Disappointing loss sees North slip down table

North Force slipped down the table with a 1-0 loss to northern division one leaders Onehunga Sports in Auckland on Saturday.
Coach Paul Cross was disappointed but not despondent with the loss, and blamed a poor first half performance for the loss.
"Defensively we were solid but when we had the ball at our feet, we turned it over and let ourselves down," he said.
The only goal of the match was scored after 15 minutes in the first spell when North Force conceded a penalty. "It was an unfortunate penalty, it seemed to be more ball to hand than hand to ball and was a 50-50 call," Cross said.
Nevertheless the goal counted and gave the league leaders three points.
"The second half was a lot better and we were all over them but they were trying to hold out for the win. It was hard to break them down because they were playing so deep," he said.
"It was disappointing to hear the final whistle but the boys will relish the chance of revenge when they come up to Whangarei later in the season," he said, adding that the challenge for the team now is to put the defeat behind them and begin to accumulate some points in their next few games.
In other results, Metro pushed second-placed Birkenhead United but lost 3-2, while third-placed Albany United were beaten away by Hamilton Wanderers 1-3. Fencibles United stumbled to a 0-1 home loss to bottom-placed Mt Albert-Ponsonby, while the Takapuna-Melville United match and the West Auckland-Three Kings match both ended in 1-1 draws.
There was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing day for the North Force players as the reserve team won 5-0.
German exchange student Jonas Scheitza opened the scoring and Sammy Oso added two more before halftime. Oso came off at halftime to start on the bench for the senior team and Willi Tegerobo and Trishn Nand completed the scoring in the second half.
"The majority of the team are promising young players and it's encouraging to see them play well as a unit," Cross said.
He said the aim of the reserve competition is to give the players experience and allow them to push the senior players for their positions.
North Force has another week off this week for the second round of the Chatham Cup.