SOCCER - Fresh defence a Force to be reckoned with

North Force jumped back into second place on the US1 Premier football table over the weekend by virtue of six points from two solid wins over Anzac Weekend.
Both wins were fashioned from an improved defensive effort, a welcome relief to coach Dean Wheatley after the side's 2-6 drubbing in the previous round at the hands of Albany.
"We got our defence sorted out, got the concentration levels up to where we wanted them and they all did brilliantly, especially today, when they were simply awesome," Wheatley said.
The victory over Birkenhead United at Shepherd's Park yesterday was the result that capped off the weekend's achievements.
Birkenhead played Northern Premier League last season and have lost relatively few players from that side.
They were a tall order for North Force, especially at home, and while they dominated large parts of the game, they were unable to break down North Force's defence.
"They had a lot of possession but we defended brilliantly and we kept hitting them on the break and in the end we might have won by three or four," Wheatley said.
Skipper Bruce Plunkett scored the only goal of the match with a back post header from a Scott Burgess corner _ another set-piece goal paying off for the Whangarei-based side this season.
North Force's first victims of the weekend were Takapuna on Friday at Tikipunga Park.
Takapuna are second bottom on the table and North Force won a fairly dour encounter 3-1.
The visitors played well enough but once again couldn't penetrate the home side's defence. Steve Crowley scored the only goal of the first half, with Sammy Oso adding another early in the second spell.
Takapuna scored with a penalty to narrow the gap to a single goal before Calvin Erick put the result beyond doubt with the final goal of the game.
The only concern for Wheatley comes with Isaac Jerez's second red card of the season for dissent during the Takapuna match.
It is the side's third red card of the season and suggests that discipline could yet be a problem for the side.
The North Force Reserves also had a good win on Friday, beating Takapuna 2-1, while on Sunday they were outclassed by Birkenhead, going down 1-4.
In Northland Premier Division matches, Kamo and Onerahi continued their 100 per cent records in the competition on Saturday, with big wins over Tikipunga and Central Brown respectively.
Kamo won 6-0, while Onerahi also scored six against Central Brown to win 6-3.
FC Whangarei drew 1-1 with Kerikeri, while the Kaikohe-Madhatters fixture was postponed because of Kaikohe's Chatham Cup commitments.