Programme Round 13 CONTENTS Lotto NRFL 2015 3 Lotto NRFL Premier Preview 4 Lotto NRFL Women’s Premier Preview 5 Lotto NRFL Division 1 Preview 6 Lotto NRFL Division 2 Preview 7 Lotto NRFL Premier Squad Lists 6 Lotto NRFL Women’s Premier Squad Lists 8 Lotto NRFL Division 1 Squad Lists 10 Lotto NRFL Division 2 Squad Lists 12 Lotto NRFL Premier Tables 14 Lotto NRFL Division Tables 15 Lotto NRFL Premier Golden Boot 16 Lotto NRFL Division Golden Boot 17 Lotto NRFL Premier Team Progress 18 Lotto NRFL Division Team Progress 19 Lotto NRFL 2015 Welcome As the FIFA U-20 World Cup enters a crucial phase with the knockout action, so too does the Lotto NRFL. There are many vital games taking place this weekend that could have a big impact on the battles for promotion and relegation. With half of the season now behind us, the sides are running out of time to make sure they are in the frame to go up or haul themselves away from the drop zone and the com- ing weeks are sure to make for fascinating following. There are no matches in the Women’s Premier this weekend as Sunday is a FIFA U-20 World Cup game day in Auckland but there is a full schedule of men’s matches to look forward to. In the programme this week, we preview Round 13 of the Premier League and Round 12 of Divisions One and Two, as well as featuring photos from Phototek of two recent matches. In the spotlight were Forrest Hill-Milford United’s 2-0 win at Metro in Division One and Forrest Hill’s 3-2 home success over Three Kings United in the Women’s Pre- mier. As always, we also have all the up-to-date league tables, graphs, golden boot charts and squads so there is a wealth of info at your fingertips! Our Lotto NRFL social media platforms continue to be the place to go for all score updates, results, goal details and other news – be sure to tag us @LottoNRFL with your updates from the sideline! Good luck for your game! All photos by Phototek Lotto NRFL Gallery available at: www.phototek.co.nz/aff_picture_gallery.html Social @LottoNRFL Lotto NRFL Governing Federations Lotto NRFL Premier Preview Round 13 East Coast Bays vs Bay Olympic Bay City Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: James Ashford Assistant Referees: Rajesh Kumar, John McCoskrie vs Captain Joe Bresnahan continues to lead from the front for Bays and scored from the spot again in last week’s thrilling 4-4 draw with Onehunga Sports to take his season tally to seven. Bay Olympic have followed up one of the results of the season – a 4-0 win over Hamilton – with a pair of disappointing losses, one in the league and one in the cup, so will be looking to get back on track. Central United vs Eastern Suburbs Kiwitea Street | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Nick Waldron Assistant Referees: Allan Wilson, Torres Chang Central are on a hot streak at the moment after winning their last five matches but that record is very much under vs threat here. Suburbs are joint leaders and, now we are past the halfway stage, their form can no longer be seen as an early-season fluke. Kiwitea Street is one of the toughest places in Auckland to pick up three points so a win would confirm Suburbs as serious title contenders. Melville United vs Waitakere City Gower Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Steven Black Assistant Referees: Mark Owens, Ben Norman The chances of either of these sides avoiding the drop appear slim as Melville are a whopping 13 points away from vs safety – albeit with at least two games in hand on most sides – while Waitakere are just five points better off. To have any chance of staying up, games like this against fellow strugglers simply must be won so the significance of the points here cannot be overestimated. Hamilton Wanderers vs Glenfield Rovers Porritt Stadium | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Cory Mills Assistant Referees: Andrew Lamberth, Gordon Campbell This is the pick of the weekend’s action and, if Suburbs fail to take any points against Central, will determine vs who sits at the summit on Saturday evening. There is a need for each side to return to winning ways as they both recently suffered upsets, Glenfield falling to Springs while Wanderers – who sat out last weekend – were beaten by Division One North Shore in the cup in their previous outing. Onehunga Sports vs Birkenhead United Waikaraka Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Peter Linney Assistant Referees: Tony Wall, Caleb Moffatt Caleb Rufer scored his sixth of the season in Sports’ 4-4 draw with East Coast Bays while, in an ominous sign for vs the league’s defences, former youth international Sean Lovemore got on the scoresheet for the first time with a double. There could be plenty of goals here as Birkenhead are also in good form going forward, sticking four past Three Kings with Chad Coombes scoring twice. Western Springs vs Three Kings United Seddon Fields | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 5pm | Referee: Hayden Tutbury Assistant Referees: Dimitry Sabitov, Paul Mason The fortunes of these sides are going in opposite directions with Three Kings falling to ninth while Springs are vs now in mid-table after a shock win at defending champions Glenfield. The absence of top scorer Allan Pearce – who is in the New Zealand U-20 team camp as physio – has not been good timing for Three Kings and they will be eagerly anticipating the return of the former All White. 4 | Programme 2015 50 Years of Local Pride Lotto NRFL Women’s Premier Preview Round 11 Due to the FIFA U-20 World Cup quarter-final taking place in Auckland this Sunday, all Women’s Premier games have been postponed until the following week. | 5 Lotto NRFL Division 1 Preview Round 13 Metro vs Mt Albert-Ponsonby Phyllis Street | Friday 12 June | Kick-off: 7.30pm | Referee: Allan Wilson Assistant Referees: Khalid El Gana, John Bennett vs The New North Road derby is always keenly contested and Mt Albert have even more reason to be pumped up this time as they were beaten on their own patch by their neighbours in the opening round. They will have a fresh set of legs to exact the revenge they desire after the postponement of their match last week while Metro are looking to bounce back from a 2-0 defeat to Forrest Hill. Tauranga City United vs Hibiscus Coast Links Avenue | Friday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.30pm | Referee: Carl Watkins Assistant Referees: Thomas Fritz, Daniel Wilkinson The Coasters are facing one of the longest trips in the NRFL for this one and, to make the task even tougher, one of vs the title contenders is waiting at the other end for them. Tauranga have made Links Avenue a fortress in the last 18 months but have stumbled a bit in front of their supporters recently, being held to a pair of draws in their two most recent home games. Waiuku vs Forrest Hill-Milford United Massey Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Bruce Horrox Assistant Referees: Tom Woo, Ravinesh Kumar These sides both came up from Division Two last season and have acquitted themselves well at a higher level, vs particularly second-placed Forrest Hill. Waiuku will be targeting a mid-table finish and have proven hard to beat, drawing half of their games so far. They are conceding over two goals a game on average though and will need to tighten up defensively to contain free-scoring Forrest. Manurewa vs North Shore United Memorial Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Vaughan Couillault Assistant Referees: Luke Agnew, Michael Dickason Since suffering a 5-0 drubbing at Forrest Hill in round seven, Manurewa have lifted themselves away from the vs bottom with an undefeated run of four matches. Their prospects of remaining in the division are now much greater and they finally appear to have a reliable goalscorer in Mulowa Sikongo. Shore are at the top though so this will be a real test of how far Manurewa have come. Takapuna vs Ellerslie Taharoto Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Chris Casey Assistant Referees: Wandyk Freitas, Eric Yu It’s been a long week for both of these sides after suffering defeats on the road last weekend, Takapuna 1-0 at vs Manurewa and Ellerslie 2-0 to promotion rivals Hibiscus Coast. That was just Ellerslie’s second loss of the season though and they are still very much on track for promotion. They could even go up as champions but will need to win games like this for that to happen. Mangere United vs Ngaruawahia United Centre Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 3pm | Referee: Mazhar Batoor Assistant Referees: Anthony Barnes, Neil Tobin Each set of players will be itching to get out on the field in this one as they were not in action last weekend, vs Mangere because of a flooded surface at Mt Albert and Ngaruawahia due to FIFA U-20 World Cup play in Hamilton. Ngaruawahia are bottom but have actually conceded less goals than Mangere so, if they can find a cutting edge in attack, there could be a chance of an upset here. 6 | Programme 2015 50 Years of Local Pride Lotto NRFL Division 2 Preview Round 13 Claudelands Rovers vs North Force Galloway Park | Saturday 13 June | Kick-off: 2.45pm | Referee: Jeremy Ferguson Assistant Referees: Hubert Bakx, Dominic Hopkirk vs Claudelands should have far more energy than their opponents here as they were able to take a rest last weekend while the legs of the North Force players will be weary after the long trip down.