SOCCER - North Force need a dose of self-belief

North Force midfielder Jeremy Rintoul doesn't doubt his side's ability, but reckons some self-belief may help them achieve better results in the second round of the competition.
The Northland team travel to Auckland tomorrow to play Glenfield Rovers needing to pick themselves up after a dispiriting 0-4 defeat to league leaders East Coast Bays.
"Our problem was that we didn't really believe in ourselves, that was really obvious in the first half where we let them play their own game and were 3-nil down at the break," he said.
"We got a deserved bollocking at half time and then in the second half we matched them well and only conceded a dodgy penalty, if we had that belief throughout the game it may have been a different story."
Rintoul thinks the mental step-up against the bigger Auckland clubs has been behind some sluggish starts in the first round, even though the team has the talent to match them.
North Force started the season with a sluggish first half against Glenfield Rovers at Tikipunga Park before pushing on to a 2-1 win. They need to win again tomorrow to regain momentum in the competition.
Rintoul ended up marking All White Jeff Campbell in the second half of last week's game. While he thought he did okay, he acknowledges his own form has yet to reach the last season's level.
"At the start of the season I found it hard to adapt to the North Force style of football because I came out of clubs that play short passing games.
"It's a very English style of play, its effective but not pretty, but I'm starting to get used to it now and hopefully I'll be able to put more solid performances in the second round," he said.
Rintoul has moved back home to work as an accountant for his family's construction company in Kerkeri. He started his playing career at Okaihau Primary School and went on to play premier grade football for Kerikeri at the age of 15.
He left for Auckland in his sixth form year to join the Mount Albert Soccer Academy training with Kevin Fallonone, of the country's most respected coaches, before joining Central United and playing some senior football with the club.
He has no doubt a little concentrated effort will see North Force improve on their current third position in the league.
"You can already see it at training, we train really well together and play really good football, then mentally on Saturday we don't have it, but I think that will come."