Young Jesse Randall on top form for Hawke’s Bay United

The final matches of 2020 in New Zealand’s top league – ISPS Handa Premiership – marked the first points collected by the Napier-based side Hawke’s Bay United in the season. Despite losing all matches so far – after beating Waitakere United at home by 2-0 – one of their players is being highly praised throughout New Zealand: Jesse Randall.

The only 18-year-old attacker is proving to be the most important member of Hawke’s Bay United as he already scored four of the five goals of the team in the league so far. Randall – that is expected to leave soon to play college soccer in United States – is in his second season in the national league; his first experience was with Tasman United when he played 14 games and scored three goals.

In the current season, the former U17 New Zealand international already scored against the well-known Team Wellington and Auckland City and notched a superb brace to confirm HBU‘s first win against Waitakere United last weekend; scoring a fantastic goal that earned him the ‘Goal of the Week’ award for New Zealand Football – watch here. Randall also featured in the ‘Team of the Month’ of the ISPS Handa Premiership for November due his incredible individual performances.

The young player is one of the hottest prospects of New Zealand football for the upcoming years and he is proving so in the current season – but it seems his teammates in Hawke’s Bay are not following his level as the team stands at the bottom of the table as the competition enters the Christmas/New Year’s Eve break.

In the other three matches of the weekend in New Zealand’s top-league, Team Wellington took the first place of the table thanks to a 3-1 win over Canterbury United – the strong striker Hamish Watson scored a brace for TeeDubs. Team Wellington is now at the top because of Hamilton Wanderers 2-1 defeat in front of Eastern Suburbs, while Auckland City recovered from their bad start in the season with a convicing 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix Reserves. You can check the latest results, top-goalscorers and standings by visiting our ISPS Handa Premiership’s page.