Soccer: Tikipunga in line for repeat win

Tikipunga's Aaron Taylor will be hoping to control Kamo in tomorrow's Stafford Choat final at Toll Stadium. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The nerves have started for Tikipunga as they look to claim back-to-back titles against Kamo in football's Stafford Choat final at Toll Stadium.

Tikipunga coach Dan Dunbar said his side was well-prepared for tomorrow's encounter after having a relaxed week in training, although he has started to feel the nerves.

"For normal [weekly club] games you get nerves, but for finals they start kicking in a bit earlier," Dunbar explained.

"I think it'll be a cracker [of a final], to be fair. We've had a week off, and after the 120 minutes with Kerikeri two weeks ago it was good to have them rested."

Of high motivation for Tikipunga is defending their title after winning it for the first time in 20-odd years by defeating Central Brown 6-0 in the final at Toll Stadium last year.

Dunbar said the occasion of playing at Toll Stadium was also going to be a motivating factor.

"The surface is fantastic and the quality of the football played once you're on Toll Stadium is so much better than on your club fields."

Dunbar added that preparing for a final was a case of working on little aspects of their game because if something was majorly wrong it would probably be too late to fix it completely.

"You can have something like nearly a couple of hundred trainings in a season and if you haven't got it right by now it ain't going to happen."

For Kamo, the final caps off a massive week after the side won the Federation One Plate final on penalties last Saturday before playing their Stafford Choat semifinal on Tuesday night.

However, Kamo coach Nick Smith believes it has had a positive effect as they hit the final with momentum.

"Obviously in some ways you can view that playing [three games in a week] is a difficult thing, but for us it has been a positive as it has given us a buildup of momentum," Smith said. "[For example], in last year's final Central Brown had been a pretty strong team throughout season and lost momentum in the lead up to the final whereas Tikipunga were playing in the Federation One competition like us. The big thing is not picking up any injuries."

The day's play on Saturday will kick off with the Stafford Choat Plate final between Central Brown (second division) and Madhatters Green at 11am.

Next up sees the Central Brown premier team take on Bream Bay in the Stafford Choat Bowl final at 1pm.

Capping off the day's play is the Tikipunga and Kamo Cup final at 3pm.

Continuing the football finals fever at Toll on Sunday is the women's knockout finals which will be kicked off by a girls only football festival for 7- to 11-year-olds from 9-10.30am.

Following the kids' festival, the knockout Plate final between Bay Cosmos and FC Whangarei is at 11am which will be followed by Kamo and Kerikeri in the Cup final at 1pm.

Capping off Sunday's football action is the Dave Trinder Memorial Game at 3pm which is between Northland United Old Boys [over-35s] and the Whangarei Aged Soccer Players at 3pm.