Men's Southern Premier league

Roslyn is fairly surprising. They've been a bit mid table for a bit but this is a pretty bad season for them. I don't think being behind reserve sides is necessarily surprising though. DCR have had a solid reserve side for a while and Northern won Fletcher's cup last year (Which is basically just this current squad) so they were never gonna look insanely out of place regardless.

I'd argue what's more surprising is Northern Hearts. I don't know much about the going ons of Timaru football but for the last few seasons Hearts has finished bottom two so this is a great story. Personally if not Northern I'd be happy with Hearts getting a fairytale season and winning the SPL

SATURDAY RD6 ALL 2:45PM

Northern reserves vs Northern Hearts - Caledonian

Mosgiel vs DCR reserves - Memorial Park

Green Island vs Queens Park - Sunnyvale Park

Old Boys vs Roslyn-Wakari - ILT Football Turf

Otago Uni vs BYE

RESULTS
Northern reserves 2 - 3 Nothern Hearts

Mosgiel 2 - 0 DCR reserves

Green Island 1 - 1 Queens Park

Old Boys 0 - 3 Roslyn-Wakari

STANDINGS
1. Northern Hearts (Same)
2. Mosgiel (Up from 3rd)
3. Otago Uni (Down from 2nd)
4. DCR reserves (Same)
5. Queens Park (Up from 6th)
6. Roslyn-Wakari (Up from 8th)
7. Old Boys (Down from 5th)
8. Northern reserves (Down from 7th)
9. Green Island (Same)

Hearts best season since joining the SPL was in 2022 when they finished in 8th/10 with a record of 5-0-13

Currently have a 5-0-0 record

Rnd 7 Games

Northern Hearts vs Mosgiel
Aorangi Park at 2:45pm

DCR reserves vs Old Boys
Tahuna Park at 2:45pm

Roslyn-Wakari vs Otago Uni
Ellis Park at 2:45pm

Northern reserves vs Green Island
Caledonian at 3pm

Queens Park gets a bye

Wooden spoon derby between Northern and GI, and a top of the table clash between Hearts and Mosgiel.

I hadn't realised this but if Hearts win the league depending on how promotion into SL works next season we could finally have a team from Timaru in the SL. Does anyone know if that has happened before?

Ok after doing some quick digging I found:

Timaru City - 1972, 1974, 1980-81

Northern Hearts - 1977-78, 1980-81, 1993-98

South Canterbury United - 1984-88, 1993-95

So if Hearts make it into the Southern League it'll be their and Timaru's first appearance since 1998 (29 Years)

RD7 RESULTS

Northern Heart 2 - 2 Mosgiel
(D. Henderson, K. Hancock) (P. Koppert, M. Ayde)

DCR reserves 2 - 3 Old Boys
(J. Hill, J. Miller) (F. Edson. W. Fleming, J. Dawson)

Northern reserves 3 - 2 Green Island
(C. Laothepphitak, A. Kelly, N. Treadwell) (K. Crowie, C. Sharkey)

Roslyn-Wakari 2 - 2 Otago Uni
(B. Williams-Davies, K. Grynwell) (F. Fairbairn x2)

LADDER

1. Northern Hearts (Same)
2. Mosgiel (Same)
3. Otago Uni (Same)
4. DCR reserves (Same)
5. Old Boys (Up from 7th)
6. Roslyn-Wakari (Same)
7. Northern reserves (Up from 8th)
8. Queens Park (Down from 5th)
9. Green Island (Same)

Rd8 Fixtures - Saturday, 20th of June

Green Island vs Northern Hearts - 2:45pm at Sunnyvale

Old Boys vs Mosgiel - 2:45pm at ILT Football Turf

Roslyn-Wakari vs Queens Park - 2:45pm at Ellis Park

Otago Uni vs DCR Reserves - 3pm at the Football Turf

Northern Reserves get a bye

RD8 RESULTS
Old Boys 0 - 4 Mosgiel
(H. Stephens 2x, M. Ayde, B. Wood)

Roslyn-Wakari 0 - 3 Queens Park
(G. Edwards, R. Schmidt de Camargo, A. Fitzgerald)

Green Island 1 - 2 Northern Hearts
(J. Davidson) - (B. Chambers, K. Hancock)

Otago Uni 3 - 1 Dunedin City Royals Reserves
(B. Fairbairn 2x, E. Sneyed-Utting) - (H. Keats)

LADDER
1. Northern Hearts (same)
2. Mosgiel (same)
3. Otago Uni (same)
4. Queens Park (up from 8th)
5. DCR Reserves (down from 4th)
6. Old Boys (same)
7. Roslyn-Wakari (same)
8. Northern Reserves (same)
9. Green Island (same)

RD9 RESULTS

Roslyn-Wakari 3 - 0 Green Island
(N. Wilkie 2x, K. Grunwell)

Queens Park 4 - 3 Mosgiel
(Z. Owen Gear, G. Edwards, R. Schmidt de Camargo, C. Castle) vs (M. Ayde, H. Stephens, C. Thompson)

DCR reserves 1 - 1 Northern reserves
(M. Neaverson) vs (I. Garcia Martin)

Otago Uni 0 - 2 Old Boys
(W. Fleming, M. Lamont)

LADDER
1. Northern Heart (same)
2. Mosgiel (same)
3. Otago Uni (same)
4. Queens Park (same)
5. Old Boys (Up from 6th)
6. Roslyn-Wakari (up from 7th)
7. DCR reserves (down from 5th)
8. Northern reserves (same)
9. Green Island (same)

The Southland clubs did some damage to the contenders this weedend. Mosgiel had a chance to go above Hearts (albeit a game up), but instead got stopped by Queens Park, meaning if Hearts can keep pace they could go 6-points clear in RD13. Uni was a bit less of a title threat but still, losing to Old Boys has hurt their chances even more now.

Round 10

Northern Hearts vs Old Boys - 1pm Sir Basil Arthur Park

Queens Park vs DCR reserves - 2:45pm ILT Football Turf

Mosgiel vs Otago Uni - 3pm Dunedin Artificial Turf

Northern vs Roslyn-Wakari - 3pm Dunedin Artificial Turf

Kinda sucks for Mosgiel for their home game to essentially become a varsity home game but what can you do in weather like this?

No particularly outstanding results from Round 10, but round 11 had big ones like Uni beating Hearts 2-1 away, Queens park winning the Invercargill derby 3-2, Green Island beating DCR 2-0 and Northern getting a 1-0 upset over Mosgiel away!

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Updated table since I keep forgetting

 Pos | Club                     | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | GF | GA | GD | Pts
      1 | Northern Hearts | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 16 | 14 | 28
     2 | Queens Park       | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 23 | 13 | 21
     3 | Mosgiel               | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 20
     4 | Northern res       | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 19 | 4 | 18
     5 | Otago Uni            | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 23 | 3 | 17
     6 | Old Boys             | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 18 | 34 | -16 | 15
     7 | Roslyn-Wakari     | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 14
     8 | DCR res              | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 23 | -11 | 10
     9 | Green Island      | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 24 | -14 | 5 

Big result for Northern Hearts! Not sure if they would be eligible for promotion though if club licensing is still a requirement of the yet to be decided 2027 Southern League.

Think they'll have to make some changes if they want to keep it at 10 teams without reserve sides. Personally I hope they do, wouldn't mind a quick(ish) away trip to Timaru once a season

Northern res (4) vs (2) Queens Park - Caledonian Ground 2:45pm
Mosgiel (3) vs (7) Roslyn-Wakari - Memorial Park - 2:45pm
Green Island (9) vs (5) Otago Uni - Sunnyvale Park - 2:45pm
Dunedin City Royals res (8) vs (1) Northern Hearts Dunedin Artificial Turf - 3:00pm

Round 14 results
Northern reserves 2 - 1 Queens Park
(A. Kelly, F. Anderson) vs (B. Orobio)

Mosgiel 2 - 1 Roslyn-Wakari
(M. Ayde, P. Koppert) vs (B. Williams-Davies)

Green Island 2 - 4 Otago University
(P. Yeardley, R. Walker) vs (C. Scott x2, M. Mitchell OG, O. Gardner)

DCR reserves 1 - 6 Northern Hearts
(B. Blaikie) vs (B. Chambers x2, K. Hancock x2, R. Alamo, H. Brokenshire)

Round 15

Northern Hearts (1) vs Northern reserves (4) - Aorangi Park 1:30pm
Big game here. If Hearts win they lead the pack by at least 8 points with three games to go, basically securing the title (assuming they don't have a complete collapse). It won't be easy though since Northern has been on a good run recently. For most of the season they've been bottom 3, but they're on a 3-game win streak including a win over 2nd at the time Queens Park last week, so Hearts will have to fight hard for this one.

Queens Park (3) vs Green Island (9) - ILT Football Turf 2:45pm
Queens Park will be looking to bounce back after being upset last round. I don't expect much since Green Island have been so poor this season but you never know.

Roslyn-Wakari (7) vs Old Boys (6) - Ellis Park 2:45pm
This could be a fun affair between two clubs right beside each other. I have a feeling Roslyn will get the win here since they were able to give Mosgiel a tough time last round, but also can't ignore how much Old Boys have improved from last season. 2025 they finished dead last with only a single win in their SPL debut, but this year they've quintupled that and the season isnt even over yet.

DCR reserves (8) vs Mosgiel (2) - Dunedin Artificial Turf 3pm
Similar thoughts to Queens Park vs GI, I'm not expecting much. Mosgiel remain one of the big SPL sides and with how poor DCR have been I don't think this'll be the one. DCR have a 2-12 aggregate in their last three, with one of those results being 1-4 against Roslyn, so I think this'll be a simple win for Mosgiel

Otago Uni (5) bye

Northern Hearts 3 - 3 Northern res
(K. Hancock, C. Rollo, H. Brokenshire) vs (A. Kelly, F. Anderson, C. Laothepphitak)

Queens Park 0 - 1 Green Island
(R. Walker)

Roslyn-Wakari 0 - 0 Old Boys

Dunedin City Royals res 4 - 3
(J. Hill x2, H. Keats, A. Hodson) vs (M. Ayde, H. Stephens x2)

Quite a bit to unpack here, Royals and Green Island both get massive upsets! I guess this is why you never count teams out because I never could've guessed the bottom two teams would upset top 3 teams in the same round! 

A win for Hearts here would've won them the title, but with three games to go they only need a single point to secure themselves the SPL. 

Shoutout to the Northern reserves, rough start to the season and they spent a lot of time at 8th, but they've really turned things around with so many upsets starting with Mosgiel, Old Boys, Uni, Queens Park, and now capping it with a draw against the leaders in a game that they almost won! (All these games they were the lower ranked team going in). Also shoutout to Sam Ussher, was playing Otago Div 2 last year and has now climbed his way up to SPL.

Updated ladder:

Screenshot 2026-08-15 180946.png 20.12 KB

Round 16

Mosgiel (2) vs Northern hearts (1)
This should without a doubt be the match of the round. Top of the table clash with everything on the line. If Mosgiel still want to win the title then they have to be literally perfect and Hearts need to go on an insane losing streak. Mosgiel need to win this to keep their hopes alive, but Hearts will also be looking to finally secure the title with either a win or a draw. I'm predicting 2-0 Hearts to win the title

Green Island (9) vs Northern ressies (3)
Green Island are coming off a pretty big upset over at the time #3 Queens Park, so at this point anything is possible. At the same time Northern have been on a very impressive run over the last two months, so despite the recent upset I think the Northern ressies should snatch a win here. I'm predicting 3-1 to Northern

Old Boys (6) vs Dunedin City Royals ressies (8)
Royals coming off a big upset of their own after a 7-goal thriller against Mosgiel, not been great this year but those moments will always pop up when you least expect it. Old Boys, depite their position, have honestly been pretty good and should honestly be higher up. I'm predicting a 1-1 draw though.

Otago University (5) vs Roslyn-Wakari (7)
I think 2-1 to varsity seems about right. Haven't really followed them this year so not much to say sorry

Good write up Noah! Have been enjoying your picks.

Last weeks results for DCR & Northern were skewed by their top teams not playing.
You will find this week they resort to form as both 1st Teams are away in ChCh.

Though GI have had a poor season I think they will get a tight win. Picking 2-1 at the Vale. The incentive to not be bottom could be a big motivator.

My rough pick is Old Boys will take the win at home against a depleted DCR, 3-1. Agree with you that Old Boys have improved, unfortunately they don't seem to have playing depth. 

Not wanting to finish last could definitely be a motivator. The lack of clear pro/rel sort of muddies the water. If eligable the winners of the Fletcher Cup, South Canterbury, and Southland can choose to play each other for a spot in SPL, but who knows if that'll happen. last year Winton were the only eligable club but it seems they chose not to go up, so they'll probably choose the same this year. Timaru United could be interesting though. Last year it was HBS, and as a school team they can't go up, but United might do since they won this year.

Not really sure what's happening with Green Island atm. From what I've heard they've started trying to squeeze pennies out of it's members by making people pay for their jersey's and high entry fees for the prizegiving. It's turned a lot of people off, but who knows.

 I can't see Timaru United going for promotion as I don't think many of their squad would be keen for the travel from Timaru every 2nd week. Only way I see a 2nd Timaru team going for promotion is to get the Timaru Boys High players involved in the travelling club teams rather than playing in the local SC division, otherwise the player depth just isn't there. IMO would be much better for the school players being exposed to a higher level of football. 

Good luck to Northern Hearts today. It’s great to see regional teams winning leagues!

Big upset, Mosgiel win 3-0 to delay Hearts title win by another week at least. Still waiting on the other results but that's pretty big!

Remaining games
Hearts: Green Island (H), Old Boys (A)
Mosgiel: Old Boys (H), Otago University (A)

Round 16

Mosgiel 3 - 0 Northern Hearts
(M. Ayde, H. Stephens) tribe doesn't say who scored the 3rd goal which was a pen

Green Island 1 - 1 Northern ressies
(J. Davidson) vs (J. Schoenleben)

Old Boys 4 - 1 Dunedin City Royals ressies
(A. McLaren, J. Fleming, F. Edson, J. Dawson) vs (J. Hill)

Otago University 3 - 0 Roslyn-Wakari
(H. Smith, B. Setters, L. Salisbury)

Well I don't know nothin, guessed one correct result and couldn't get the score right lol. Obviously the big story is the Mosgiel upset, although ultimately Hearts should get what they need against Green Island next week. I know it'll be the 3rd round in a row that I'm counting them out, but Hearts are so close that they'll probably be very hungry next week.

Quickly whipped up the home and away records of every club

Screenshot 2026-08-22 204754.png 39.54 KB

Thought I'd help Noah out with a few picks...

✅ Agreed, NH should take it out this week. I'm calling 3-1 over GI. It's been a cracking season for Hearts and they've well and truly earned their spot. Hard to see them falling at this hurdle.

✅ Varsity 3-0 over DCR. DCR's 1st Team is away at Bays which will stretch the squad depth a bit. Varsity have been pretty consistent and should have too much quality across the park.

✅ Park 4-2 over the Horse. Full disclosure, I haven't seen the Horse play this season, so this one's more educated guess than expert analysis! Park can be wonderfully unpredictable, but they're usually good for a few goals at home. Whether they keep the back door shut is another question entirely.

✅ Mosgiel over Old Boys. On paper Mosgiel should be too strong, but if there's an upset brewing this weekend, this might be it. Old Boys have plenty of pace and mobility, and on the wide expanses of Memorial Park anything can happen. I'm still leaning Mosgiel, but not by much.

Feel free to ignore all of the above when the football gods inevitably decide to make fools of us all by Saturday afternoon! ⚽🍻😄