Football: Northland FC still after inaugural league victory

Northland FC's Steve Schimmel finds himself closely marked against Manukau. Photo / John Stone

A failure to find the net continues to haunt Northland FC as they again missed their chance to get points on the board.

The Northland representative side registered their third consecutive defeat of their Northern League season on Saturday with a 0-1 loss to Manukau, but assistant coach Dan Johnston said the signs are there that their drought will soon be broken.

"There wasn't much between the teams as the score line suggests, I thought we were very unlucky to lose," he said.

"It was typical of our season so far really, we created heaps of chances in the first half, but didn't manage to put any of them away and then we were left to rue those when we were hit with a goal on the counter," he said.

The side has been working on their finishing and attack build-up during training and the inability to convert some solid scoring opportunities into goals was frustrating for the coaching staff and players alike.

"We're pretty happy with the effort everybody's putting in. The boys are playing and training really hard, we're just missing that little bit of polish, that finish that we need."

Johnston said that the team is aware that this is a rebuilding year for the club and they have been told to be patient by coach Dave Alabaster. "It's a process that every club has to go through, it might take six months, it might take the whole season - it might even take two seasons. We'll just have to keep plugging away until we begin to play the brand of football that we're trying to achieve."

One positive for the club was the reserves team second win of the season 4-1 over Manukau Reserves, with goals to Garett Blythe, Steve Crowley, Mitch Hanmore and Langi Elisala.

The result leaves Manakau unbeaten in the competition, one of three teams in second place on seven points behind leaders Takapuna, whose 3-0 win over Albany sees them the only side to win all three matches.

Northland FC are on the road next weekend travelling to Tauranga to take on AFC Fury.