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

The club has retained a number of its proven National League players from last season, including the 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. 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”, said Little.

Liam’s understudy in goal last season Tom Stephens 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 top strikers finishing the season as our top scorer, with 8 goals in only 13 games.

The club is 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 11.  The 18 year old attacking midfielder, well known in the Southern Region, represented New Zealand at the FIFA U17 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 (U23s) Central Defender Markus Fjørtoft joins Southern United FC following being drafted to the Seattle Sounders in the 2018 MLS draft.  The 24 year old, 6’5” Fjørtoft earned Defensive MVP in 2015 and 2016 for Duke, voted player of the season in 2017, and captained both Duke and NYRB U23s.

Experienced defensive midfield player Tony Whitehead joins Southern United FC from Limerick FC in the League of Ireland. The powerful 22 year old has already managed to play 125 national league games for Limerick FC 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.  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!”, said Whitehead.

Energetic attacking player Liam MacDevitt joins Southern United FC from Lewes FC 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 U23, Swindon Town U23 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. Throughout the pre-season it’s a full on schedule, we have 8 sessions per week, 3 early morning sessions, 3 evenings, and 2 weekend sessions. I’m really looking forward to making a positive contribution”, said MacDevitt.

The 24 year old defender/central midfielder Erik Panzer joins from Team Wellington. After finishing a university scholarship in the U.S, he had spells in England playing for non-league side Truro City FC before joining Bridges FC in Chicago, USA. Prior to his return to New Zealand, he also spent a short time playing in the Swedish Division 2 for Nordvarmlands FF.

Former Southern United Youth Team midfielder Matt Brazier joins Southern United FC from Green Island FC.  The 20-year-old Lake Taupo native is remaining in Dunedin studying in 2019, the powerful attacker will be looking to bring his goalscoring form from the ODT Football South Premier League into the ISPS season.        

Former Auckland City and Waitakere United midfielder Abdullah Al Kalisy joins Southern United FC from Tasman United. The 22 year old was part of a wider All Whites training squad in 2017, but with dual Iraqi / New Zealand citizenship was then called up to the U23 Iraqi national team for in two friendlies against Oman in Doha, Qatar.

Vanuatu senior international Azariah Soromon joins Southern United from Wairarapa United.  The 19 year old is an attacking player who also represented Vanuatu at the FIFA U20s World Cup in South Korea in 2017.

Head Coach Paul O’Reilly is excited to announce this initial roster of 18 players, and he spoke enthusiastically about the upcoming season “We welcome back a large cohort of players who made a massive contribution to the progress we had last season. 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 matchday squad and starting 11 will be intense. We’ll look to add an additional 3-4 players over the next 3 weeks, while also keeping tabs on the Youth squad to assess who is ready to step up”.

O’Reilly added “It’s been a great first week of pre-season, the players are working incredibly hard so far, we’ve scheduled 8 sessions per week into the plans for the first 3 weeks, it’s a huge commitment for the players but the buy-in and approach has been first class”.

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Southern United FC Squad – ISPS Handa Premiership 2018/19

Tom Stevens Goalkeeper

Liam Little Goalkeeper

Stephen Last Defender

Conor O’Keeffe Defender

Jared Grove Defender

Markus Fjortoft Defender

Danny Ledwith Midfield

Nic Threadwell Midfield

Tony Whitehead Midfield

Abdullah Al-Khalisy Midfield

Matt Brazier Midfield

Ben Wade Attacker

Liam MacDevitt Attacker

Azariah Soromon Attacker

Ben Deeley Attacker

Omar Guardiola Attacker

Garbhan Coughlan Attacker

Staff

Head coach: Paul O’Reilly

Assistant coach: Terry Boylan

Goalkeeper coach: Zane Green

Fitness coach: Megan Gibb (HPSNZ)

Performance Analyst: Stuart Moffatt

Head Physio: Jim Webb

Team Manager: Sean Hamill

ISPS Handa Premiership 2018/19

Round 1

Sunday 21 October 2018 

Canterbury United FC v Southern United FC

English Park, Christchurch

Kick-off: 1pm.