North Force's second straight win has moved it into fourth place in the Northern division one soccer league.
North Force played some of its best football of the season to date to beat Fencibles United 4-1 at Kamo on Saturday.
It was a day to remember for the Whangarei franchise, with a good all round team performance responsible for the emphatic victory. The team's lesser known players played above themselves and the defensive lapses that has cost it so dearly this season weren't evident.
Coach Paul Cross said the team had been practising trying to split opposition defences and that clearly paid off.
"We were cutting them open like a hot knife through butter, especially in the first half an hour, and it would have been a travesty if we hadn't picked up the three points," he said.
His side dominated in possession and almost had double the amount of strikes on goal that Fencibles could muster.
Cross said the breakthough for him on Saturday was that his team had opened the scoring, rather than allowing the opposition to score first, as they had in the two previous home matches.
Calvin Erick was outstanding in the early stages of the match and had the ball in the net in the first ten minutes only to be denied by the linesman's flag.
The home side continued to create a number of chances but Scott Burgess and Jason Teal squandered a number of half chances.
Erick provided the spark for the first goal in the 18th minute as he was allowed to ghost forward from the centre circle. He then beat two players with some clever footwork to set up a shot inside the penalty area. He never got the chance to make the strike however, earning a penalty after he was taken down from behind. Marcus Mulhearn converted to take the lead.
Moments later Burgess missed another chance to double the lead from in front of goal and then Fencibles eased their way back into the game earning a couple of chances of their own.
The game continued to swing from end to end with the home side enjoying the better chances and Gareth Blithe got the all important second goal just before the break.
Erick did good work to recover an overhit corner and turned the ball inside to Aaron Taylor, whose cross was too long for the two strikers but found Blithe unmarked on the back post to drill the ball home.
Both teams played more tentatively in the second spell but the home side were still clearly the better side. Burgess finally got on the scoresheet 18 minutes into the spell with the simplest of goals after a Fencibles defender had misjudged a back pass.
The visitors then emptied their bench and put together their best period of play during the match, leading to a brilliant goal by the aptly-named midfielder Richard Cannon, who gave Ben Lee no chance with a 30m drive.
Cross looked concerned on the sideline and had further cause for concern minutes later when Fencibles had the ball back in the net after taking a freekick quickly. The goal didn't count however with referee intent on booking Mulhearn, he hadn't restarted play.
Jason Churchill, Dave Milanovic, Clive Adams and especially rookie David Healey were solid in defence all day and tightened things up to head off any possible Fencibles comeback.
The final North Force goal came in the final five minutes of the game with Erick again the provider and Burgess the finisher.
The win pushes North Force up three spots in the league into fourth place. Onehunga remain on top despite losing their first match of the season 1-3 to Albany. Birkenhead retain second place thanks to a 4-1 win over Mt Albert, while Albany are third.
North Force in top form for emphatic win
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.