Football: Cambridge one win from first title

Rotorua United snapped a run of poor results by beating Tauranga City 3-2 on Saturday afternoon. Pictured, United's Edouard Komon (centre) celebrates a goal with teammates Ash Gower-Rudman (left) and Dennis Esendam. Photo / Stephen Parker

Cambridge FC are one win away from sealing a maiden WaiBOP Premiership title after a 3-2 victory over Otumoetai at John Kerkhof Park.

If Cambridge beat Unicol on Saturday in their last match of the season they will win the premiership and kill off any hopes Ngongotaha have of stealing the title.

Second-placed Ngongotaha did their job at the weekend, pushing the title race on for one more week with a 3-1 victory at third-placed Melville.

Luke Barker, Mitch Miller and Josh O'Sullivan scored for the Villagers to help their side remain seven points behind Cambridge with two games in hand.

Melville player Szymon Poborowski got his side's consolation goal at the weekend.

Meanwhile, Cambridge knew Otumoetai, one of the form teams in the second half of the season, would provide a stiff test and it took until three minutes before halftime to break them down.

Player-coach Robbie Greenhalgh fired home the opener after a scramble in the box, before Cambridge doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half courtesy of a Jason Szabo header.

Daniel Miller struck back for Otumoetai but Tom Woutersen put the result beyond doubt with five minutes left. Miller grabbed his second with only a few seconds left, but by then the result and three priceless points were in the Cambridge bank.

Cambridge have set the pace all season and know a win in their final match, at home to Waikato Unicol, will guarantee them the WaiBOP Premiership title.

Further down the table, Rotorua United put an end to a recent form slump by beating lowly Tauranga City 3-2 at Neil Hunt Park.

Goals from Edouard Komon, Brad Hill and the winner from Shadley Petersen ensured Rotorua's seventh win in their first season back in the premiership.

Tauranga City, with one game left this season, must beat Ngongotaha by four clear goals to avoid the wooden spoon. Tauranga City and Tauranga Boys' College face the drop after filling the bottom two spots.

In other games, Tauranga Old Blues won 1-0 at Tauranga Boys' College to send the students down, Papamoa drew their final match of the season 1-1 at Waikato Unicol, and Matamata Swifts condemned Katikati to their ninth loss in a row with a 1-0 win at Moore Park.

The two sides who will replace Tauranga Boys' College and Tauranga City United in next season's premiership are still to be decided, but you would get long odds now on Kawerau Sports not being one of them.

Claudelands and West Hamilton are the other two sides in the running.

Premiership table: Cambridge 55, Ngongotaha 48, Melville 36, Tauranga Old Blues 34, Papamoa 29, Otumoetai 25, Matamata 23, Waikato Unicol 22, Rotorua United 22, Katikati 16, Tauranga Boys' College 14, Tauranga City 11.

WaiBOP Football results on Saturday:

Premiership: Melville 1 Ngongotaha 3, Rotorua United 3 Tauranga City 2, Cambridge 3 Otumoetai 2, Katikati 0 Matamata 1, Tauranga Boys' College 0 Tauranga Old Blues 1, Waikato Unicol 1 Papamoa 1.

Championship: Cambridge 1 Te Puke 2, Claudelands 6 Tauranga Old Blues 1, Whakatane Town 3 Ngongotaha 0, Tokoroa 0 Matamata 1, Kawerau 2 Te Awamutu 0, West Hamilton bye.