Football: Solid win keeps City in top place

Daniel Looker was assured at the centre of the Tauranga City defence. Photo/George Novak

Belvedere Group Tauranga City retained their position on top of the Northern League 2nd Division with an emphatic 3-0 win over fifth-placed North Force at Links Ave yesterday.

But the visitors from Whangarei kept a clean sheet in the first half, as Tauranga City managed just one fine save out of goalkeeper Shane Stanners despite dominating possession.

Winger Jerahl Hughes had a roving commission down both flanks and set up plenty of chances, which were not capitalised on by a revamped line-up due to suspension and injuries.

So many chances were wasted it was no surprise to hear "the final ball's got to be better than that" emanating from the Tauranga city dug-out.

With second-placed Forrest Hill-Milford winning 1-0 on Saturday, there was some unease among the home supporters at the halftime break, but within three minutes of the restart Tauranga City were up 2-0.

From the kickoff, Hughes beat the offside trap and calmly beat Stanners for the opening goal that was quickly followed by the second, scored by Connor Taylor, after North Force failed to clear a corner.

Tauranga City never looked like losing the match after that, and the new centre back pairing of captain Sam O'Regan and Daniel Looker easily contended with any stray attacking raids from the Northlanders.

The third goal came late in the half and was a beauty. Hughes made yet another jinking run down the touchline and his square ball was met first time with a quality strike by Andrew Cooper.

Former Tauranga Boys' College, Melville, and Ole Football Academy player Daniel Looker had a fine debut at the back for Tauranga City and will be available for the next few weeks of mostly tough away matches.

The 20-year-old is home from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and says he wants to do his bit to help win promotion for Tauranga City.

"We are really determined to get ourselves out of this league and move on up, and I think we have the squad to do that," he said.

Looker said he did not feel any frustration at halftime, despite his side being unable to score.

Tauranga City 3 (Jerahl Hughes, Connor Taylor, Andrew Cooper), North Force 0.