Wellington Phoenix Reserves were beaten 4-2 by Wellington Olympic in New Zealand National League Action. The Phoenix Reserves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half but ultimately were defeated by the more experienced Olympic side. The Phoenix reserves played a 4-4-2 with the two wingers playing quite narrowly in behind the strikers. They played in a mid-block and recycled possession often.
Joshua Tollervey
- Nationality: New Zealand
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 10/01/2004
- Current Club: Wellington Phoenix Reserves
- Career: Havelock North Wanderers
- Position: Striker
- Preferred foot: Right
Joshua Tollervey played as a centre-forward in this match. He scored a goal and generally looked really good, albeit with a couple of potential drawbacks. Tollervey has really excellent off-the-ball movement. Time and time again he evaded defenders in the box to get on the end of crosses and through balls. He’s also reasonably fast and able to get in behind defences. This combined well with his movement to make him very slippery. Tollervey has quite a bit of technical skill. He’s not going to go on gut-busting runs from one end of the pitch to the other but if he gets isolated against a defender he can do some damage. He demonstrated some decent vision in transition. He’s not super involved in the buildup but he was able to pick out players in space during odd-man rushes. But Tollervey also had some drawbacks. He lacks power in general. He rarely won any headers and there were a couple of moments where an opponent easily bumped him off the ball or was able to shield the ball from him. He also didn’t seem to be able to generate that much power with his shots. This may have just been this game, and it wasn’t that big of a deal because he got so many shots from dangerous positions, but there were a couple of moments where he was in a great position and he produced an absolute muffin. I’d have to see more games from him to be able to say for sure if this is a major problem for him. Defensively he is also a bit limited. He dutifully performed his role in his team’s press but he was a little bit lacking in intensity and if he had been a bit quicker to recognize certain situations he might have caused more problems for Olympic.
Rating: A1
I think Tollervey is good enough to play in the A-League. But that opportunity might not come with the Phoenix as they have Oskar Zawada, one of the A-League’s best strikers, and seem quite committed to Luke Supyk as their striker (and fair enough, he’s pretty good). But Tollervey’s numbers are pretty outstanding and he does have a lot of positive skills. He’s a player that the new Auckland-based A-league franchise should be looking at very closely. Failing that he could play at a similar level in Europe or might even be worth a punt for an MLS Next Pro team.
Alby Kelly-Heald
- Nationality: New Zealand
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 18/03/2005
- Current club: Wellington Phoenix Reserves
- Position: Goalkeeper
- Preferred foot: Right
Alby Kelly-Heald played in goal (naturally) in this match. Although he will probably need at least another year playing for the Phoenix Reserves I think Kelly-Heald demonstrated some strong potential. Kelly-Heald is really tall, which is always a good thing for a goalkeeper, standing 6’4. That gives him a great physical base on which to develop. His most encouraging technical skill, in my opinion, was his positioning. Kelly-Heald made few spectacular saves but that was because he didn’t have to. He got his angles right consistently and as a result, a lot of shots were right down his throat. He was also very good at holding on to the ball, almost never parrying the ball back into danger. But there are also some problems, as is to be expected from an 18-year-old keeper. Kelly Heald was not very good at claiming crosses, despite his height. He rarely left his line and there was one moment where he left his line and totally missed the ball. He did come out of his area to sweep up loose balls effectively, however, so it seems that this is an area of his game that is likely to improve with time. His distribution also left a lot to be desired. The Phoenix Reserves play a style that involves recycling possession quite a lot so the ball was often at Kelly-Heald’s feat. He could play short easy passes just fine but under any pressure he would quickly play the ball long. His long distribution was not particularly accurate and usually resulted in a loss of possession for the Phoenix reserves.
Rating: A2
Kelly-Heald is clearly very raw but he has a lot of positive traits. He saved the most goals above expected by a wide margin in the national league phase. This is a small sample size as the national phase is only 9 games but it’s also not nothing. His ability to control his penalty area will definitely have to improve before he can be ready for the A-League but I think he has what it takes.
Jayden Smith
- Nationality: New Zealand
- Age: 16
- Date of birth: 04/06/2007
- Current club; Wellington Phoenix Reserves
- Position: Centre-back
- Preferred foot: Right
Jayden Smith (no relation) played as a centre-back in this match. Born in 2007 he was the youngest player on the pitch and was playing directly against two of the best strikers in the New Zealand National League in Hamish Watson and Gianni Bouzoukis. He performed adequately. But performing adequately against this level of opposition when you are so young has to be seen as a really positive sign for your long-term potential. Smith is tall, standing 6’2 and although he struggled a bit with the physicality of the game it seems clear he could grow into a very physically strong player. Smith is also pretty quick, able to win footraces and sweep things up in the back. On the ball, he looked really strong. He consistently beat the first line of the Olympic press. I do think he sometimes played dangerous passes into traffic but he was never really punished for this as his passing was very accurate. At a higher level, these decisions might get him in trouble, however. The things he struggled with are the sort of things you would expect a 16-year-old playing against men to struggle with. He got outmuscled a lot, particularly when matched up against Watson. It was also clear that he wanted to defend aggressively and step out of the backline to win the ball back. But he was often just a bit too slow to make these interventions (that is to say, slow in terms of recognizing the opportunity, he is physically pretty fast). Smith also had some trouble when isolated against dribblers. It’s not like he got beaten every single time but he got beat often enough that it’s clear he needs a lot more seasoning at this level.
Rating A2
This is very much a long-term A2. Smith probably needs at least two more years in New Zealand before he’s ready to make the step up to the A-League level. But his technical ability and his physical traits mean that has a really high ceiling. He is also eligible for a UK passport according to Transfermarkt so that could open a lot of doors for him.
Target Scouting 