SOCCER: Kaikohe claim psychological edge as leaders clash

Saturday's match between Kaikohe FC and FC Whangarei was a long time coming but the game didn't deliver what everyone was expecting - and there is still no clear leader in the Northland Premier Football League.
Both sides thought they might have won the match but at the final whistle they were locked together at 1-1.
The draw means Kaikohe continue to lead the competition by two points but FC Whangarei have a game in hand, with 10 rounds still to play.
Recent flooding in the north and Chatham Cup fixtures conspired to make Saturday's match the first clash of the season between the competition's two front-runners and when the highly anticipated match finally got underway there was very little between them.
Both teams felt they might have taken three points from the match with FC Whangarei's manager Kevin Brightmore feeling his team should have done more with their opportunities.
"We can play a lot better than we did yesterday but we were pretty happy to take a point away from the match, away from home," he said.
"I think it's going to be a close battle for the rest of the season and it could go down to the final game like last year."
FC Whangarei's Adan Sharp opened the scoring late in the first spell but Kaikohe FC's player-coach Stefano Virgili equalised just before the break.
"I think we took a psychological edge from the match because I think we had more chances but it was a good game by both teams," Virgili said.
Virgili said his side had improved in the second spell and it was only the woodwork that denied Daniel Dunbar's 30m strike late in the match.
"I hope FC Whangarei went home with the feeling that we aren't going to go away anytime soon, we're quite confident that we'll get the better of them in the two (league) matches we've still got to play," Virgili said.
It was third-placed Kamo who benefited from the draw the most. They closed to within two points of the leaders with a 2-0 win over Madhatters, while fourth-placed Onerahi thrashed Kerikeri 6-1 to maintain their chances of a title shot.
Central Brown won the battle between the two bottom-placed clubs with a tight 2-1 win over Tikipunga.
North Force put their goalscoring blues behind them with a 10-1 pasting of South Auckland Rangers in Auckland on Saturday.
"It's a great result, we finally put to rest some of our demons in front of goal and cut them apart," coach Paul Cross said.
"We've threatened to cut loose a couple of times this year but we've never really carried through with it so it was nice to get the job done."
Cross said the one-sided win was achieved by North Force getting the basics right. Once the goals started flowing there was some exceptional finishing from the visitors. Cross said it looked to be a case of the same old story in the first spell, with several chances on goal going begging. North Force led just 2-0 at the break, but the finishing in the second half told a different tale.
Steve Schimmel and Scott Burgess both came away with hat-tricks, with Sammy Oso scoring a brace and Jason Teal and Calvin Erick scoring one each against a demoralised opposition.
"Okay, so they're bottom of the table for a reason ... they've got some talented individuals but they didn't play very well together as a team," Cross said.
Matthew Ward played well in his debut match for the senior team at centreback alongside Aaron Taylor, with Schimmel and Alex Luiten manufacturing chances well in the second half.
The North Force Reserves drew 1-1 with South Auckland after dominating much of the match, with Joseph Luiten scoring for the visitors.