Football: Mosgiel, GI to resume battle

Putting in the hard yards ... Mosgiel premier players (from left) Matt Kelly, Isaac Snell, Rahan Ali and Cameron McPhail train at Memorial Park last week. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
Putting in the hard yards ... Mosgiel premier players (from left) Matt Kelly, Isaac Snell, Rahan Ali and Cameron McPhail train at Memorial Park last week. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
There is nothing like a good old fashion derby to start the Football South premiership.

Mosgiel and Green Island will kick off the new season at Sunnyvale at 2.45pm on Friday, the first of two games for each side over the long weekend.

A year after finishing third with 33 competition points, Mosgiel coach Andrew Brooks believed his team was poised to step things up this season after coming off three recent pre-season wins.

Mosgiel beat Roslyn-Wakari 3-2 and 2-1, and also beat Christchurch club Selwyn 4-1 earlier this month.

It did so without key midfielder Eder Franchini Pasten and new signing Harley Rodeka.

Franchini Pasten played for Mosgiel last year but spent summer in the North Island playing for Waitakere United in the ASB Premiership.

Rodeka has moved back to Dunedin from Auckland, where he was playing for Forrest Hill Milford United during winter.

The midfielder was arguably Southern United's best player during its forgettable national league campaign, and is sure to cause plenty of problems for opposing sides alongside Franchini Pasten.

Mosgiel has lost talented midfielder Hamish Cotter, who has moved to Christchurch to start university, but has added former Green Island players Cameron McPhail and Connor Neil to its roster.

Green Island is entering a new era, with former coach Malcolm Fleming moving on after five and-half years in charge.

He has been replaced by Richard Kerr-Bell, assistant coach of Southern United's youth team the past two years.

Green Island has lost 11 players from last year, leaving Kerr-Bell with a stiff challenge in his first season at the helm.

"Challenge is certainly the word," he said. "There are lots of challenges. But to me, coaching is about squeezing everything you can out of what you've got and developing players and the team."

Goalkeeper Josh Dijkstra and forward Ben Kiore are the most notable losses.

Dijkstra has moved to Forrest Hill in Auckland to further his game, while Kiore has left for Roslyn-Wakari, Kerr-Bell said.

Andrew Marshall, who scored two goals in 18 matches last season, has returned. But otherwise the team is vastly different.

The squad includes four players originally from Invercargill, including talented 16-year-old goalkeeper Stewart Catto and central midfielder James Tucker. However, the team has been set back by the loss of left-back Tom Milton, who broke his jaw surfing a fortnight ago.

After their season opener, both teams are again in action on Monday, when Green Island plays Dunedin Technical, at Tahuna Park and Mosgiel plays defending champion Caversham, at Tonga Park.

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