The Phoenix needed to sign one player, instead they signed two. Justin Gulley and Antony Golec. A couple of defenders to bolster the ranks of what to be fair was already a pretty well-stocked crew but depth is always handy and competition for places, as Mark Rudan keeps on saying, is a crucial part of a competitive team.
The A-League draw always seems to do some weird things for the Wellington Phoenix and at the moment they’re embarking upon the gentle first steps of a 50-day stretch between games at Westpac Stadium… in as much as a trip to Perth can be considered the ‘gentle first steps’ of anything.
We’re in a World Cup year now, folks. Building towards the big show. Lots of football to be played between now and then and all of it is going to revolve in at least an abstract way if not an outright specific way around France in June.
Transfer season continues with the Flying Kiwis. This time it’s Katie Rood on the move, joining Lewes FC on loan for the rest of the season. This is a move that means a drop down from the Super League to the Championship division below it but for a player who has only played 106 minutes in the league this season (scoring a goal in that time, mind you), it makes a lot of sense.
Big deal on Saturday, friends. Big deal indeed as Auckland City welcomed Eastern Suburbs to Kiwitea Street for a good old fashioned top of the table clash, the unbeaten defending champs putting their perfect record on the line against the form team in the competition.
A quality keeper doesn’t always get the opportunity to show their worth. You don’t really want them to, if a keeper’s getting his jersey all muddy then something’s going wrong in front of them. But when a quality keeper does show their worth, then you’re really in for a treat.
The Welly Nix have been playing with house money for ages now. And they’d snuck a few lucky breaks along the way so a game like this was always coming. Rudan didn’t seem too worried. Still sixth on the ladder.
60 minutes across three subs appearances in the first half of 2018-19 Eredivisie. Clearly something had to change if the 27 year old wasn’t going to spend his prime years riding the pine. And something has happened. He’s left.
A few weeks ago it was leaked from the club that Marco Rojas was available for transfer if the right offer came along. Last week Marco Rojas himself said that he intended to leave if the right offer came along. Now it appears that the right offer might have come along.
Starting at the bottom this week, not the bottom of the table but the bottom of the country where Southern United hosted Hamilton Wanderers at an immaculate looking Forsyth Barr Stadium. Pretty as a picture it was…
Tell you what, amongst everything else that was a just remarkably entertaining game of football. Six goals, with late drama and heaps to discuss. Plenty of tactical nuance and a liquorice all-sorts of frantic and enthralling football.
Clubs usually make a big deal about incoming transfers but those folks in the outgoing mail don’t always get the most gracious departures. The Wellington Phoenix sprung a stunner the other day when they released Mitch Nichols and Reuben Way.
The World Cup is the glittering beacon on the horizon for any international side. For some it’s enough just to qualify and for others nothing short of winning it all will do. The Football Ferns are somewhere in between.
It was a bit of a shock when Marinovic was released from the Vancouver Whitecaps despite being the main starter for most of the season, but then a new manager and a squad overhaul is going to come with some casualties. So the question becomes: where to next?
Suburbs did that thing they usually do and scored early, taking the lead on nine minutes thanks to Callum McCowatt. Slotting into an open net after yet another assist from Eli Just, the Assist King of the NZ Premiership. I mean, who can even keep up with the bloke when he’s setting up a goal or two every bloody week?
For forty-five minutes that was a performance on par with the worst we’ve seen this season. Then for forty-five more it was a whole lot more of what we’re getting used to lately: the good stuff.
Old mate finally bagged another goal last Flying Kiwis, his first in a couple months, as Burnley found some form in beating West Ham. Chris Wood found some form too because he’s now scored in three games in a row. It began with a trip to Huddersfield and what was a pretty crucial game for two teams deep in that relegation scrap.
Where do you even start after a game like that? The Wellington Phoenix are now seven games undefeated, tying the club’s record streak, after beating Western Sydney Wanderers late on in Oz. In the dark days of old they’d have been turned over 3-0 in a game like that.
And we’re back. Everyone deserves a decent break over the holidays but all good things come to an end and now it’s time to return to the daily grind or whatever it is that makes up your day. Hopefully something creatively fulfilling and invigorating. With plenty of football.
The mystery has been solved and just like most mysteries the answer was the obvious one all along. What would Mark Rudan do with that extra import spot? The first thing that sprung to mind was a proper old centre forward.