North Force's relegation worries continue to mount with their 2-4 loss to Glenfield Rovers but despite their defeat, their coach was heartened by the team's performance on Saturday.
"I was proud of how they played, they performed to the best of their ability and put themselves in a position to beat one of the top teams but it wasn't to be," Bruce Plunkett said.
After conceding an early goal, North Force were quickly back on level terms after five minutes with Charl Compaan knocking in an equaliser.
Despite being dominated for the remainder of the half they went to the break on level terms.
Scott Burgess started the second spell off on a bright note for the home team, putting them ahead for the first time. The visitors were stung and swarmed forward but the North Force defence held until 20 minutes to go when Glenfield finally broke through and equalised.
The goal was followed almost immediately by another classy strike and North Force were then forced to abandon their game plan and take risks in order to rescue a point before finally conceding another late goal.
"Fortunately all of the teams we wanted to lose, lost, so the loss doesn't really add to our concerns except in the sense we've one less week to get out of trouble," Plunkett said.
Metro cleared the relegation zone with an impressive 3-0 win over Albany, adding to the North Shore side's problems while Ngaruawahia and Lynn Avon were also defeated.
There is no let up for the squad next Sunday when they play fifth-placed Forrest Hill Milford at Becroft Park. Plunkett tried in vain to get the game rescheduled for Saturday so two of North Force's key players could participate in the match but he said the competition's bosses wouldn't go for it.
"It's a real shame, especially when other clubs are given dispensation to postpone games at the eleventh hour because their players are supposedly busy milking," he said.
Plunkett is annoyed that relegation rivals Ngaruawahia were allowed to postpone two of their games earlier this season rather than default when they were unable to raise a team while North Force's rescheduling request - made well ahead of time - was dismissed by the league's management.
"When things are this tight it always sticks in your throat that one team gets the rub of the green and the other doesn't," he said.
In the Northland Men's Premier League Kerikeri belted FC Whangarei 9-0 at Waipapa while Tikipunga beat Madhatters Green 7-0 at William Fraser Park.
Kamo were pushed all the way by Central Brown but the match ended 1-1, with the result virtually handing the title to Kamo.