Football: Tables turned in triumph

Andrew Dunn scored North Force's only goal but it was enough to claim victory over Albany. Photo / Josh Berry

To highlight defence as a critical factor to victory may be a tired cliche, but it proved the defining factor in North Force's 1-0 win over Albany United.

Settling the score after losing to Albany 0-1 in round six of the Lotto NRFL Division 2, the tables were turned by North Force.

But not without some hard yakka.

North Force captain Scott Burgess said the win didn't go "according to plan", but his team were "just happy to get the three [competition] points".

"We held strong and came good at the right times, so yeah, pleasing."

With Andrew Dunn scoring the sole goal of the match around the 10-minute mark, Burgess said the remaining minutes were spent trying to shut Albany out.

"It's quite hard. It's a little bit of a blur. I guess just frenetic. They were going a million miles an hour to try get something out of it and we were trying to slow things down.

"I guess [there was] a bit of pressure both ends, but we just tried to hit them on the break and defensively held strong."

A grudge match to the end, opinions were voiced from the Albany coaching box over some of the referee's calls which heightened tension through the closing quarters.

Nevertheless, North Force coach Russell Baddeley said the spirit in the camp was high after notching three wins from their last three matches without conceding a goal. "We were pretty much in control, the first half, and we should've really added to it. We had plenty of opportunities to put it to bed," he said.

"At the end of the day we had to dig in and hang on. [Defenders]Craig and Aaron at the back [were] so solid defensively [and] Leon [goalie] had nothing to do until 10 minutes from the end. Shame we couldn't have got a couple of other goals and put it to bed a bit earlier but if you gotta win 1-nil, you gotta win 1-nil."

Results:

North Force 1 Albany United 0.

Albany Utd Reserves 2 North Force Reserves 1