Chances go begging

The chances of North Force bringing home a soccer title this season were dealt a severe blow when they were defeated 1-2 by Hamilton Wanderers on Saturday.
The loss sees the Whangarei team move back into the bottom half of the Northern Division One table and the dejection on the faces of the players was visible at the full-time whistle.
The match at the Kamo Sportsground was hardly a spectacle with neither side playing particularly well and a lot of promising possession wasted throughout the game.
The visitors had a dream start to the game however, with striker Darryl Gibbes cleaning up a cross that any number of North Force defenders might have cleared to go a goal ahead six minutes into the game.
North Force were clearly the Hamiton side's equals and enjoyed good possession in the spell but unfortunately surrendered it anywhere near the Hamilton goal.
The second half started on a positive note for the home side with an element of luck to the goal that put them level at 1-1.
The well-oiled Calvin Erick-Sammy Oso combination paid off again in the second minute with Erick's through pass putting Oso on goal.
Oso showed a good first touch to put himself in space but the covering defender and the goalkeeper somehow failed to clear the ball after his second touch was less proficient and the ball rebounded to the North Force striker to calmly beat the stranded keeper.
Five minutes later the visitors regained the lead with another sloppy goal.
Goalkeeper Ben Lee met a Wanderers cross with a punch but instead of clearing the area, the ball went straight to Gibbes who struck a shot through a melee of players to make the score 2-1. Although both teams had a number of chances to score, the goal proved to be the decider.
North Force coach Paul Cross was "gutted" with the result saying his team lost the game rather than the Hamilton team winning - a theory that most of the home supporters at the ground would have agreed with.
"We were better than them, a far better team than them but unfortunately we don't learn from our mistakes ... and defensive errors cost us dearly today," he said.
Cross was equally critical of his attack.
"You can't have seven or eight opportunities and miss them all and expect to win games at this level. The guys have really got to take a long hard look at themselves," he said.
Execution was certainly lacking on Saturday with North Force creating but not finishing - but Hamilton's coach might have said the same thing.
Cross said unless his team could produce what he knew they were capable of, more frequently on a Saturday, they were in for a long, hard season.
"I'm hoping that my guys are going to start learning from their errors or else we'll be heading from the middle of the table to the lower end of the table, and we're a far better side than that," Cross said.
The only real bright spot for the side on Saturday was the introduction of Jonas Scheitza as a substitute in the second spell when Cross cleared the bench in search of inspiration.
Scheitza has been a revelation for the reserve team this season, and on Saturday played with confidence in his first major outing for the senior squad.
Earlier in the day, the German exchange student had scored a tremendous goal to equalise for the reserves as they trailed 2-3 in extra time against Hamilton Reserves.
The opening fixture of the day was a thriller.
The home side led 2-1 at the break but Hamilton came back with two further goals and Scheitza's goal, set up by Liam Sumpter, salvaged a well-earned point for their efforts.