Southern United Head Coach Paul O’Reilly has announced the first 18 players of a possible 23-player roster for the upcoming 2018/19 ISPS Handa Premiership season.

The club has retained a number of its proven national league players from last season, including experienced goalkeeper Liam Little who returns to Dunedin following playing his winter football in Melbourne.

“It’s been great to travel away and experience a new environment in Melbourne but as soon as the Southern United coaching staff and a large core of the players confirmed they’d be re-signing I’ve been excited about getting back to Dunedin,” he says.

“Last season was the strongest Southern United team I’ve played in, the dressing room and atmosphere in the group was the best I’ve experienced as a player, there were no egos or big timers. Last season’s success was based on a great bond amongst the group, huge work rate and desire and great banter. I’m looking forward to getting back into it.”

Little’s understudy in goal last season, Tom Stevens, returns to the squad, alongside the young and versatile Jared Grove and the experienced defensive duo of Conor O’Keeffe and Stephen Last, both now playing their third season for Southern United.

Midfield playmaker Danny Ledwith, dynamic attacking player Omar Guardiola and the lighting quick Ben Wade also return, alongside the destructive Nic Threadwell.

Garbhan Coughlan is the last of the returning players from last season. Despite missing a number of games through two serious injuries, Garbhan was one of the league’s best strikers, finishing the season as Southern’s top scorer with eight goals in only 13 games.

The club is meanwhile very excited to welcome a number of new additions to the 2018/19 ISPS Handa Premiership squad.

Former Timaru Boys High School player Ben Deeley joins Southern United from Auckland Grammar where he captained the first XI.  The 18-year-old attacking midfielder, well known in the Southern region, represented New Zealand at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India in 2017. While attending Auckland Grammar, Ben has spent time playing at Eastern Suburbs.

Former Duke University and New York Red Bulls (U-23s) central defender Markus Fjortoft joins Southern after being drafted to the Seattle Sounders in the 2018 Major League Soccer (MLS) draft.  The 24-year-old, 6’5” Fjortoft earned Defensive MVP in 2015 and 2016 for Duke, was voted player of the season in 2017, and captained both Duke and the Red Bulls U-23s. He is the son of former English Premier League cult hero Jan Age Fjortoft.

Experienced defensive midfield player Tony Whitehead joins from Limerick in the League of Ireland. The powerful 22-year-old has already managed to play 125 games for Limerick since making his debut at 16 against Manchester City.

“I’m excited to make the move. Paul and the club have a really good structure in place and there’s a really nice family feel to the club, everybody in Dunedin I’ve met has been very welcoming,” he says.

“I’ve been really impressed by the intensity at training, looking at the squad Paul and Terry have put together there’s really stiff competition for places and, straight from the off, the sessions have been really quick and intense. There’s been no bedding in period – there’s been tackles flying in from the get go!”

Energetic attacking player Liam MacDevitt joins from Lewes in the English Isthmian League Premier Division. The 23-year-old is also an accomplished sprinter with a footballing career that has included spells at Yeovil Town when they were promoted to the Championship and loan spells at Stoke City U-23s and Swindon Town U-23s, as well as playing for National League sides Saint Albans City, Farnborough and Gosport Borough.

“I’m delighted to make the move to New Zealand. I’ve only been in Dunedin one week but the set-up around the club has been impressive so far,” he says. “Throughout the pre-season it’s a full on schedule, we have eight sessions per week, three early morning sessions, three evenings, and two weekend sessions. I’m really looking forward to making a positive contribution.”

The 24-year-old defender/central midfielder Erik Panzer joins from Team Wellington. After finishing a university scholarship in the United States, he had a spell in England playing for non-league side Truro City before joining Bridges FC in Chicago. Prior to his return to New Zealand, he also spent a short time playing in the Swedish second division for Nordvarmlands FF.

Former Southern United youth team midfielder Matt Brazier joins from local club Green Island. The 20-year-old Taupo native is remaining in Dunedin to study in 2019 and the powerful attacker will be looking to bring his goal-scoring form from the ODT Football South Premier League into the ISPS Handa Premiership season.        

Former Auckland City and Waitakere United midfielder Abdullah Al-Kalisy joins from Tasman United. The 22-year-old was used as a training player for the All Whites squad in 2017 but with dual Iraqi/New Zealand citizenship was then called up to the U-23 Iraqi national team for two friendlies against Oman in Doha, Qatar.

Vanuatu senior international Azariah Soromon joins from Wairarapa United. The 19-year-old is an attacking player who also represented Vanuatu at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea in 2017.

Head Coach Paul O’Reilly is excited to announce this initial roster of 18 players and is enthusiastic about the upcoming season.

“We welcome back a large cohort of players who made a massive contribution to the progress we had last season,” he says.

“Alongside those returnees, we’re also really happy with the new additions, we’ve added some top-quality players to the group, there’s much needed depth in key positions and the competition for places in the match day squad and starting 11 will be intense. We’ll look to add an additional three to four players over the next three weeks, while also keeping tabs on the youth squad to assess who is ready to step up,” he adds.

“It’s been a great first week of pre-season, the players are working incredibly hard so far, we’ve scheduled eight sessions per week into the plans for the first three weeks, it’s a huge commitment for the players but the buy-in and approach has been first class.”

Southern United squad for ISPS Handa Premiership

Goalkeepers
Tom Stevens
Liam Little

Defenders
Stephen Last
Conor O’Keeffe
Jared Grove
Markus Fjortoft

Midfielders
Danny Ledwith
Nic Threadwell
Tony Whitehead
Abdullah Al-Khalisy
Matt Brazier

Forwards
Ben Wade
Liam MacDevitt
Azariah Soromon
Ben Deeley
Omar Guardiola
Garbhan Coughlan

Staff
Head coach: Paul O’Reilly
Assistant coach: Terry Boylan
Goalkeeping coach: Zane Green
Fitness coach: Megan Gibb (HPSNZ)
Performance Analyst: Stuart Moffatt
Head Physio: Jim Webb
Team Manager: Sean Hamill

Story courtesy of Southern United

Article added: Monday 17 September 2018