Saturday men
Kaitaia United Justa Plumber 1 Kerikeri Pioneer Reserves 1 (ht 1-0): Little separating the two sides in the Far North derby of round seven of the Northland men's first division at Taipa on an overcast but mild Saturday afternoon.
Andrew Booth scored first for Kaitaia, a long range screamer then, a short while later, teammate View Rungpao unleashed a shot which ricocheted off the crosssbar straight down on to the goalline and into the goalie's hands.
Both strikes gave the homeside some real impetus which was not maintained in the second half where Kerikeri slowly gained the upper hand, the visitors' pressure paying off when roaming midfielder Max Mackrel - given far too much room to run - equalised with a fine individual effort.
Apart from that, the keepers at either end were rarely tested as the standstill was mostly fought out in the midfield. Afterwards, player coach Booth summed up the result by noting this one of those games which "nobody deserved to win, nobody deserved to lose. Second half we made a few changes and didn't have the same intensity, you guys [Keri] came back at us".
In reply, the Kerikeri speaker noted a "bollocking" from coach Mark Roberts at halftime certainly provided the necessary "inspiration" to lift the visitors' game.
Standouts included defenders Joel Cross and Brendon Wynford for Kaitaia; and midfielder Finn Forsner for Kerikeri, while also notable was Kaitaia ex-pat, Grant Morland, who reffed the game.
First division standings: Kerikeri (played 7, goals f/a 36/7) 15 points, FC Whangarei (7, 18/9) 14, Kaitaia (7, 20/9) 13, Madhatters Green (6, 12/12) 12, Central Brown (6, 11/6) 11, Tikipunga Orange (7, 13/16) 6, Madhatters Blue (6, 26) 3, Tikipunga Blue (6, 2/33) 0.
Kaitaia Top Roofer 3 Tikipunga Coastline 0 BY DEFAULT: All 14 home side players left very disappointed by the no-show in round two of the Northland men's third division - with this match set to be the curtain-raiser of a double-header at Taipa on Saturday - although they can now boast two wins from two games to go top of the standings.
Third division standings: Kaitaia (2, 7/2) 6 points, Central (2, 7/4) 4, FC (1, 2/2) 1, Onerahi (1, 2/4) 0, Tikipunga (2, 2/8) 0.
Kerikeri Bay Builders 3 Onerahi 0: Kerikeri retaining their stranglehold on the Northland men's premier division with a comfortable win in round seven at Waipapa to stay top-of-the-table, two points clear, and with two games in hand over their nearest rivals.
Kamo 1 Kerikeri Harcourts Masters 1 (ht 0-1): Kerikeri penalised for not finishing off its dominance and myriad opportunities in round two of the Northland men's second division at Kamo with the equaliser coming through an own goal. A strong showing by the visitors with Ben Moss named man of the match thanks for a brilliantly-struck volley for the first half goal.
Bay Cosmos 3 Madhatters Black 2 (ht 2-0): Cosmos were leading this men's second division clash at Kawakawa 3-1 before the visitors scored a late consolation goal.
A player from each side was sent from the field for trading blows as tempers flared in a feisty match. Goals by Keegan Harrison, Rob Norman and one other.
Sunday women
Tikipunga 0 Kerikeri Siteworx 17: Kerikeri goalie Ellie Liddington admitted she didn't see much action in this round seven match from the Northland women's premier division at Tikipunga on Sunday afternoon. She went on to note the homeside loaded players in the box in an ultimately failed attempt to restrict the scoreline from blowing out while Kerikeri responding by playing "a good passing game" which opened the Tiki girls up.
"It was great to see Tiki play right to the final whistle and seeing them getting a team together again this year and competing at this level. We are looking forward to playing Hora Hora next week at the start of the next round!"
Keri goals by Sarah Carlyle 3, Natalie Syddall 3, Nikki Osbourne 2, Natalie Pickery 2, Taylah Jenkinson, Aidan McManus, Makarena Dalton, Anna Liddington, Iris Kaiser; while player of the day was Trudy Derbyshire.
FC Whangarei 2 Bay Cosmos 1 (ht 2-0): The sole Cosmos goal scored by Erin Williams while the visitors standout was Erin William in this women's premier division match at Morningside Park on Sunday. Cosmos coach Jeff May felt the result may have been a tad flattering for the homeside who scored twice from opportunities.
Bye: Kerikeri High School. Results remain incomplete thus standings unavailable.
No prems
In other news, the Kerikeri FC was disappointed with the report in last Tuesday's Age which suggested the club's reserves side had been stacked with premier division players for the 15-1 victory over Tikipunga Blue at Tikipunga in the Northland men's first-division clash on May 17.
A statement issued by the club denied prem players had been involved in the game, noting, "That isn't and never has been the club's philosophy. We had two on the bench, one of whom is 17 years old and who played 15 minutes at the most. The other one played 10 minutes then went in goal so we could allow our goal keeper to play out in the second half." As well, the player of the day for Kaitaia United Justa Plumber in the 4-2 win over Tikipunga Orange in the Northland men's 1st div clash (played on the same day) was Bick Rungpao not younger brother View as noted in the same report.
The items were meant to help raise funds for a Labour Weekend tournament.