SOCCER - Force have bad case of travel sickness

North Force captainNorth Force's abysmal form on the road this season continued on Saturday when they were beaten 2-3 by bottom-placed Takapuna in the US1 Premiership.
The defeat at Taharoto Park was particularly frustrating for the Whangarei side because a win would have guaranteed them a place in the top four playoffs.
Dismayed captain Bruce Plunkett was unable to explain their poor away record.
"We were 3-0 down after half an hour, we were absolutely played off the park in the first 20 minutes and the only thing I can put it down to is travelling," he said.
The side has only one away win and a draw to their name all season. "We just can't travel, we don't know what it is, we turn up and for the first 20 minutes we play like the worst side in the league, then something changes and we're a decent side again," Plunkett said.
The second half was almost a mirror image of the the first, with the visitors dominating. They scored three goals in the spell, but one of them was disallowed, handing Takapuna a morale-boosting win to aid their efforts to avoid the wooden spoon.
North Force scored through Scott Burgess in the 50th minute of the game before quickly adding another.
"It was disallowed for offside, the linesman didn't flag but the referee decided to make the decision off his own back, which we felt was pretty rough," Plunkett said.
Sammy Oso scored with 10 minutes to go but, try as they might, North Force couldn't find an equaliser.
The weekend wasn't all doom and gloom for the third-placed side, with fourth-placed Hibiscus Coast also beaten on Saturday, keeping them seven points clear of fourth place.
Fifth-placed Glenfield Rovers are looming as North Force's main threat to securing third place in the league after they upset Chatham Cup holders Central United 3-2 in the cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
Glenfield have played two games fewer than North Force and trail them by eight points but, with North Force facing games against the two of the league's top teams in their final three matches before the playoffs, the unbeaten East Coast Bays at home and Waitakere away, their campaign is no longer in the shape it was.
In the Northland men's premier league, Kamo are looking unstoppable in the title race after destroying Kaikohe 8-1 on Saturday. Kamo led 3-0 at the break and have strengthened their line-up even further with David Lavelle announcing his arrival for the team by scoring a goal on debut.
Kamo's main competitor for the title, Onerahi, faltered in their chase with a 0-2 loss to Madhatters at William Fraser Park, meaning Kamo just have to win another game or two to bag the title.
Tikipunga made a game of it against Kerikeri at Tikipunga Park. The teams were level 0-0 at the break and Tikipunga briefly took the lead, but it was all downhill from there.
Kerikeri equalised shortly after and then Tomas Trombik scored the winner, 15 minutes from time. FC Whangarei bounced back from a terrible recent run to beat Central Brown 3-2.