Football: Rivals in showdown

Kerikeri and Tikipunga will make history tomorrow when they contest the first all-Northland final of Northern Football's Federation Cup.

Both teams have beaten the odds and good Auckland sides to reach the final and now line up at the Kamo Rec to contest the final major trophy up for grabs this season.

Tikipunga will start as favourites after a clinical victory over Central Brown in the Stafford Choat Cup final last week. A win tomorrow will cap off their best season in years and they are oozing confidence after recently beating Kerikeri 1-0 in the Stafford Choat semifinal.

Kerikeri would try to use that to their advantage, their coach, Jim Brooks, said.

"They'll have their tails up after a good win on Saturday but we'll see if they can back that up, if we can put the ball in the back of their net then we can put some pressure on them and then anything can happen," he said.

The Kerikeri side who lost to Tikipunga in the semifinal had been weakened by the absence of a couple of key senior players as well as a handful of youngsters, who were at a school tournament. He said it would be good to finish the season with some silverware.

"Our season has promised a lot but we didn't do as well as we expected in the league so we're hoping for something better to finish," he said.

Both sides played some great football to advance to the final.

Tikipunga beat defending champions Ranui Swanson 3-2 to get into the final, while Kerikeri held off a fast-finishing Norwest United in their semifinal 2-1. Norwest defeated Boca Seniors in the quarter-final - the team that knocked Northland League Champions Kamo out of the competition.

The Federation Cup began in 2000 for Northland, North and West Auckland clubs not playing in Northern League competitions. It has only been won once by a Northland team - by Kamo in 2008.

Kick-off in the final is at 2pm at the Kamo Recreation Ground.