A different weekend than usual in New Zealand football top-tier, with only three matches in the process. The OFC Champions League kick-off in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu this weekend, will split the commitments of the current title holders of the ISPS Handa Premiership Eastern Suburbs that will be playing in Papua New Guinea the Group A of the competition. Auckland City will also travel for Tahiti for their regional commitments, but their Group D will only start in March. The upcoming weekends will have their focus split between the national league and OFC Champions League.
The 1-0 win over Eastern Suburbs in the local derby put the sleeping giants back in the run. Waitakere now sits 3rd in the table and will hope to count with the superb performances of players as Sam Burfoot, Dane Schnell and Alex Connor-McClean to win once again, but this time away from Auckland when they take on Southern in Dunedin.
Southern got a hard-fought draw in Hamilton against the Wanderers, when their top-striker Garbhan Coughlan found the nets after a long period without a goal. The team from Dunedin is only 8th in the process after a very good start of the season, but unfortunately for the club they could not keep the good form for longer. A win against the good side of Waitakere at home might put them back in the fight for a spot in the top-four.
Wanderers will need a win in their upcoming clash against Wellington Phoenix Reserves in Wellington if they want to get closer to the top-four placed teams in the table so far. The late penalty scored by Xavier Pratt against Southern was not enough for to grab all points from their previous clash, as an injury-time strike from Garbhan Coughlan gave the visitors a point from the match.
Wanderers will hope to see their super-duo Tommy Semmy and Derek Tieku back in form against the youth side of Wellington Phoenix when they enter the Eden Park, in Auckland for the clash. The match will serve as a curtain raiser for the Wellington Phoenix first team clash in the Australian A-League.
Wellington Phoenix Reserves gave a lot of fight for Auckland City in their previous encounter at Kiwitea Street, suffering a 3-2 defeat where the youngster Ben Waine scored a fantastic goal. Despite their efforts, the strong Navy Blues side kept the lead, keeping Phoenix only at 9th in the process.
Canterbury United will have a big task if they want to leave the last place in the ladder – to win Auckland City is something any side did so far, especially playing at Kiwitea Street. Canterbury suffered several defeats in a row and will certainly need a strong defensive system if they want to avoid another loss against the Navy Blues.
The top-scorer Myer Bevan, the club legend Emiliano Tade and All-Whites member Clayton Lewis are in excellent form for Auckland, that needed to manage a last-minute pressure in their latest match against Wellington Phoenix Reserves to secure another win in the league.
You can check the full standings, top-goalscorers and full results of the season so far by visiting our session of the ISPS Handa Premiership current season.
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