SOCCER - Shore no match for the Force

The beer tasted sweeter on Saturday night for the North Force men celebrating a 5-0 thrashing of North Shore City at home - and the first goal off the foot for skipper Bruce Plunkett in nine years.
"I was pretty chuffed, and I think I might frame the boot," Plunkett said.
With North Force and North Shore City eighth and ninth respectively on the US1 Premiership table, the match could easily have gone either way, but North Force dominated the home side from the outset, with Mark Ruddle nailing the first goal from a free kick, 10 minutes into the match. But after the goal, North Force "went into their shell a bit", coach Dean Wheatley said.
"In the first 20 minutes we played the best football we have played all season," he said.
But just before halftime, North Force switched on again, creating chances while stopping North Shore from closing in and Scott Burgess kicked a beauty that went in off the top of the bar, Wheatley said.
Plunkett followed suit, finding his long-lost boot, then Steve Schimmel shot his first goal of the match from in front.
At halftime North Force had a handy lead of four goals.
North Shore came out fired up after the interval, but could not score as North Force kept forcing them back.
Finally Schimmel broke through and claimed his second for the day with five minutes left in the match.
A 5-0 victory over North Shore plus their 6-0 win over Oratia last week was a positive way to head into next week's clash with table frontrunners East Coast Bays at home, Wheatley said.
The game will be at Kamo or Tikipunga.
Meanwhile, Plunkett on Sunday enjoyed seeing North Force women's improvements continue. The women went down 2-0 against third-placed Eastern Suburbs at Kohimarama, but Plunkett said the girls were in the game until the final whistle.
"We are getting better every week - to give you an example - Fencibles beat Eastern Suburbs 6-0 before they played us, and then they [Fencibles] only beat us 2-1 last week.
"Come the second round, apart from your Three Kings and Lynn Avon, who have a tonne of internationals, we will start to get good results against your Fencibles and Eastern Suburbs," he said.
Keeper Rai Te Puni stood out for the women this week shielding the goal, while Kelsey Evans at centre-back also had a great game, the coach said.
On Sunday, North Force play Claudelands Rovers from Hamilton, who are fifth in the standings, at Glenfield - the teams will meet in Auckland to even up the travel involved.