Tough schedule for Nelson Suburbs

Rough weather ensured the Nelson Suburbs women’s side was on the back foot before the annual Labour Weekend U19 National Youth Tournament even kicked off in Napier.

So much for flying to the venue as rough weather in Wellington grounded their connecting flight and meant a long mini bus trip to Hawkes Bay.

The side fronted the next morning and promptly beat one of the local teams, Havelock North, 1-0, with Isobel Roache scoring the lone goal.

“It gave us a huge lift as we had a very young team, with more girls than women,” says Nelson Suburbs head coach Neil “Geeza” Harding.

They then backed that up with a 0-0 draw with Petone before losing to the defending champions Hibiscus Coast 2-0.

On the second day, they needed at least a win and a draw to advance to the play-offs but they went down 3-0 to a strong Hamilton Wanderers side and then 1-0 to the West Coast Rangers.

But “Geeza” wasn’t disappointed and he expects a lot of the youngsters to return next year with that valuable experience behind them.

It was a similar result for Nelson Suburbs U19 men who also had one win, 3-2 against Manurewa, and a 0-0 draw with Northern United in their five matches.
FC Nelson also sent an U19 men’s team and recorded two wins. 4-0 over Claudelands and 1-0 against Wainuiomata.

There’s little rest for “Geeza” who was back at training this week with the U17 Nelson-Marlborough Boys team which is off to Wellington this weekend.

The 20-strong squad brings together players from Nelson Suburbs, FC Nelson, Māpua and Blenheim.

The composite side qualified second behind Christchurch United to represent the South Island against the top six teams in the North Island.

“It is going to be tough as obviously we haven’t got the established combinations of those club sides,” confirms “Geeza”.

The professional coach hopes the schedule will enable him to fit in the Wellington Phoenix-Auckland FC match in the capital along with several other football-loving Nelsonians.

And as the nickname suggests, “Geeza” is originally from England. Essex to be precise, and is loving his full-on football life in Nelson where he has been for the past 10 years.