Force make it four wins in row

North Force delighted their home fans at Kamo Sports Park by beating third-placed Western Springs 2-0 to remain on top of the Northern League Division One table.
Although the victory pleased coach Bruce Plunkett, it was the fact that North Force have now kept a clean sheet for four successive home fixtures that had him celebrating on Saturday.
"Over the past few seasons conceding too many goals has been our biggest downfall so things are looking good and hopefully clean sheets will become a habit for us," he said.
The home side's skipper, Scott Burgess, got the ball rolling early in the first spell, heading home from the back post and his side maintained the one-goal lead until half-time.
Ten minutes after the break, Charlie Lacour showed dedication to chase down what looked to be an overcooked through ball but managed to get it under control and get a cross into the area despite the attentions of two defenders. The cross picked out Keegan Badderley, who beat his marker with a good touch and then buried the ball in the net to double their advantage.
Although Western Springs tried to claw their way back into the game, North Force's defence was impossible to penetrate and North Force's goalkeeper Leon Taylor was barely troubled with a shot during the entire second spell.
"We played well yesterday, we've been lucky from time to time so far this season but that wasn't the case yesterday, we really deserved our win," a satisfied Plunket said.
Western Springs were enterprising coming forward out of defence and in the midfield but against the North Force defence, with Jeremy  Rintoul and Dominic Fromont in particularly outstanding form, they managed few clear chances on goal.
"They played some nice football and had a fair amount of possession but they didn't have the same cutting edge as we did in the attacking third of the park," he said.
"After our second goal they pushed a third player forward but our back four were just too good and nothing came of it."
He said North Force were averaging more than two goals a game so far in this year's competition but had only conceded seven goals in eight games giving them the platform they need to challenge for the title.
North Force are on top of the table, just one point clear of Ellerslie, who have a game in hand but the two sides are still to meet. There are seven more rounds to play in the first round of this year's competition before the leagues are split, with the top six first division teams going up to play against the bottom teams of the Northern Premier division to compete for premier league positions in 2011.
Meanwhile the North Force Reserves went down 1-2 with Murray Wooten putting them ahead with a long range drive before Western Springs levelled before the break and scored the winner in the second spell.
In United Soccer One's top league FC Whangarei went down to West Auckland 2-3 in Auckland dropping them into mid-table in a very tight competition. FC twice came from behind with goals to Steve Crowley and Matt Ward but then Ward was sent off for stopping a goal with his hand and the resulting penalty sunk the travelling side.