Two goals in two minutes just after half time proved to be the downfall of North Force as they left Tauranga with a 3-0 defeat.
North Force players will be ruing the missed opportunity of upsetting Tauranga at home yesterday afternoon after going into half time locked at nil-all.
CoachRussell Baddeley was disappointed after the game but also incredibly proud of his young team, fighting right to the end.
"We were tracking well at half time, very much in the game, but we knew they'd hit us hard.
"Two goals in two minutes, which were pretty soft, took the steam out of us really. But, we fought hard and they nicked the third goal home at the end," Baddeley conceded.
"The boys have done really well but just a lack of concentration after half time cost us big time."
Not helping North Force's case was losing experienced campaigners Dom Fromont, Steve Schimmel, and Cody Lacour during the game - adding to the five other experienced players already unavailable.
However, Baddeley wasn't looking for excuses after the game and instead put the loss into perspective.
"It's always going to boil down to these four tough games [in the last month]. Now we are going to have to win our last seven, which we can do, to go up a division.
"We've clearly come a long way but we're sitting here pretty disappointed - but that's another lesson in concentration.
"We'll learn a lot from it the effort was something special but we couldn't manage it all."
Baddeley said his man of the match was Joe Luiten in the midfield who had a blinder, adding that Scott Burgess was another who put in a solid effort.
This weekend sees the Northland team return home to Kamo for the first time in over a month, hosting Forrest Hill Milford at 3pm.
