....

Yes the relegation battle is likely to only be decided in the last few rounds, with the bottom four sides still to play each other- last six games in order for each side are:

Universities: Bays (A), Technical (A), Western (A), ChCh United (A), Coastal (H) and Halswell (H) 

Western: Halswell (H), ChCh United (A),Universities (H), Bays (H), Tech (A) and Suburbs (A) 

Halswell: Western (A), Coastal (A), ChCh United (H), Suburbs (H), Bays (A) and Universities (A)

ChCh United: Technical (A), Western (H), Halswell (A), Universities (H), Suburbs (A) and Coastal (A).

So if Halswell and United both picked up points over Western, Western could get dragged into the battle to avoid the drop.

Interestingly all four sides have picked up more points on the road this season than at home.

In the last six rounds Halswell have picked up 5 points, Universities 4 and both Western and United 3 each. 

I still think United are odds on to face the drop as they are really struggling to find the back of the net in recent weeks - also appear to have a few issues off the park as well.

They have not scored in their last five games (which is the same for Western).

The Rams have only scored in six of the MPL games to date - all single strikes. The Hawks have also only scored in 6 games (but have nearly twice as many goals as United - 11), Western 7 (12 goals)  with Universities only failing to score three times (22 goals), with all four as you would expect not having too many clean sheets - ChCh United, Halswell and Universities only twice each with Western going just 1 better.