FOOTBALL - Ugly's just fine say the Force

Winning ugly has never looked so good for North Force as they cemented third place in the US1 Premiership with a 3-1 win over second-placed Waitakere United on Saturday.
Captain Bruce Plunkett said the morale-boosting win was just what they needed going into the championship playoffs in two weeks' time.
"It was a brilliant result, a quality performance against a decent side and, given our away record hasn't been that great, I think the need to get a home playoff got us through," he said.
The win - only their third on the road all season - earned them a home match in the first round of playoffs in Whangarei.
And they will need all the advantage they can get when they play fourth-placed Glenfield Rovers, who progressed to the final of the Chatham Cup with a 2-1 win over Nelson Suburbs on Saturday.
Plunkett said the win over Waitakere was achieved by the team sticking to the gameplan and style of play North Force are good at.
"The two teams played contrasting styles of football. They knocked it about well but didn't go very far, whereas we were very direct, very physical and we came out on top. We played winning football, not pretty football," he said.
The Whangarei side's victory was achieved with another hat-trick to their Solomon Islands star Sammy Oso.
"He was too big, too powerful and too quick for them out there today, it was fantastic," Plunkett said after the match.
The first goal was from a long throw but the next two goals were trademark Oso finishes, with the striker using his speed to latch on to through balls and slip the ball past the keeper.
The visitors led 2-0 at the break but Waitakere got back into the game with a 52nd-minute goal.
That had the visitors on edge until Oso claimed his hat-trick midway through the spell.
The North Force Reserves played their final game of the season against the competition leaders, in the curtain-raiser before the senior match, and for a time the visitors looked odds-on for an upset.
After withstanding an opening onslaught by Waitakere, the Reserves took the initiative and the lead, when Joseph Luiten scored from a corner.
Murray Wootten doubled the lead but Waitakere pegged one back just before the break. They maintained their 2-1 lead until midway through the spell when a fantastic freekick got the home side level.
It was all downhill from then on, with Waitakere rattling in another three goals to win 5-2.
The result didn't faze Reserves' coach Paul Herbert, who said the young side continued to suffer from individual mistakes caused by a lack of experience.
"The team can take a lot of heart from their efforts this season. They don't have the experience of their opponents but they're getting there and I'm already looking forward to next season," he said.