"A 2-0 lead is always tough to defend and if they'd scored just after halftime the result would have been different but we were fortunate enough to get the third goal then and we took control after that," he said.
Smith said Kamo's job now was to make things uncomfortable for league leaders Kerikeri.
"It's similar to the situation we found ourselves in last year. We got ahead and managed to stay ahead of the pack to win the league and now Kerikeri are in the same situation, it's going to be tough to catch them but we'll give it a go," he said.
He said both of Kamo's remaining matches with Kerikeri will be away from home, giving the northern team an advantage in the contest.
Tikipunga's Clive Adams said Saturday was one of those days where nothing went right.
"There was a lot of pressure on both teams to get the win to keep up with Kerikeri and in the end Kamo dealt with that pressure better, particularly in the second half when they were clearly better than we were," he said.
Tikipunga lost any hope when Mike Crowley was sent off by referee Murray Hodgson for dissent after he was booked in the 70th minute. Adams said Crowley's red card was unfortunate but reflected the frustration the team was feeling after blowing the crunch match.
He said Hodgson had adjudicated well in the difficult match between the two fierce Whangarei rivals and there were no excuses for the poor performance.
"It was just one of those days in football where nothing goes according to plan and you can't do anything about it," he said.
He said Tikipunga found themselves in a similar situation last season when they were knocked out of contention early in the league. They later resurrected their season by winning two major knockout titles and Adams said they would now turn their attention to defending those titles.
Kerikeri maintained a four-point lead beating Central Brown at Otaika, while Madhatters hammered Bream Bay United 7-3 at William Fraser Park.
