Villagers lift premiership trophy after home win

Ngongotaha player Josh O'Sullivan holds the trophy. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

Ngongotaha are now officially the top football side in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty and have the silverware to prove it.

The Villagers secured the WaiBop Premiership championship last weekend, but were presented with the trophy after a 3-0 home win over Waikato Unicol at Stembridge Rd yesterday.

With two matches yet to play they sit head and shoulders above second placed Matamata Swifts, a clear 14 points ahead on the table and remain unbeaten this season.

Coach Shane Davis said after "another slight celebration" last night they could not afford to take the foot off the accelerator just yet with two more league matches to play followed by two playoff games where they hope to gain promotion to the Northern League for next season.

"The boys were rapt getting the trophy, it means a lot for the club. We also have the Challenge Shield so it's been a pretty good season so far.

"Hopefully we can keep our unbeaten record, but we need to rest players for the playoffs.

"We're not sure who we are playing in the playoffs because it's pretty close in that division."

Davis said he was confident if they made the step up they would do pretty well in the Northern League.

"We are pretty much untouchable in our league and we compete well against higher ranked teams."

He said it took a while to get into Saturday's game against Waikato Unicol, but the team switched on in the second half with two goals to Josh O'Sullivan and one to Eamon O'Donahue.

"We were much better in the second half where we slowly wore them down and finished our chances."

Elsewhere, Rotorua United's season came to an end after they suffered a home defeat going down 2-1 against Old Blues at Neil Hunt Park.

United are now sixth in the league after 22 matches, but could be overtaken by seventh placed Old Blues who have two games in hand and are just one point behind United.