Football: Kamo cruise to victory over FC Whangarei

FC Whangarei's Johnny Ellis heads one towards the net during their match against Kamo. Photo / Tania Whyte

A hattrick from Jeremy Rintoul signified Kamo's dominance as they eased past FC Whangarei in Northland Premier football action.

Kamo picked up the 6-1 victory as a sublime first half effectively ended the contest.

The home team showed their clinical side once again as they took their goal-scoring tally to 13 from the past two matches.

Joseph Luiten, Darren Green and Liam Barber-Kake also found the back of the net as Kamo move into second on the ladder.

Meanwhile Onerahi kept their spot at the top of the table with a 2-0 victory over Bream Bay United.

Onerahi continue to thrive on the defensive end where they are yet to concede a goal through 270 minutes of action.

Bream Bay toiled away and had their opportunities to break the streak but were unable to hit the telling strike and register their first win of the year.

In the final game of the round Kerikeri Bay Builders and Tikipunga battled to a 2-2 stalemate.

Both sides will be ruing missed opportunities as they shared the points.

Kerikeri and Tikipunga have identical records in 2018 with one win and two draws apiece. They also have an identical goal difference (plus-3).

In representative action, Northland FC's 2018 season woes continued with a 3-0 loss to Bucklands Beach in Lotto NRFL Division Two.

Northland were beset with injuries as six players were unable to make the trip with various ailments and were further depleted with the absences of Scott Burgess, Mark Ruddell and Finn Diamond.

Things got worse as Calvin Erick had to return to Whangarei on the way down to Bucklands Beach.

Both teams cancelled each other out in the opening exchanges but a crafty play from Bucklands Beach's Daniel Culpan broke the deadlock midway through the first half.

Culpan doubled the damage right on halftime after evading three defenders.

Northland changed tack in the second stanza as they ventured forward in the hopes of getting back into the contest.

However this left holes at the back and Joshua Smith made them pay on the hour mark, giving the hosts a 3-0 lead.

Northland were unable to open their side of the ledger, instead resigning to the loss.

Coach Dan Johnston said the side will need to move on from their rough patch as they look to progress up the ladder.

"We weren't good enough. Our confidence has taken a bit of a battering recently and we need to regroup," he said.

"The important thing is that we don't surrender to anyone, and we can't let ourselves dwell on results like this but we know we are going to have to fight for our lives to get things going back in our favour."

Northland FC will have a chance to redeem themselves with an Anzac Day clash with Claudelands Rovers at Onerahi on Wednesday.