SOCCER - Deserved win celebrated but it comes at a cost

North Force's third straight win sees them back among the league leaders but management were left counting the cost of their 2-1 victory over Ngaruawahia on Saturday.
Auckland referee Sion Stavrovski gave the home side six yellow cards during the match at Kamo, two of them shown to midfielder Steve Schimmel, leaving the side to complete the victory with 10 men.
The dismissal was a shame for Schimmel because he was the best player on the park.
It is an even bigger loss for North Force, who will have their most influential player suspended for next week's game against Three Kings United. Also carded was Bruce Plunkett, putting the captain on the brink of an automatic one-match suspension.
While the cards may have dampened celebrations a little, coach Paul Cross and technical director Dean Perkins were clearly happy with what was a deserved win for the home side.
"The difference now is that we're winning the close games whereas earlier in the season we would have lost this one," Cross said.
The coach said the three points against Ngaruawahia means the team has got right back in the race for promotion.
"We've got ourselves on a winning roll and we just have to keep playing the same way and who's to say we can't keep winning?"
It wasn't the first time that Cross has come across the referee but his warnings about the official's tendency to dish out the cards went largely unheeded before the match.
It won't go down as the referee's best performance.
After Aaron Taylor had put North Force ahead from a corner in the 13th minute it all looked to be plain sailing for the home team. Ngaruawahia played some good football around the park but they lacked penetration against a hard working North Force defence.
The visitors didn't mount a credible threat until the 29th minute, when goalkeeper Leon Taylor made his first save under pressure.
North Force, on the other hand, were all over the visitors, with Steve Crowley and Scott Burgess causing problems up front but the finishing was again lacking. North Force got a lucky break from the referee in the 35th minute, when they were awarded a penalty after a fairly innocuous looking challenge.
Schimmel made no mistake from the spot to make it 2-0 and when, just minutes later, a more plausible penalty appeal for a challenge on Calvin Erick earned the midfielder a yellow card for diving, Ngaruawahia thanked their lucky stars and struck back.
The local defence was caught short at the back and 18-year-old Hayden Johns, bound for a football scholarship at Columbia University next week, finished his career with the club with a great goal.
The goal meant North Force had to weather an enthusiastic start by the visitors to the second spell but the defence again held well.
North Force started to pressure the visitors' goal with some threatening set-pieces and then regained its dominance in the match but although both sides went close a fourth goal failed to materialise.
A new-look reserve team featuring a few new faces fought well against a more experienced Ngaruawahia side before finally going down 0-1. Players such as Mitchell Pomfrey, Mitch Jordan, Ben Edwards and Alex Semors stepped in to help an illness- and injury-ravaged side go close.
A hat-trick by FC Whangarei's Malcolm Green and doubles to Adam Sharp and Michael Crowley helped put Central Brown to the sword on Saturday in the Northland Premier League with a 9-0 victory putting them three points clear on the table.
Kamo move into second place in the competition thanks to a great 3-2 win over fellow frontrunners Onerahi. Keegan Baddeley (2) and Phil McIntosh were the scorers.
Goals to Emiliano La Hitte and Gustavo Alvez saw Kaikohe remain in touch with the leaders with a 2-0 win over Kerikeri, while Madhatters made the most of their opportunities to beat Tikipunga 5-1.