August
12th
Northern 5, v ILT Spirit FC 3;
Spirit
FC managed to get back into scoring mode on Saturday with three goals against
Northern in Dunedin but it was to no avail as its Soccersouth premier league
opponent outscored it by 5 goals to 3.
A lapse in concentration mid-way through the second half proved to be Spirit’s downfall in a game described by coach Ken Cresswell as “ being ours for the taking but for allowing two soft goals at a crucial stage in the second half”.
Five minutes from half time Spirit’s Tobi Reid equalised an early Northern goal by Jason Burgess to give his team some promise for a more prosperous second spell.
However, 15 minutes in Northern grabbed the initiative with two quick goals, one from Kevin Mills and another to Burgess for a 3-1 lead.
Karl
Hawkes pulled one back for Spirit only for Northern to reply through Ali John
and stretch its lead to 4-2.
A minute later it was 4-3 courtesy of Hamish Low and Spirit was back in the
hunt.
Cresswell who started the game in attack because of the withdrawal of John Schol subbed himself and the unwell Tom Kent from the game at that stage and in an effort to get a result, from a game with nothing at stake, Cresswell’s instruction to the Spirit players was to attack at will.
The
plan almost worked but then as so often happens Spirit was caught out in
attacking mode and Kevin Mills gratefully slotted his second and Northern’s
fifth and final goal.
The last word was left to Northern coach Norm Vare. “It was a great game and my word Kenny Cresswell played well and showed us a thing or two.
The lads were never confident of a win while he was in the game.” Vare said.
Old Boy’s Masters stayed competitive with its first X1 until the half time break with only a goal separating the teams at 2-1.
However the second half told a different story with the firsts eventually winning 7-1.
The
three win points moved Old Boys to the top of the top-5 competition.
Ascot Tavern Queens Park opened its campaign in the end-of-season competition with a hard fought 6-2 win against a plucky SBS Gore Wanderers team at O’Rorke Park.
Queens
Park dominated the predominantly younger Gore unit with Domnik Katvik and Danny
Rosel scoring two each for the winner while Mark Pearson and Ryan O’Connor
grabbed one apiece.
Michael
Hall scored Gore’s two goals.