After the Chatham Cup weekend, Round 9 of the New World Men's Premiership resumes seeing vital match-ups as teams close in on a top-five finish to qualify for the Southern League. The round begins on Friday evening at the Christchurch Football Centre at 7.30 pm, with third-placed Christchurch United hosting Selwyn. The Stallions are needing to start winning if they are to challenge for fifth place. At 1 pm on Saturday at Saxton Fields, Nelson Suburbs, currently in fourth, take on second place Coastal Spirit. At 2:45 pm in a true 'six pointer', sixth-placed Ferrymead Bays host fifth-placed Nomads at Ferrymead Park, with Bays needing to take some points out of the game. The final match-up sees bottomed placed Halswell facing leader's Cashmere Technical at Halswell Domain. 

Friday night games have seen United claim three wins from three. They are unbeaten at home this season and are yet to drop a point to Selwyn in the league. In recent weeks Selwyn has shown plenty of determination, leading Technical by two goals in the league before the defending champs stormed back to claim the win. In both the Chatham Cup and the English Cup (on Tuesday evening), they came from behind twice to defeat Halswell. This determination will be needed if they are to claim any points off the Rams. 

Form: United W D W L W D L Selwyn L L D W L L L      

Head-to-Head: Played 4 – United 4 wins

Previous Result this Season: Selwyn 1 United 4     

Coastal head north on a five-game unbeaten run, including their 1 - 0 win over Suburbs in their catch-up game from round 2, looking for the win to stay in touch with Technical. Suburbs have been somewhat up and down so far this season, and a positive result would help their quest for a top-five finish.   

Form: Suburbs L D W W L L W Coastal W L W W W D W

Head-to-Head: Played 29 – Suburbs 12 wins, Draws 4. Coastal 13 wins

Previous Result this Season: Coastal 1 Suburbs 0

The key game of Round 9 is the 'Battle of the Blues' with more pressure likely to be on Bays than Nomads to secure the three points. Bays took out the Round 2 encounter, with Chris Murphy scoring the only goal in a tight encounter. Bays knocked Nomads out of the Chatham Cup 3 - 1 last weekend, with Nomads out to make it three wins on the bounce in the premiership.  

Form: Bays W W L L L W L Nomads L W W L L W W   

Previous Result this Season: Nomads 0 Bays 1      

Head-to-Head: Played 41 – Bays 21 wins, Draws 7, Nomads 13 wins

On paper, it looks to be a mismatch when Halswell takes on Technical with a 22 point difference between top and bottom place. The Halswell defence may be in for a long afternoon as Technical has started to find their scoring touch, with 15 of their 25 goals coming in their last four league games.   

Form: Halswell L L L L L L L Technical W D W W W W W                             

Head-to-Head: Played 16 – Halswell 1 win, Draws 2, Technical 13 wins 

Previous Result this Season: Technical 4 Halswell 1

Second Full Round Commences In Women’s Premiership

The New World Women's Premiership commences its second full round of three on Saturday at 12:30 pm. Cashmere Technical host Ferrymead Bays at Garrick Memorial Park, leaders, Coastal Spirit SAS entertain Nomads with Universities facing Waimak at Ilam Fields. 

Technical took out the opening encounter 4 - 0 over Bays, but since then, Bays had added to their squad and have been on the up with the two sides meeting last Saturday in the opening round of the Kate Sheppard Cup with Technical advancing in a tight result, 3 - 2. 

Form: Technical W W W L W Bays L W L L L  

Previous Result this Season: Bays 0 Technical 4            

Head-to-Head: Played 1 - Technical 1 win  

Coastal SAS was untroubled to account for Nomads in the opening round, but this weekend, Coastal is missing several players away in Auckland with an NZ Under 17 training camp.  

Form: Coastal SAS W W W W W Nomads L L L L L   

Previous Result this Season: Nomads 1 Coastal SAS 16                

Head-to-Head: Played 1 - Coastal SAS 1 win  

Universities and Waimak meet in a mid-table encounter, with the two sides locked together on the table. The two played out a 2 - 2 result, the only draw in the league this season when they met back on the season's opening day. 

Form: Universities D L W W L Waimak D L L W W    

Previous Result this Season: Waimak 2 Universities 2   

Head-to-Head: Played 16 - Universities 5 wins, Draws 6, Waimak 7 wins

Written by Gavin Searle. 

Article added: Thursday 20 May 2021