Soccer: Youth and heart bring Central win

Someone forgot to tell Central Brown that the men's premier football title had already been secured by Kerikeri, as they showed plenty of heart in their 3-1 win over Kamo.

Central Brown's captain Jake Mabbett applauded his side's ticker as they dug deep as a handful of young players made the step-up to premier grade.

"What we've lacked at home lately is a lot of heart," Mabbett said after Saturday's match in Otaika. "The guys try really hard and we had five or six players out and had a lot of young guys come in.

"[Although], sometimes you can have a lot of experienced players, but sometimes just the energy of youth really helps pick some of the players around them up. [And], I'm one of them."

Mabbett said Saturday's match was not any different for Central Brown, simply just a case of converting the opportunities which came their way.

"The way we took our goals and the way we built up is how we've been all year, like we're [a] very on-the-back-foot sort of team. We work on defence first and we know we've got players in our team to score goals.

"Last week [against Tikipunga] ... we just really didn't take our opportunities. But, to be fair, our heart wasn't in it for 90 minutes and it has to be to get the result. Today it was [the heart] for the lads so fair play to them.

"The goals [Central Brown has scored this year] have been spread out throughout the season, so we never rely on one person. We just know that we've got quality players who can score goals at the right time."

Central Brown's win gives them bragging rights over Kamo after the two previous occasions the teams have met this season have ended in draws.

Next up for Central Brown is likely to be a catch-up match against Bream Bay during the week, followed by a match this Saturday against Auckland-based club Air Force in a northern knock-out cup.

"The league has got to a stage where no one can move anymore [on the table] so everyone's sort of playing for a bit of pride and enjoying the end of the season."

In other results, Kerikeri demolished bottom-placed Bream Bay 9-0 at home. Tikipunga easily accounted for Madhatters 5-0.