Old Blues' Federation One and Two teams thumped Matamata in a double header at Wharepei Domain on Saturday, leaving both sides sitting pretty in their divisions.
Scores of 4-0 and 5-2 respectively illustrated the gulf in class between the sides, with both encounters essentially sewn up by half time.
The Federation One side hit the front in the third minute following an utterly bizarre piece of play from the Matamata goalkeeper.
Inexplicably, he handled the ball five yards outside his box without an attacker near him to hand Old Blues a golden opportunity on the edge of the box, which Andrew Cooper calmly tucked over and around the wall and into the top right-hand corner of the net.
The lead doubled after 20 minutes when the pacey Reuben Wood was brought down in the box after typically beating his man on the outside. He calmly slotted the resulting penalty past the despairing keeper to give his side a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
The unbeaten leaders came out a touch flat in the second half and let Matamata back into the contest for a time, before Dion Bartosh scored a double inside four minutes to kill off any chance of a fight-back.
Bartosh proved an ideal target up front all day when allied to the speed of the wingers - especially late in the second half when substitute Luke Barlow showed off his tricky feet to skin his opposite down the left a number of times.
Matamata barely threatened apart from a brace of late shots that sailed over the Old Blues' bar, with the back division showing a promising combination of size, speed and experience.
Old Blues co-coach John Whitley was happy but not satisfied with his side's win.
"It was scrappy, but we keep winning and people on the sideline tell us that we are playing well so we'll take it."
The Tauranga City life member would love a crack at the club's cross town rival but was not sure if that is a realistic proposition.
"We are only one step away from playing where Tauranga City play and at this point I think we are good enough to go out and give them a decent game," said Whitley.
"I'm not sure if the club is ready to go up just yet though, because the next step is Auckland every second week travel-wise and I'm not sure the club is funded well enough for that. If we win we will have a look at it."
The second string Old Blues outfit was equally impressive in the curtain raiser, seeing off their Matamata equivalents with a clinical opening half that produced four goals.
Ian Trotter had a double by the 22nd minute before Matt Lavis and Stephen Flude got themselves on the score sheet, and when the impressive Franz Marko netted in the second minute of the second half to make it 5-0, it seemed as though a rout was on the cards.
The home side dominated territory and possession, but failed to put in a full shift in a second stanza won 2-1 by the away team that hit the woodwork twice and spurned a number of other opportunities.
Federation One:
Old Blues 4(Dion Bartosh 2, Reuben Wood, Andrew Cooper) bt Matamata 0.
Federation Two:
Old Blues 5 (Ian Trotter 2, Matt Lavis, Steven Flude, Franz Marko) bt Matamata 2 (L Clothier, Tosh Ode)