Northland men's premier football: Madhatters continue top spot pursuit

Two goals from Madhatters striker Greg Tetlaw (right) gave his team their third consecutive win in Northland's premier men's competition. Photo / File

Madhatters' premier men's football team are making themselves at home in Northland's premier competition with their latest 3-0 win over Kerikeri on Saturday.

Playing in their first year back in the top local division, Madhatters are on a three-game winning streak after two 5-1 wins over FC Whangārei and Tikipunga. The team's last loss came in a tight 2-1 result against Kaeo-Inter on May 4.

Madhatters striker Greg Tetlaw opened his side's scoring account at the Otaika Domain this weekend after just 10 minutes before catching the Kerikeri goalkeeper off his line 20 minutes later with a superb shot from 30 metres out to make the score 2-0 in their favour.

Thankfully for Madhatters, the wind which they had been playing with in the first half died down in the second half, giving the visitors less of an advantage.

Despite a strong fightback from Kerikeri early in the second half, the home side regained control through another goal from star winger Reuben Nicholl and closed out the game with a comfortable three-goal buffer.

"We were pumped after the first half but we had a lot of missed opportunities, which is something we need to work on," Madhatters coach Troy Langley said.

"If we capitalised on those easy finishes, we would have been up five or six goals in the first half easily."

Langley said the team had crafted a high-quality style of play through their passing which was being shown by the entire team.

"We've got a very strong backline which seems to be clicking, [Tetlaw] is a very good striker and young [Nicholl] on the wing, he just goes all day, but it has been an all-round effort and everyone is playing their part."

With league-leaders Kaeo-Inter and second-placed Onerahi as their next two fixtures, Langley will need to inspire his side once again if they want to stay in top spot contention.

In the round's other games, Kaeo-Inter confirmed their place at the top of the table for another week with an emphatic 11-2 win over Tikipunga. Onerahi also won with a 3-0 victory over FC Whangārei.

Northland FC's men's first team will be thanking their lucky stars after finally winning a close game against Franklin United, 3-2 at Tikipunga Sports Park on Sunday.

After the reserves thumped Franklin United's equivalent team 8-2 in the earlier game, Northland still needed an 95th-minute winner to get their first win since the second week of the competition.

The home side went up through Jai Campbell reacting first to a partially cleared corner for his first goal of the season. The scoreline stayed at 1-0 through into the second half until a great cross from Northland's Max Thomas found Mark Prowse to double their advantage.

The visitors responded with about 30 minutes to go and looked to have stolen a draw when Franklin United's Jake McCoy scored the equaliser in the 88th minute.

A late goal in a drawn or losing effort has been the trademark of Northland FC's men this season but latching onto another cross from Thomas as the final seconds ticked by, Jeremy Rintoul tapped home the winner.

Northland FC men's coach Owen Liiv said his side needed to show the same desire to work hard all the way until the final whistle of the final game in August.

"The squad has depth, the excellent results of our reserve team demonstrate this and competition for places in the first XI means the players know they cannot afford to rest on their laurels," he said.

Northland FC next play Greenhithe Catimba at Tikipunga Sports Park on June 15 at 3pm.