Congratulations to Cashmere Technical.
Now, is anyone able to take off their club eye patch and comment on the actual football that’s been played this season so far? What has the quality been like? What tactics have been employed? The stats tell me Cashmere scored a lot of goals; Coastal had the best defence; Bays and Nelson remained static at best; Nomads are on the improve; FC20 are still well short of top 5; Selwyn may be playing naively given their goals for and against; and Uni are incredibly still in with a shot of not being relegated.
Season review anyone? Mainland Analyst? Others?
Seeing as you've asked for an unbiased opinion, I've got this.
I have seen 13 of Coastal's 14 MPL games, some Chatham and English Cup, and a few Parklands games thrown in so I feel I have a rough enough view of the teams.
Tech
Too good, no matter what team they put on the park. They didn't have their superstars in the first game, and it was 0-0. Some were on the park the second time when they beat us 2-1 but there were some on the bench and some didn't even play. I'm not sure what they've done with team rotation over the season but it's obviously worked. You don't get through the season unbeaten, score 9 goals in a single game, have a +30 GD without being the best. Lyall is amazing and can't believe he didn't play much in the National League. Look forward to our next meet in the CC and SIL. I still hate them with a passion.
Coastal
I've watched Coastal/New Brighton for nearing 20 years and this is our best team yet. On and off the pitch they are a team. No weak spots in any position and our most packed bench all fighting for spots. Even with the loss of Aaron Spain, others could fill the void. 10 goals against all season shows how good our keeper and backs are. 4 of those 10 were against Selwyn! Deffo have the best fans in the league. :-)
Bays
I'm not sure what to make of Bays. They seem a rag-tag bunch of individuals who managed to win the league last year. This year appears to be back to normal. Plenty of characters in the team for the fans to take the piss out of, Chang, Murphy, Ando et al. I don't get the feeling there is a team culture but hey, I'm on the outside.
Nelson
Love having them in the league with the Nelson trip and gutted I didn't go this year. Definitely not the powerhouse of old. Still have good players in the team, but still can't work out how/why they choose their Chch based players to travel up every second week. Probably the biggest margin we've had over them in past years, altho we did beat them 3 times either last year or the one before.
Nomads
Great to have some Canty Utd players going somewhere else! Hoyle is good and deserving of his golden boot. Really strong and good shot on him. Pendrigh was another good addition and also strong on and off the ball. Aquaman in goal looked little, so interesting if there is a replacement on the cards.
FC2011
We got lucky in game 1 with some sort of charge-down rugby league goal however game 2 was different. I don't mind their coach and what he does with the team, they all seem real young and try to play decent football. Can sometimes get caught out and over-run by bigger and stronger teams. Sh!t end to the season being on 13 points and having to play off against the same old same old, however them's the rules.
Selwyn
Sad to see them down there fighting it out, and they have obviously struggled with the step up from CCL to MPL. Having watched more CCL than I would like to of late, it is clear there is a gap between the two that is tough to bridge. Some heaps good players in the team (I don't hold grudges Dan) and it's bullsh!t that one is going to leave them in the lurch and go play for Bays.Would like to see them stay up as they have a good set up, young players, great coach.
Uni
Sigh. Deserve to go I'm afraid, and probably should have gone last year. Hard to string passes together, nothing up front, nothing at the back. Not really a club in my opinion, so yer, hopefully go to CCL and stay there.