A desperate goal-line clearance five minutes from time denied North Force a much-needed draw against league leaders Manurewa.
North Force midfielder Daniel Ridgley threaded a perfect through ball to player-coach Scott Burgess, who took the ball around the keeper and sidefooted the ball toward goal, only to see a Manurewa defender
clear the ball off the line - consigning the Whangarei-based side to a 2-3 loss.
North Force captain Leon Taylor said his side had deserved more from Saturday's match at Kamo.
"Manurewa are a good team but in the end if Scotty had managed to bury that ball after rounding the keeper then we would have got a point and that would've been a good result for us," he said.
The loss keeps North Force one spot above bottom-of-the-table Onehunga with just one win from five games.
The home side worked hard in a frantic first spell to twice come from behind to lock the score at 2-2 at halftime.
Manurewa's Kieran Nevey opened the scoring with a penalty that was matched by a Darren Green penalty in the 25th minute. Brad Armstrong then took advantage of some fairly tame defending to waltz through the North Force defence to score in the 38th minute.
Two minutes before the break Green crossed to Charton Lacour, who made no mistake with a volley on the back post to tie the game up.
Both sides' chances were limited in the second spell but as the game wore on North Force may have been guilty of settling for the point, whereas Manurewa put more urgency into the final quarter in an effort to break the deadlock.
Ten minutes from time the visitors went ahead when Armstrong tapped in a cross at the back post. It came from the North Force defence giving their opposition too much room in the attacking third of the field. The defenders, caught a metre short, committed themselves to the tackle and were easily beaten, creating more space for the attackers. "I guess we were a wee bit unlucky. We were guilty of ball watching a wee bit at the end and they took advantage of that," Taylor said.
The goal at least saw North Force throw extra players forward and replacement Sammy Oso had two shots saved but the best chance fell to Burgess.
