We spoke to Manurewa AFC coach Paul Marshall about the challenges he and his team have faced and how they have come together to deal with those challenges. 

1st season in the National League Championship, how stoked have you been with the performances this year from the lads?

It's been a challenging year in many respects that's for sure, the squad we've got now is completely different to the squad that started the season, the season started off fairly shaky, I was brought and obviously when Rhys left things changed a bit and we did lose a lot of players and we had to replace them carefully and considerately to give us the balance and quality that we did have and still have at the club now. Given everything that's gone on it’s been hugely successful. We had a couple suspensions from our better players and injuries too. So it has been tricky to navigate to where we are now, but I have to take my hat off to the whole squad. They've been wonderful. 

It has been fantastic being involved in the National League, a lot of the Manurewa players have never played at this level, so for them it's been fantastic, the highest achievement that a lot of these players have made, but it’s also fantastic to see a club like Manurewa that has a National League history, back in the National League after 35 years and more importantly scoring goals and winning games after 35 years. It's awesome for the club and for the South Auckland region. 

How impressed have you been with the team so far this season? 

Overall we’ve done well, but we’ve also  had two poor half performances, a bad second half against olympic in game one and a bad first half with the Phoenix at home, and those two bad half performances have cost us dearly in the National League at this point but as you say we’ve had a couple of good away wins so I’ll say again, I really just want to congratulate the squad, a tenacious group of players that as a group, they have done so well with a roller coaster ride that's been this year. 

Its a quality group of players, We go into each game with optimism, I love going into games with this group because I’m confident about how they are going to go about their business, we generally score goals, for us it's about not conceding and we did that for the first time in a long while against Napier and that was fantastic. 
 

Credit: Photosport

How do you set the tone and keep things in perspective behind the scenes?

I haven't had an assistant coach all year, it's been a challenging year for me, but we’ve gotten through it, and now we’ve only got a few weeks to go, it's very near the end. The team and the group of people that we do have supporting the team are amazing, it’s a small group but it’s a group that has stuck together and the players have worked extremely hard. 

Our captain, vice captain and Dylan, they've all helped me set the tone, manage things at trainings etc and it shouldn't be like that but they have been fantastic, and the same with our club staff and our physio Jazz has done so much for us going above and beyond his job description to help out at games, trainings and practices. It’s been a very supportive group of people around to help make everything happen and they’ve all been fantastic. 

With Auckland United coming up this weekend, how do you feel about them as a team and what do you think your team will bring to that fixture that will hopefully help you a positive result?

If we’re going in full strength and they’re going in full strength I’d fancy our chances, but they are a good side, I know Jose very well and I’ve worked with him in the past. We used to run a little football company together many moons ago, which was a lot of fun.So I know Jose very well and I'm looking forward to the match. We look forward to those big games, but every single game in this National League has been competitive. I think we’ll do well and especially if we’re at full strength but they are playing well too, but yes we are looking forward to it.

Article added: Friday 10 November 2023