Northland FC striker Jeremy Rintoul (left) eyes up a Claudelands Rovers defender with the ball at his feet at Tikipunga Sports Park on Saturday. Photo / Adam Pearse
Northland FC striker Jeremy Rintoul (left) eyes up a Claudelands Rovers defender with the ball at his feet at Tikipunga Sports Park on Saturday. Photo / Adam Pearse
Northland FC coach Owen Liiv has hit out at thieves who stole money and credit cards from the Tikipunga Sports Park clubrooms on Saturday, calling them "scum".
The break-in occurred during the first half of Northland FC's first men's team fixture against Hamilton's Claudelands Rovers, the visitors winning 1-0. Itwas discovered at halftime that someone had broken into the Claudelands changing room while the teams were playing on a field just metres away.
Money and credit cards were stolen and it seemed the perpetrator had attempted to do the same to the Northland FC changing room but was unable to get through the locked door.
"The people who did this are scum, and it reflects badly on all of us when people visit our region only to have an experience like this," Liiv said.
In a gesture of good-will, a bar tab was put on for Claudelands after the game. Liiv said the incident was a real shame considering neither Claudelands nor the Tikipunga Football Club deserved such a thing to happen.
In May last year, a suspicious fire at the same clubrooms caused up to $60,000 worth of damage in a store room which contained eight bags of uniforms (worth about $2000 each), 20 balls, a barbecue, gas bottles, two TVs, a fridge, a freezer, financial records and more.
2018 Tikipunga AFC board member Kaye Drummond (left) and club manager Don McDonald-Spice survey the damage after a suspicious fire rips through their store room. Photo / File
Regarding Saturday's game, Liiv said a number of missed chances and an untimely injury did not help his side's cause against the Lotto NRFL league-leaders.
"It was a frustrating afternoon because I think we executed our game-plan pretty well and we were unlucky to lose [midfielder] Johnny Fletcher to injury after half an hour," he said.
"It's like a lot of our games this season which have been really close, but I don't think we necessarily made the most of what we had in the final third."
Northland midfielder Ricardo Gomes watches his pass fly towards the left wing. Photo / Adam Pearse
With a game-plan to shut down the visitors' attacks in their own half, Liiv said he couldn't fault the effort or application of his team after Claudelands skipper Bailey Webster gave the visitors the lead in the 11th minute.
"We worked really hard this week and [Claudelands] have got a lot of quality up top so our game-plan was to try to surprise them with a high press and stop the service to their front two.
"[Claudelands'] goal came from a set-piece which we failed to clear so in a lot of ways our tactics worked because we definitely caused them a few problems but we just couldn't apply the finishing touch."
Defender Ben Whatmore urges Northland forward with a throw in. Photo / Adam Pearse
Despite the obvious distress caused by the break-in, Claudelands were able to hold on to their 1-0 lead at halftime to close out the game. Coach Mark Cossey said some of his team were a bit upset once they learned of the incident.
"It's not [Tikipunga's] fault but [it was hard] to try to get [the players] refocused.
"I think [the break-in] didn't help some of the boys, but it's no excuse."
In the first round, Claudelands inflicted a heavy defeat on Northland, winning 8-0. Cossey said after a long trip up from Hamilton, he knew the result would not be repeated.
"We knew straight away it wasn't going to be like that, it was going to be a tough game and it was," he said.
"[Northland were] a much better side than the first round and I think they'll take points of people."
Northland 16-year-old Daniel Romer chooses the safe option to send the ball out of the danger area. Photo / Adam Pearse
After an even first half, Cossey said Northland were the better team in the second half with a number of chances, which could have secured a draw or stolen a victory for the home team.
With the loss, Northland fall back to second-to-last on the men's second division table and will play Manurewa AFC on July 27 in Manurewa. The Northland FC men's reserve team continued their stay at the top of their table with a 4-2 win over Claudelands Rovers reserves.
In Northland's premier football competition, Kaeo-Inter ran away with a big win against Tikipunga at Tikipunga on Saturday, scoring seven goals to win 7-1.
Ryan Mugumira from Kaeo-Inter (left) tries to keep possession as Tikipunga's Daniel "Shorty" Robertson looks to steal it for the home side. Photo / Adam Pearse
Visiting striker Lee Rocque was the star of the show as he netted four times, using his speed and composure to finish a number of one-on-one chances against the Tikipunga goalkeeper.
Already confirmed as league champions, Kaeo-Inter exploited the speed they possess in their strikers to find holes in a tiring yet spirited Tikipunga defensive line.
Kaeo-Inter striker Lee Rocque was in good form on Saturday, netting four goals against Tikipunga, seen here running onto one of many through-balls. Photo / Adam Pearse
In the round's other games, Onerahi beat FC Whangārei, 2-0, while the fixture between Kerikeri and Madhatters was postponed to another date.
