Mainland boss hails Tasman entry
When the Mainland Women’s Premier League’s end of season reviews takes place there will need to be a discussion around the massive gulf between the competition’s best and worst teams. It’s clear a greater level of parity needs to be found.
While there was a tight race between champions Cashmere Technical and runners-up Coastal Spirit, who finished just three points apart, the reality is both teams were a class above the rest of the competition, and possibly a few classes above the bottom teams.
Cashmere, after all, scored 123 goals and conceded just nine. Their biggest victory was an embarrassingly one-sided 23-0 romp. Coastal were head and shoulders above the chasing pack too, and scored 102 goals and conceded just 17. Their biggest win was 21-3 and the team’s leading scorer, Mel Cameron, scored more goals than each team in the bottom four – netting a season-high 29 times.
But when looking for positives from the 2016 season, the most obvious is Tasman United’s seamless introduction into the seventeam competition.
The combined NelsonMarlborough side finished third place in their first season, winning 10 of their 18 games. They scored 45 goals, conceded 37 and finished with 32 points, 12 clear of the fourth-placed FC Twenty11 but still a staggering 19 behind the eventual champions.
Mainland Football chief executive Julian Bowden labelled Tasman’s first season as a resounding success.
‘‘When we sat down with Nelson Bays Football and talked about how we continue to develop the game in Nelson to complete the pathway for girls, if you could have written a script on how that would unfold I don’t think it could have gone much better,’’ Bowden said.
‘‘All of the clubs down here enjoyed their involvement in the competition and the team from Tasman was highly competitive and at the end of the day that was what everyone was after; a team that added to the overall quality of the league and as a club, entity and region they achieved that.’’
Tasman recorded their 10th win of the season when they came from two goals down to beat Waimakariri United 3-2 at Saxton Field on Saturday. While that result surpassed coach Ryan Stewart’s own 30 point target, he believes it exceeded everyone else’s expectations too.
‘‘The team has done well all year. Everyone thought we’d be the wooden spooners but we’ve gone and finished third and only lost to the big two. It’s brilliant so well done to everyone involved,’’ he said.
With plenty of milestones achieved in their inaugural campaign, Stewart said taking points off the big two will be the obvious target for next season. They were competitive in each of their outings against Cashmere and Coastal though, losing just 3-2 in their final hit-out against the 2015 champions Coastal.