Football: Lapses costly for Northland

FC Northland's Scott Burgess pushes between two Claudelands Rovers players in his side's 4-2 loss. Photo / Tania Whyte

Leaking three goals in the opening 15 minutes cost Northland FC any chance of moving off the bottom of the Northern League second division table on Saturday.

The disastrous start left Northland chasing the game and, although they dominated the second spell of the match against Claudelands Rovers at Tikipunga, they were unable to mount much of a comeback and eventually went down 4-2.

The loss leaves them four points behind Claudelands still chasing their first win of the season with just one more match remaining in the first round.

Northland's manager Laurence Berry keenly felt his team's frustration with the result and the poor first half performance but said the visitors had made the most of their chances.

"Claudelands coped with the gale force wind a lot better then we did, they brought it down and played to feet instead of trying to move the ball around too fast like we did," he said.

The home team conceded an early own goal and were 2-0 down with another defensive error in the fifth minute. They struggled to make any headway playing into the teeth of the strong wind and then conceded the third - and unluckiest - goal from a free kick taken from the Claudelands half which was caught by a gust of wind and flew over the keeper's head and into the net.

Northland showed great resolve after that debilitating moment to get back into the goal and Steve Schimmel scored from a penalty to make it 3-1. If they had made it to halftime with just a two goal deficit they may have faired better in the second spell but they conceded again - caught out again defensively and went into the sheds 4-1 down.

"It's a very hard ask to come out and score three or four goals in the second half and it never really looked likely," Berry said.

Steve Schimmel pulled one back, finishing well after a great Andrew Dunn through ball put him on goal.

The reserves beat Claudelands 4-1 to remain second in their competition. Daniel Hanmore scored two and Steve Crowley and Darren Green one each.

The form of the reserves has been the only bright feature of the opening round of the competition.

In Northland Premier Grade matches, Kerikeri continued their march at the top of the table with a 4-0 win over Kaitaia at Taipa. Doubles to Timo Obrez and Jeremy Rintoul secured the points.

A hat-trick by Harley Freeman saw Onerahi take the points in "somewhat blustery" conditions at the airport with a 3-1 win over Central Brown.

Bream Bay scored a comfortable 4-2 win over Tikipunga at Ruakaka. Andy Welsh (2), Kieron Swords and Calum Harnett scored for Bream Bay while Tyron Kitchener and Dan Adams scored for the visitors.

The final match between Kamo and FC Whangarei was not played.

- Division 1 results: Kerikeri Jerkovich v Onerahi postponed, Onerahi Res 5 Bream Bay 1, Central Brown 0 Tikipunga 2, Tikipunga Pet Essentials 4 FC Whangarei 3, Madhatters 2 Kamo 3.