The visitors led twice in the first half, forcing the homeside to play catch-up both times. However, Kaitaia began to hit their straps after the break, noted player captain Andrew Booth.
"We made a few mistakes [but] in the second half, our play was exemplary." Kaitaia goals by Bayley Milne, James Dale, Shane McDonald and Booth, while overall standout was centre-mid Brad Mannell.
Kerikeri Reserves 9 Onerahi Reserves 1 (ht 4-0): Onerahi are probably still wondering what hit them after coming up against a slick, fast Kerikeri unit playing with flair on home turf, although Onerahi scored the only goal of the three visiting teams at Waipapa on Saturday.
Goals from Jake McGowan 2, Liam Nash 2, Ben Claire 2, Drew Young, Sean Duke-MacDonald and Graham Sharp, and Ringa Dalton named POTD.
Bay Cosmos Mixed 1 Kaitaia Reserves 7 (ht 0-2): Kaitaia B taking the spoils in the Far North derby of round 2 of the Northland Men's 2nd/3rd Division Grading clash at Kawakawa. The visitors' young strikeforce was in fine form in front of goal, while the more experienced players in defence generally contained the homeside attack.
Having merged the NM3 and NWP sides from last year (with not enough numbers to continue in either competition), Cosmos Mixed proved far more dangerous in the second spell and hit the ironwork at least three times including when - a moment which perhaps summed up the homeside's performance) - keeper Owen Cookson's penalty crashed off the crossbar before falling safely, eventually, into the hands of his opposite Francis Malley.
Kaitaia goals by Caleb Cross 3, Luke Wilson and Rob Covich, while standout was Howard Cross with a near flawless display as sweeper. The Cosmos goal was a scorcher from Jeff May, while standout was new midfielder Jahdon Davis. Ref Dene Harrison let the game flow which made for a relatively entertaining spectacle for the handful of spectators present in Saturday's mild mid-autumn conditions.
Kerikeri Masters 3 FC Whangarei 0: The 2014 NM2 champions keeping a clean sheet Waipapa in this NM2/3 grading affair, the middle game of Saturday's triple bill at Harmony Lane.
Sunday womenKamo 2 Kerikeri Siteworx 1 (ht 1-1): Kerikeri may have returned home empty-handed from this Northland Women's Prem Div clash at Kamo but Kate Liddington described this as a vastly improved performance against the defending champions compared with the season opener (a 5-0 defeat) for the Community Bowl. She noted Kamo took advantage of some limp defence to score within two minutes before the visitors began to wake up, eventually replying with a goal by Aimee Walden (also celebrating her 15th birthday).
"It was an exciting game, hard fought," said Liddington noting it became the type of match where whoever broke the deadlock would win; which was Kamo with a "great goal" in the last 15 minutes.
The visitors' standout was goalie Ellie Liddington, while the side also bade an affectionate farewell to transient player Iris Kaisier, who has returned home to the Emerald Isle. Siteworx have a bye this week following the withdrawal of Tikipunga from the NWP.
Kerikeri High School 9 Onerahi 0: Coach Russell McCabe singled Onerahi out for high praise despite the scoreline, for playing with a great spirit for a brand new team in the competition.
"They tried hard for the whole game," he said. Of the homeside effort, he said it was a better one as players found their touch in front of goal, at least compared with the previous week's derby with Siteworx where they "couldn't score to save ourselves."
Mikayla Misskelly at right mid was the homeside standout.
Looking ahead to next week's away trip to face the formidable Kamo, McCabe reminded readers this Kerikeri side was again, a relatively "young one".
