Upsets order of the day in SPL

MOSGIEL is now the outright leader of the Southern Premier League after some upset results on Saturday.

RoslynWakari and University drew 22, Wanaka beat Northern 21, Mosgiel downed Caversham 10, Southland thumped Queenstown 51 and Dunedin Technical scored two late goals to beat Green Island 32 at Sunnyvale.

Ben Stanley fired a lowdriven shot past Tom Stevens into the bottom righthand corner to open the scoring for University.

Roslyn’s reply was instantaneous, earning a penalty after Nathan Wilkie was adjudged to have been fouled in the box. Ollie Colloty slotted it home.

Luke Clissold drilled home Roslyn’s second just past the halfhour mark to take the lead into the break.

University equalised from the penalty spot when Dom Scahill was fouled, and he tied the game up after 56 minutes.

It was a game of two halves at Mosgiel.

Cody Brook broke the deadlock just before the halfhour, when a 30m drive found the top corner.

Caversham came out the stronger in the second half and was rewarded with a penalty following a handball midway through the second half. Andrew Ridden stepped up to take the spot kick, but was foiled when Levi Waddington pulled off a fine save.

Both sides battled hard in the closing stages, but the Mosgiel defence, and Waddington especially, stayed resolute to maintain its third clean sheet and perfect record to start the season.

In Wanaka, against the run of play, Northern opened the scoring in the 38th minute when new cap Louis Gray took a wellstruck free kick from 35m. The ball struck Blair Scoullar’s heel and then looped up and over a diving Britton Dowling into the top corner.

Wanaka equalised four minutes later, when Weston Bell crossed from the left flank and found Paul Hodgson on the right, who fed Barry Grehan. Grehan eluded a defender and his shot was impeccable, nestled into the top left corner.

At halftime, Wanaka introduced Danillo Santana and immediately he found a pocket of space and took the opportunity to find the bottomleft corner of Northern’s goal from 20m.

Wanaka hit the woodwork twice in the second half, but could not add to its score as it came away with the win.

In Invercargill, Southland started strongly and went ahead when David Schipper scored with a header.

Southland continued to press high and looked to turn over the ball in the Queenstown half, reaping rewards when Jack Boland and Davi Stemler scored late in the half.

Southland absorbed Queenstown’s secondhalf assault, and Boland broke away for his second and Southland’s fourth goal.

Queenstown hit back when Carlos Hermann scored a trademark free kick from the edge of the box. Stemler rounded out the win with his second goal late in the game.

At Sunnyvale, Technical picked up its first win, but it came late. The home team started brightly, and went 20 up. Firsttime starter Max Johnston scored off a welldelivered free kick cross into the penalty box. Matt Brazier also added another. Technical scored through Rhys Quarrell to get on the scoresheet, but it looked as if the home side would triumph.

But Technical dug in and came up with two goals in the final 10 minutes courtesy of Oliver Sutcliffe and substitute Robert Chima to emerge the winner.