Mosgiel maintained their perfect record in the ODT Southern Premier League as wild wet weather made life difficult for all on Saturday.

Mosgiel 4-1 Wanaka (HT 2-1)

After an even opening 20 minutes to the match, Mosgiel were awarded a penalty when Wanaka goalkeeper Britton Dowling was beaten to a through-ball and brought down the opposition striker. Liam Dungey converted the spot kick to give Mosgiel the lead. With the wet conditions seeing tackles flying in from both sides, Wanaka's Mark Kane was penalised for dissent, leading to a temporary dismissal. Minutes later it was key defender Blair Scoullar suffered the same fate, reducing the visitors to nine players for a brief spell. Mosgiel started piling on the pressure, and made the most of their temporary numerical advantage when a stray Wanaka backpass was pounced on by Alex Cox who found Aidan Barbour-Ryan to double Mosgiel's lead on the half-hour mark. 

Back to a full complement, Wanaka created chances for the remainder of the first half and were rewarded on the final play before the halftime whistle; impressive youngster Weston Bell fired a shot that could only be parried, and 18-year-old striker Harry Grimsdale was on hand to finish from 6 yards.

Into the second half, both teams had further chances, with Mosgiel's Cam Anderson dangerous in attack and Wanaka getting a number of attacking freekicks but unable to level the scores. It was Mosgiel who scored next courtesy of a Wanaka own goal, with a glancing header from a corner in the 70th minute. Still hopeful of getting something from the match, the visitors continued to press for goals but player-coach Ian Bell, who had only brought himself onto the pitch minutes earlier, was also temporarily dismissed. With his team reduced to 10 men for the final minutes, Anderson scored an 89th minute goal to complete a 4-1 win for Mosgiel.

Dunedin Technical 3-2 Queenstown (HT 2-1)

Dunedin Technical picked up their third win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Queenstown at Tahuna Park. Technical started the match well and scored two goals in quick succession - the first from the penalty spot, after Rhys Quarrell was fouled and captain Michael Neaverson converted the spot kick; the second coming after a defensive error from the visitors that Thomas Petersen took advantage of and finished with a header. Meanwhile the prolific Jan Kumar had scored for Queenstown to give a halftime score of 2-1.

With around 10 minutes to go in the match, Tech winger Quarrell delivered a third goal for the home team, finishing brilliantly by chipping the keeper. Queenstown got back into the game in stoppage time with a superb 20 metre strike from Ashleigh Melladay-Naidu, but Technical held on for their first win at home of the season.

Otago University 7-0 Northern (HT 1-0)

There were eventually goals galore for University, but only after a plucky performance from Northern that frustrated the students for the first half. University struggled to find their fluent passing game and Northern even had a couple of chances to test Uni goalkeeper Stewart Catto. The in-form Ben Stanley did produce a bit of quality in the 23rd minute to score the only goal of the first half. 

The floodgates really opened however after the break, with University clicking into gear and scoring another six unanswered goals. Stanley ended up with four goals, including a penalty after he had been fouled by Northern captain Robbie Columbus. Perhaps the pick of Uni's goals was scored by captain Dom Scahill; Ben O’Farrell broke down the right-hand side and played a lovely cross to Tom Durkin lurking at the far post, who rather than attempt to finish on the angle squared the ball back to Scahill to finish into the empty net. Scahill picked up a second before defender Tim O'Farrell completed the scoring, with another quality goal bounding forward from the back.

Caversham 3-2 Roslyn Wakari (HT 2-2)

Caversham retained the Blair Davidson Shield at Tonga Park after a 3-2 win over Roslyn in what was often a scrappy affair. Caversham opened the scoring after 7 minutes when Ben Kiore latched onto a through ball from Ben Wade and rounded goalkeeper Roslyn Tom Stevens, before squaring it to Andrew Ridden to score. Roslyn equalised soon after when Caversham defender Craig Ferguson turned in a teasing cross from Kasam Ali past his own goalkeeper.

Caversham regained the lead via Connor Neil who pounced on a loose ball at the far post after a melee in Roslyn's box, with quick feet beat two defenders, and drove home the finish. A second Caversham own goal levelled the scores again, and Caversham repelled waves of attack from Roslyn in a five minute spell before the halftime break. The teams traded blows in the second half until Neil bagged a second in the 71st minute after Ferguson had delivered a pin-point free-kick from the left and Neil rose highest to nod home. As Roslyn pushed for an equaliser, Caversham came close to extending their lead but neither team could find another goal.

Green Island 4-0 Southland United (HT 1-0)

Green Island defeated Southland 4-0 at Sunnyvale after leading 1-0 at halftime. Matt Brazier scored a double while Oscar McCallion and Ryan Fleming each grabbed a goal. It makes for a very congested mid table with only 3 points separating the teams in 5th to 9th places.

Meanwhile in the only Kingsgate Women's Premier League match of the weekend, Roslyn Wakari defeated University Seconds 6-2 at Ellis Park. Roslyn dominated the first half and led 3-0 at the break,  but Uni battled bravely in the second period and capitalised on Roslyn errors to pick up a couple of goals to Libby Antunovic and a wonder strike from Tania Savery. 

Former University striker Renee Bacon was the star for Roslyn up against her old club, scoring an impressive hat trick. Amelia Currier bagged a brace while Alexis Townshend scored one. 15 year old goalkeeper Emma Andrew debuted for University and was kept busy, but was brave throughout and was the students' player of the day.

Article added: Monday 29 April 2019