Onerahi's Thom Bradshaw scored a brace to lead his side to a 5-2 win over East Coast Bays. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Onerahi's Thom Bradshaw scored a brace to lead his side to a 5-2 win over East Coast Bays. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Onerahi showed they could thrive in the wet as they eased past East Coast Bays in their Federation Cup tie.
The home side picked up a convincing 5-2 win despite the poor weather.
Visibility was not great as Onerahi looked to continue their unbeaten run through 2018 and a committed supporter base who braved the downpour out at Onerahi Airport.
Thom Bradshaw continued his good form with a brace of goals as Onerahi moved to a 2-1 lead fairly early on.
Onerahi continued to flout conventional wisdom about wet weather play, finding space to roam with relative ease throughout the 90 minutes.
Further goals from Mitchell Hanmore, Mike de Vetter and Jake Boom made an East Coast Bays comeback even more unlikely.
Onerahi's Josh Hacker makes his presence felt against East Coast Boys in their Federation Cup tie. Photo / Michael Cunningham
They managed a late goal to add a little more respectability to the scoreboard but it was Onerahi's day as they moved on to the next stage of the competition.
Teams took a week away from the Northland Premier Division as the pecking order is slowly becoming clearer.
Onerahi sit on top of the ladder with six wins from six outings, however Kerikeri are nipping at their heels on 16 points.
Kamo's inconsistency through the opening stages of the competition has them in third place with four wins and a pair of losses from seven matches.
Tikipunga (7), Bream Bay United (3) and FC Whangarei (1) round out the ladder.
Caleb Reid, right, gets beaten to the punch by his East Coast Bays rival. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Meanwhile Northland FC came back from a two goal deficit to claim a point on the road against Te Atatu AFC in the Lotto NRFL Division Two yesterday.
Northland ended with a 2-all draw to split the points down the middle.
Dan Johnston saw his side get hit on the break when Rhys Caples finished a quick counter with a smart finish from the edge of the box in the 19th minute.
Northland continued to monopolise possession but cold not find a way through a resolute Te Atatu block that sat deep and looked to soak up pressure.
A rare error from Finn Diamond played through Andrew Dalton on 33 minutes to leave the boys in blue with a mountain to climb.
He redeemed himself seven minutes later though, bamboozling the Te Atatu right back with some fancy footwork before finding Caleb Russ at the far post with a pinpoint cross.
The second half saw Northland pressing for an equaliser, and the stage was set for a big finish when Scott Burgess rifled home a volley from the edge of the area.
His shot took a deflection and was officially marked as an own goal, but the ball appeared to be heading in anyway.
The final 12 minutes saw some more goalmouth action and the game became stretched with both teams looking for a winner.
Captain Jonathon Fletcher saw red six minutes from the end following an altercation with his opposite, and Te Atatu goalkeeper Edward Trubshoe pulled off a great save to mark his 100th appearance for the club.
Head coach Dan Johnston was content with Northland's effort.
"We showed great character today to come back and I'm really happy with the performance," he said.
