REPUBLIC CUP, THIRD ROUND
Most of the stragglers have been eliminated; of the sixteen teams to make it through to the second round, only two are from the lower divisions. It's become more of a familiar, well-trodden tale by now. The nebulous concept of the "magic of the cup" has long since lost its allure, and upsets now are much rarer than they used to be, back in the 1970s or 80s. The times of mustachioed footballers with giant hair sauntering around mud-sogged fields are gone, which is a shame. The big blowout wins this round are, once again, reserved for Prem teams; but former Premier Division team Delphi, still recovering after basically having sold off their entire squad after their relegation, put five past third division side Tavistock Park.
The fourth round of the Cup is where things truly get interesting, though by all means it's basically an extra matchday of the Premier Division. Still, though, most will be excited for it when it returns after the winter break.
PREMIER DIVISION
MATCHDAY 16
Clark City 1–1 Hesham
J Turner 29'//G Deighton 81'
Fraser Valley 1–1 Lakewood City
M Coonan 49'//E Appleby 82'
Bencoolen City 2–1 Colbrook City
R McNamara 7', 79'//E Ferguson 23'
Couno Rangers 2–1 Sturrey Athletic
S Fortier 13', T Krzanowski 45'//J Mercer 22'
Macarthur City 1–4 Serrapince
V Anderson 34'//V Sallay 19', C Ritchie 25', 40', M Coulson 82'
West Couno United 3–3 Kingsbury United
V Reisinger 14', C Vette 58', L Vujanovic 80'//J Anderson 23', 68', A Perkkanen 89'
Clyde Park 1–2 Ridgewell Rovers
M Wague 22'//H Canavan 62', M Riester 65'
Newark Argyle 1–2 Columbia City
R Fleetwood 62'//M Budi-Dursun 75', M Winter 82'
Straton 1–0 Lakewood United
H Osbourne 14'
AFC Gillman 1–3 FC Inter Nantwich
W Thomas o.g. 87'//J Santo 24', J Spekman 38', A Fisher 72'
City go behind at Fraser valley — a rarity — and while they eventually come back, the points dropped do feel like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Mike Coonan may have left City a fair while ago, now — first to Columbia before turning up at Fraser Valley — but he still pays tribute to his old club by not celebrating. Elsewhere, United slip up by losing to Straton, while West Couno drop points against Kingsbury in a back-and-forth game in which WCU took the lead thrice but kept getting pegged back; and it seems a crisis point is being hit at Colbrook as the club records their seventh successive loss. Matt Reeves may be a respected figure in Colbrook, but he is by no means invincible there; and with the sack carousel slowly moving towards him, there's a big chance he'll be let go at mid-season if he doesn't get a win soon.
Both Clyde and Columbia have said that they will wait until after the mid-season break to confirm their new managers, with both having reportedly sought foreign options. It's strange to think that the Premier Division has that kind of pull now; that even lower-tier teams are able to pull in foreign managers. Of course, they wouldn't be the first; aficionados of Tumbran footballing history will remember Ensio Kedar's attempts at keeping Clark City in the Prem the last time they were in here. The Premier Division has been a breeding ground for Tumbran managerial talent; but, as the entrances of managers like Marco Giuliani and Danny Haverhead have proven, that can stir up healthy competition in terms of the big brains at the top of the footballing tree.
Over in the southwest, Rachel McNamara is quietly shaping up to be one of the best signings of the season; her performances for Bencoolen so far have justified the large amounts of money spent on her. Her name might have been considered boring back in her home country, but her playstyle has been anything but; and her goals against Colbrook managed to secure a crucial three points for the Merchants, who are trying their best to not fall back into the Second Division at the first time of asking.
MATCHDAY 17
FC Inter Nantwich 2–1 Clark City
B Coxeter 13', A Kolar 90' + 7'//C Nightingale 72'
Lakewood United 4–0 AFC Gillman
A Gillingham 25', 79', J Horvat 29', 62'
Columbia City 1–1 Straton
V Thesselborg 29'//Liang T 32'
Ridgewell Rovers 0–1 Newark Argyle
C Carr 8'
Kingsbury United 2–2 Clyde Park
J Anderson 20', 24'//E Markozy 35', G Escat 82'
Serrapince 1–3 West Couno United
V Cahill 20'//V Reisinger 14', F Evers 37', G Steel 75'
Sturrey Athletic 0–3 Macarthur City
H Shawcross 25', A Morgan 72', D Perkins 81'
Colbrook City 0–2 Couno Rangers
B Nolan 48', 57'
Lakewood City 4–2 Bencoolen City
R Vaughn 22', P Bassett o.g. 36', L McCabe 72', C Henshaw 75'//J McClellan 29', S Matthews 73'
Hesham 2–2 Fraser Valley
L Russell 22', K Rostami 77'//G Cardini 68', 81'
For much of the 1980s, the Finnley Derby used to be the most-anticipated derby in the country. For most of the decade, Nantwich, a side mostly led by legendary head coach Joseph Dreiberg, would face off against an exciting Clark side, who seemed to go through a manager once every half season but which always managed to produce high-octane (for the time, anyway), entertaining football. Dreiberg's greatest nemesis was Paul Nightingale, who led Clark on three separate occasions throughout a storied managerial career that never quite seemed to land at the national team, the job he always wanted but never got. Dreiberg and Nightingale could never stand each other — their pre-match press conferences were more wars of words against each other than actually answering the reporters' questions.
Anyway, fast forward four decades, and the game's lost most of its bite, while Dreiberg and Nightingale have both since passed on; but youngsters during that era (now old people) continue to tune in to that particular match, hoping that despite the massive power imblanace between the two teams, there'll still be a good match out there. Neither Rachael Schroeder nor Robert Brent seem particularly keen on re-kindling that massive rivalry; perhaps they're not too tuned into it. But Cheryl Nightingale's — granddaughter of Paul — goal in the seventy-second minute of that particular match seemed to ignite something. Had it fully crossed the line? Walter Thomas had slid in and knocked it out of the net seconds after Nightingale made her shot, an attempted goal-line clearance. The ref's watch vibrated; the ball had fully crossed the line. But was she offside? That was much more contentious. A three-minute long VAR review ended up ruling the goal as legitimate, meaning Clark would draw level; and almost everything kicked off. Several yellows were handed out for dissent over the next four minutes, but nothing more. Aventurine Kolar, Nantwich captain and carrying on the unspoken legacy of all those who came before her, would secure the three points for Nantwich with a goal in the dying embers of injury time.
A large portion of people will complain that football today is too sanitised; that it's too clean, too corporate, too advertiser-friendly. They'll paint to grainy footage of moustachioed footballers in the 1980s sauntering along the pitch, playing at an almost leisurely pace, and say that's better. That football had character; none of that nonsense about half-spaces and high pressing; it was always about kicking the ball about and trying to bring it home for the wife. Maybe they're right. But that four-minute pause in play which saw seven yellow cards handed out was a reminder that perhaps that bit of football's not dead yet.
MATCHDAY 18
Clark City 1–1 Fraser Valley
M Clark 20'//A Beckett 23'
Bencoolen City 1–1 Hesham
B Dixon 86'//A Thompson 41'
Couno Rangers 1–3 Lakewood City
B Nolan 34'//J Reed 23', R Vaughn 48', V Leighton 60'
Macarthur City 1–0 Colbrook City
J Hunter 62'
West Couno United 2–0 Sturrey Athletic
L Vujanovic 30', S McIntyre 72'
Clyde Park 1–2 Serrapince
K Kearnes 57'//M Barker 29', C McGrath 71'
Newark Argyle 1–0 Kingsbury United
S Oliveira 50'
Straton 4–1 Ridgewell Rovers
Tino 12', 38', 79', Liang T 42'//C Steele 20'
AFC Gillman 0–1 Columbia City
Liang W 72'
FC Inter Nantwich 3–0 Lakewood United
R Russell o.g. 18', A Fisher 35', Luo N 53'
It seems that every week now the term "one of the most important matches is taking place this week" is bandied about describing any clash between any two teams in the Big Six. They're not wrong, of course, but to detractors of the sport, who decry it as "just the same bloody thing going on and on and on," it does all tend to merge into one after it. That being said, not just one, but two of the most important matches of the season took place this week. The writers have to earn their keep by raking in clicks, after all, and massively overstating the importance of some matches does help to drive up engagement.
Couno, at home, are one of the fiercest teams to beat. They've got one of the most passionate support bases in Tumbra (or most annoying, depending on who you ask), and their deafening cheers mean they're typically impossible to play against. A critical, accurate side can tear them apart, though; and that is exactly what Lakewood City did when they turned up for their match. Jack Reed got on the scoresheet first, securing that thing nebulously called "momentum"; and while Bruce Nolan equalised a while later, Robin Vaughn would do his usual thing and score for City, putting Couno behind again; while Victor Leighton scores the third with thirty minutes to go.
United, needing a big win against Nantwich to keep up with their crosstown rivals, flounder; Richard Russell spills a shot from Coxeter into his own net, then Andrew Fisher follows up with an expertly-taken header from a corner and Luo makes it three with a powerful shot from the right flank. The gap is now five points to their neighbours; not ideal, but not the end of the world, either. If anything, there's more concern over losing to Nantwich — a team infamously not having that good a season — than the greater title race.
MATCHDAY 19
Lakewood United 2–2 Clark City
K Considine 8', 13'//C Haywood 54', M Coltrane 70'
Columbia City 3–1 FC Inter Nantwich
V Thesselborg 7', P Hurst 25', L Bello 46'//B Coxeter 72'
Ridgewell Rovers 3–3 AFC Gillman
C Steele 25', A Kristensen 36', D Hall 55'//G Steinback 19', 27', J Fan 90' + 3'
Kingsbury United 3–0 Straton
J Anderson 22', Kim C-Y 35', J Hughes 79'
Serrapince 1–0 Newark Argyle
A Hrvatin 35'
Sturrey Athletic 0–2 Clyde Park
T Marshall 73', L Gomboult 79'
Colbrook City 0–3 West Couno United
R Thomas 26', E Wright 49', C Vette 60'
Lakewood City 1–1 Macarthur City
S McTavish 30'//I McDermott 76'
Hesham 0–0 Couno Rangers
Fraser Valley 2–1 Bencoolen City
T Barker 13', Xilix-Oxolt M 54'//D Yannick 20'
Ten straight losses and the mid-season break approaching means that it's a convenient time for sackings; and Colbrook decide to let Matt Reeves go after a flaccid performance sees the club lose by three to a rampaging West Couno United. This means that three clubs will now be looking for a manager as the league enters the second half of the season. With the league heading into the winter break with a conspicuous lack of a title fight, it means that Reeves waving as he departs Colbrook City's ground for the last time is splashed all over the back pages.
Somehow, Graham Lloyd survives his club touching the bottom of the Prem table; his win last week against Colbrook (their ninth consecutive loss!) lifted them off the bottom of that greasy pole, while drawing (!) against league leaders Lakewood City (!!) being seen as a great result that's somehow bought the inexperienced manager another half a season. Most would say the club would be too harsh on the freshman manager if they released him now; but football is a harsh business. Elsewhere, Couno fail to capitalise on City's slip-up by drawing to Hesham themselves, who have slid but mostly kept themselves up in the top six; while United do the same, despite going up 2-0 ahead against a languid Clark City side early on.
Nantwich suffer another setback to their hopes of recovery by losing to Columbia in brutal fashion. It's two by the end of the first half; and thirty seconds after kickoff it's three. Nick Barker has suffered a torrid season; some are questioning whether he deserves to remain Tumbra's starting goalkeeper. Opinions are mixed. Internationally he's being touted as one of the best in the world, only letting in a few for the entire first half of qualification; but his club form's been suffering dreadfully. Goalkeepers often catch an undue amount of flak for their performances, but Barker, whose responsibility it is to command his defence, just hasn't seemed to be up to it recently.
The league enters its midseason break with almost a whimper. Lakewood City remain undefeated, and hold a six-point gap to Couno and neighbours United. They're the favourites. Can anyone catch up to them? Will West Couno be able to muster up a title challenge, or has that ship long sailed? Will Rachael Schroeder manage to mastermind a more coherent, consistent second half of the season for the Rams? What of the three new managers that will come in over the winter break — how will they fare? Who will they be, even?
All that and more will be answered when the Prem returns in the last week of January.
Premier Division, Season Nine
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Chg Form5
1 Lakewood City 19 13 6 0 44 16 +28 45 -0 DDWWD
2 Couno Rangers 19 12 3 4 40 19 +21 39 ▲1 DWWLD
3 Lakewood United 19 12 3 4 35 21 +14 39 ▼1 WLWLD
4 West Couno United 19 11 5 3 40 25 +15 38 ▲2 DDWWW
5 Serrapince 19 11 4 4 37 24 +13 37 -0 DWLWW
6 Hesham 19 9 6 4 29 21 +8 33 ▼2 DDDDD
7 FC Inter Nantwich 19 10 3 6 32 24 +8 33 -0 LWWWL
8 Straton 19 9 2 8 26 23 +3 29 ▲1 WWDWL
9 Kingsbury United 19 8 4 7 32 26 +6 28 ▼1 DDDLW
10 Fraser Valley 19 6 6 7 22 25 −3 24 ▲1 WDDDW
11 Columbia City 19 6 6 7 26 29 −3 24 ▲4 WWDWW
12 Sturrey Athletic 19 6 3 10 23 29 −6 21 ▼2 DLLLL
13 Ridgewell Rovers 19 4 8 7 21 26 −5 20 ▼1 DWLLD
14 Newark Argyle 19 5 4 10 15 24 −9 19 ▲1 LLWWL
15 Macarthur City 19 5 4 10 18 29 −11 19 ▲5 DLWWD
16 Clyde Park 19 5 3 11 27 30 −3 18 ▲2 LLDLW
17 Bencoolen City 19 4 5 10 19 36 −17 17 -0 DWLDL
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18 Clark City 19 4 4 11 24 40 −16 16 -0 DDLDD
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19 AFC Gillman 19 3 5 11 19 44 −25 14 -0 DLLLD
20 Colbrook City 19 3 4 12 15 33 −18 13 ▼4 LLLLL
