The coming of spring also heralded in a new champion with Green Island clinching the title in emphatic fashion at the home of the reigning champions Mosgiel. 

Green Island settled quickly  with Matt Brazier bullish up front and 2 typical early driving runs stretched Mosgiels make shift defence. Mosgiels Charlie Gruppelaar suffered an early hamstring injury and whilst he has being attended to the 10 men of Mosgiel settled and started to get the upper hand and with 20 minutes played Lewis Wall and Cam Anderson linked up and Andersons goal bound shot was well saved by the feet of Christian Firth - the rebounded loose ball was rammed home however it was correctly flagged for offside and ruled out.

Mosgiel were not wanting to relinquish their title and 4 minutes later a Kasim Ali pile driver was parried by Firth towards  Beckham Wheeler-Greenall and his effort was blocked for a corner. The corner was cleared forward  and Green Island won a throw in , the resultant long throw in was chested down by Mosgiels Javier Langley however much to his horror no one was on hand to clear the ball and it dribbled over the line for an own goal on 27minutes.

Mosgiel won a succession of free kicks and in the 33rd minute Anderson swung one in and Rory Findlays glancing header went agonisinly wide.

Green Island were being asked lots of  questions and with Blake Porteous at centre back marking Lewis Wall , having a strong defensive game  ,and along with the industry of Liam Carrington and Brynn Sinclair were showing why they have remained unbeaten this season. 

Mosgiels Wall and Anderson combined well again in the 41st minute and Andersons well struck shot was cleared off the line. The last play of the first half saw a Green Island free kick flicked on by Tom Milton with his goal bound effort well saved by Liam Whittaker.

The opening minutes of the second half started with Mosgiel earning another flurry of  free kicks . In the 57th minute Anderson then  sent  Wall free but his shot was scuffed wide  and when a Matt Kelly effort that stung the palms of Firth-  Green Island sensed it wasn't going to be Mosgiels day and when their physio rushed onto the pitch to assist an injured Tom Milton without the game stopping - Green Island broke forward and when their shot came back off the post Brazier was on hand to stab in the rebound with 59 minutes played.

Another attacking Mosgiel free kick was cleared and Green Island again broke at pace and Matt Milton scored with aplomb to make the score 3. 0 with still 25 minutes to go. Mosgiel were reduced to 9 men 3 minutes later when both Lewis Wall and Rory Findlay were shown green cards by Referee Jack Henderson .

Blake Porteous continued his strong game by blocking Rahan Alis  goal bound shot .

With 10 minutes left Green Islands Eddie Wilkinson - who had been having a quiet game - came into life in devastating fashion with a trade mark burgeoning run that saw him slalom  through 4 defenders bursting nto the box  and his curled shot was bent past Whittaker to give Green Island an emphatic 4.0 victory and when news came through that Wanaka had beaten University  1.0 courtesy of Barry Grehans 78th minute penalty Green Island were rightly crowned Champions with 3 rounds left to play having not yet dropped a point.

Wanaka V University

Wanaka were looking to improve on the past couple of matches where mistakes had cost them dearly. Into the line up came Barry Grehan ,  veteran Allan Carmichael and promising youngster Xion Lippe  with Steve Pleskun,  Danillo Santana and Fletcher Cavanagh unavailable.

University  controlled  possession early with Wanaka  content  on preventing space and  waiting for the right time to win the ball and counter attack.

There were very few clear cut goal scoring chances for either team in the first half as University struggled to break down the compact shape of their opponents, the few shots on goal were comfortably saved by  Aaaron Molloy starting in goal for Wanaka.

Wanakas coach Ian Bell was pleased to head in at half time with  a clean sheet and 0-0 at the break.

The 2nd half was played out in a similar fashion with  University again having the  lions share of the ball .  Wanaka started to create more attacking opportunities  as the game wore on with Levi Fletcher and Xion Lippe in wide areas and the ever present Adam Hewson attacking from deep and  stiker Everton Rossi  was proving troublesome  for  the University defence.

University thought they'd taken the lead  when a well struck shot was parried by keeper  Aaron Molloy  in the 65th minute - Dom Scahill reacted quickest to fire the rebound home but he was ruled off side .

13 minutes later Wanakas  Levi Fletcher, who had a strong game ,twisted and turned in Universitys box and Ben O'Farrell was adjudged to have brought him down-  resulting in a penalty to Wanaka.

Barry Grehan converted to give Wanaka the lead .

University nearly levelled the scores shortly afterwards when a rasping drive struck Wanakas  cross bar  and there were a couple of late goalmouth scrambles which   Wanaka defended well as University threw numbers forward and with the space Wanaka had a couple  of golden opportunities to get a 2nd but  didnt make the most of the chances.

For coach Ian  Bell it was  pleasing result and a chance to create more momentum for the remaining 3 games.

Northern v Queenstown

Northern came close to claiming their first points of the season in a close 2.3 loss to Queenstown where the Queenstown keeper Daniel Bocatios was the hero in saving two penalties.

Northerns coach Arran Wilkinson said it was

their  best performance in terms of possession and energy all year. However he rued two costly mistakes which resulted in two goals being conceded and then  missing 2 penalties and having a  goal disallowed.

Queenstown started  brightly and could have taken the lead inside the first minute when some neat inter play saw Jan Kumar drift inside and clips a delightful ball to the back post that see's the on rushing Carlos Herrman just fail to get a touch. 

Phil Dawson put Northern ahead on 24 minutes  following  a good move down the right and the  ball played to the far post  with Dawson diving in through feet and bodies to head home. 2 minutes later Northern are awarded a  penalty when the ball strikes a defenders arm . Mark James strikes  the penalty well however Queenstown keeper

Daniel Bocatios dives low to his right and makes a great one handed stop and ,Cohen Nash is the first to react and clears the ball for a corner.

Northern are in the ascendenacy and thought they had scored again when  Harry Fraser came in on the left and he slotted it home with  his right foot.  Northern  had celebrated and got back to half way before the officals  conferred and disallowed the goal for offside.

Queenstown then start to gain a foothold and two quick goals  in 5 gives them the lead firstly Thomas  Mills hits a speculative 30 yard shot that dips in front of the keeper Alex Van Hessing and  2 minutes later  after some neat combination play between Kumar , Herrmann  and Mills sees Kumars unstoppable drive flash past Van Hessing.

Queenstown are then reduced to 10 men for a second yellow card  sent off for a second bookable offence and Queenstown sit back

 giving Northern the initiative.

Into the second half and both teams have periods of pressure .

With about 20 minutes left a Queenstown corner is cleared by Northern only as far as  Mills who controls the ball in the air and smashes the ball on the volley from fully 25 yards into the roof off the net giving Van Hessing no chance.

Northern get a corner on around 75 minutes and score after a goal mouth scramble with Isaac Garner poking  it home. 

With a man advantage Northern  continue to test Queenstown and are awarded  another penalty with Jared Solomon stepping up but he too found no way past Bocatios  as his well placed effort was superbly saved.

Late on Mills had a chance to claim a hat trick but was foiled by Van Hessing  and he was forced into  another good save following an errant back pass.

Queenstowns coach Jamie Whitmarsh was hugely proud of his  lads today, with as gutsy a performance as he has seen in a long time .

Dunedin Technical v Caversham

Caversham and Dunedin Technical had an entertaining eight-goal clash at the Caledonian. The game was scoreless until a frenetic four-minute spell near the end of the first half. 

Ben Wade and Matt Mitchell scored to give Caversham a 2-0 lead before Will Turner  immediately pulled one back on 38 minutes.

Ben Kiore threaded a great finish past Tech keeper Daniel Robinson  to make it 3-1 with 57 minutes played .  Tech capitalised on some tired defending to score twice in two minutes and level things up - first through Turner again and then Ollie Colloty on 69 and 70 minutes.

Caversham then regained the lead 3 minutes later when  Olivier Cassidy scored a rocket from outside the box, and Mitchell made the game safe at 5.3 from the penalty spot in the 79th minute.

- Neville Watson ODT