Birkenhead must have felt like they were under siege but they were resilient enough to take the points home beating North Force 2-1 at Tikipunga.
The competition leaders spent the final 15 minutes of Sunday's Northern League First Division encounter defending their goal as North Force peppered it with shotssearching for an equaliser.
In the end it was the visitors' superior finishing that won the game with North Force creating more clear chances throughout the game but hitting the net less.
The visitors led 1-0 at the break and then grabbed another goal against the run of play. Jamie Burgess finally broke the drought for North Force with less than 20 minutes to play but, sadly for the locals, the equaliser failed to materialise.
Elsewhere in the competition it was a good weekend for the lower-placed teams, with bottom-placed Lynn Avon scoring a 2-all draw with Mt Albert-Ponsonby and second-bottom Metro beating one of the top sides Papatoetoe 3-1.
Another top-four side, Takapuna, was pushed by lowly Ngaruawahia and were fortunate to escape with a 2-all draw, while second-placed Ellerslie were beaten 3-2 by Forrest Hill and Albany and Glenfield Rovers played a 1-all draw.
In the Northland Premier Grade, Kamo announced their intentions for the premier grade with a 2-0 away win over Kerikeri at Waipapa. Jeremy Rintoul scored against his old club while Jacob Manaton also netted.
At William Fraser Park, Madhatters Green received a lesson at the hands of FC Whangarei with a 1-7 defeat, with the third match between Central Brown and Tikipunga postponed.
North Force women staged a valiant second half comeback at Kamo but still went down 4-3 to Papakura in the final round of their grading competition.
After a slow start in the combined Northern and Auckland Football competition, North Force has found their feet and after good recent results needed to beat Papakura to make the top flight for the rest of the competition.
Unfortunately injuries meant they had the bare 11 for the game and after equalising after an early set-back, the home side lost their spark conceding a couple of soft goals to turn around at 1-4 down.
After being bolstered by a couple of Kamo players the team dominated scoring two goals and watching a number of close ones slide by.- The result means they have to wait and see if they will make the top grade with a couple of make-up games to be played.
