NPL: Valentine bring in second mid-season recruit to bolster squad

Former Central Coast Academy player Nathan Hundley debuted for Phoenix in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw with the Jets Youth. The defensive midfielder, a teammate of Valentine’s Zac Sneddon at Santa Barbara City College, put in a players’ player effort despite not training with the team. He is working in Brisbane and travelling down for games.

On Tuesday, Sills was picking up a second recruit, Mele Temguia, who will be added to his squad in next week’s window for roster changes.

German-born defender from Canada, Temguia, 22, has joined from Victorian NPL club Hume. The centre-back is a Montreal junior who played at Cincinnati.

Phoenix were finals contenders in 2017 with NPL player of the year Jalon Brown, but they sit last this season after 13 rounds without the American. Sills said Valentine missed Brown’s work with and without the ball. He hoped the addition of Hundley and Temguia would shore up their defence and free Matt Paul and Sneddon to get forward.

“We need competition for places as well,” Sills said.

“We’ve not had really good depth. That’s nothing against our 20s, but some of them just need more time. 

“We’ve got nine games left and our aim is to try to take as many points as we can. We want to make CB Complex a fortress. We need to finish as high as we can and help attract players for next year.”

“We’re not far off the money. On the weekend we had three clear-cut chances in the first half we should have taken. We were asleep for their first goal and we didn’t come out of the blocks again. That’s been a problem and something we have to work on.

“We’ve conceded some goals early and we’re always chasing games. On the weekend, for 70 minutes I thought we were well and truly on top, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to put the ball in the net and stop them from doing it.”