ISPS Handa Premiership reaches the fifth matchweek

The most important football league of the region is now close to their fifth matchweek: Auckland City retained the lead two weeks ago and now is two points clear of the current 2nd placed side Waitakere United. The Auckland City striker Myer Bevan is on fire – he scored seven goals in only four matches so far and he will hope to add more goals to his tally in his next match against Tasman United.

Waitakere United is the closest team to Auckland City in the table – they could be tied up with the Navy Blues if they had won a 10-men Eastern Suburbs in the previous matchweek – but they draw two matches in a row and now really need to taste another win to keep in the run.

Waitakere will be playing at Seddon Fields in the only match on Saturday of this round against Southern United. The team from Dunedin comes in a high for this match since they smashed at home Hamilton Wanderers by 4-0 in their last match in the season – a brace of Abdulla Al-Khalisy was enough for New Zealand Football to award him the ‘Player of the Week‘.

The first match of the Sunday will feature the Hawke’s Bay United in a good moment with three matches without a defeat and an Eastern Suburbs side hoping to grab another win, this time playing at Bluewater Stadium in Napier. Dylan de Jong scored the unique goal of his side in their previous clash against Waitakere – the Lilywhites were luck to hold the fast Waitak frontline and earn a hard fought point after losing their main striker Martin Bueno red carded at the end of the first half.

Hamilton Wanderers will come very hungry after suffering a very harsh defeat against Southern United in their previous match in the league. The club dropped into the 9th position in the standings and will really their good football displayed in their win against Eastern Suburbs in the second matchweek return when they play against Wellington Phoenix Reserves at Porrit Stadium.

Related Posts:
Semmy and Wanderers are not having a good start of season;
Jean-Philippe Saïko scores his first goal for Tasman United;
Martin Bueno hopeful with Eastern Surburbs start in ISPS Handa Premiership.

The Wellington Phoenix Reserves could not hold the powerhouse Auckland City and suffered a 3-0 defeat at WestPac Stadium. The young side is at the bottom of the rankings with just one point in the run and hopes to change this reality facing a Wanderers also in a bad moment.

Team Wellington is having a very frustrating start with season with just one win in four matches. TeeDubs coach Scott Hales stated that the need to learn from their last defeat against Tasman United in Nelson and not allow the same mistakes to happen again. The side will be playing at David Farrington Park against the Lee Padmore coached side Canterbury United – both sides have the same amount points in the table, five.

Despite the good record of Hamish Watson in the league – four goals in four games – the striker did not score in the previous match of Team Wellington. The important returns of Mario Barcia and Justin Gulley to Team Wellington are still to have the effects expected by the fans.

Canterbury United draw the last two games against Waitakere United and Hawke’s Bay, just winning one match in the season – a 2-1 win against Southern at home. Aaron Clapham and his team will be looking to jump in the table with an important against his former club Team Wellington to be closer to the top of the table.

The last match of the round will see the giants Auckland City facing Tasman United at Kiwitea Street. Tasman just recorded their first goal and victory of the competition against Team Wellington in the previous round while the Navy Blues won two matches in a row – 5-0 and 3-0 against Hamilton Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix Reserves respectively.

Tasman got a relief to have their first points in the table to leave the bottom of the standings. Auckland needs a win to maintain their lead that is now of only two points over Waitakere United. The strikers Myer Bevan and Logan Rogerson might be the biggest threat for a good defensive system created by the coach Jess Ibrom – defensive system that worked very well in their win against Team Wellington.

You can check the actual complete standings of the ISPS Handa Premiership and the top goalscorers by clicking here.