Albany win sees Force facing relegation battle

A dispiriting 0-3 defeat by Albany sees North Force drop back into the Northern Region's first division relegation zone, but assistant coach Paul Cross says they still have their future in their own hands.
The Northland side were sunk by a Peter Shaw hat-trick.
While North Force were floundering at Rosedale Park, across town in Onehunga the competition's bottom two teams faced off, with North Force's main relegation rivals Matamata Swifts winning 5-0. The result moves the Waikato team on to the same points as North Force but they have a game in hand.
North Force trail them by goal difference only but Cross said his team still had ample opportunities to play themselves out of trouble in their remaining matches.
"We've still got to play Matamata twice and we've also got games coming up against Onehunga and Lyn Avon, who we think we can beat so we still control our own future - it will come down to who fights the hardest in the final few rounds," he said.
Cross said apart from a couple of short periods, where the team played well, Albany were the better team on Saturday.
"They were too few and too short to amount to much of a threat (to Albany) and probably the most disappointing thing for me was we didn't seem to have the fight we needed to win, particularly given our predicament on the table," he said.
"It's certainly not fair to put all of the players in that basket but at this level you can't afford to carry players.
"You might get away with one or two who aren't having a good game, but any more than that and you're fighting a losing battle."
The team conceded an early goal after 15 minutes but remained in the match until the 70th minute when they conceded the second goal, with the final goal scored with less than 10 minutes remaining.
In the Northland Premier Division, an Calvin Erick goal four minutes from time saved blushes for league leaders Kamo - and their position on the table. The goal gave Kamo a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Bream Bay, who had five regular players suspended.
"Bream Bay deserve a lot of credit for bringing up so many reserve team players and still playing so well," Kamo coach Russell Baddeley said.
"They fought so hard not to concede and every time their keeper pulled off another magnificent save, you could see their resolve grow."
Murray Hodgson officiated and he and his linesmen were praised by Baddeley for hardly being noticed in the match.
The result sees Kamo maintain a slim two-point lead over Tikipunga in second place with Kerikeri moving past FC Whangarei into third place after beating them 1-0 at home. Tikipunga easily beat Onerahi 5-0.