Kerikeri knocked off one of their last major remaining hurdles to winning the Northland Premier title with a 1-0 win over third-placed Tikipunga.
Jeremy Rintoul found the net from the edge of the area to score the only goal of the match shortly after the half-time break to make sureof the points.
Kerikeri now have to find two more wins from their remaining five games to make sure of the title - an assignment that should prove a formality - even though two of those matches are against second-placed Kamo.
Kamo remain in second place after handing Madhatters their second successive 2-1 defeat, while Central Brown just edged Bream Bay 1-0.
Kamo and Tikipunga now line up for an important clash this weekend to decide who will take the runners-up position in the league but as Tikipunga's Clive Adams said there are more important things on the horizon.
"If we knock Kamo over this weekend the competition will be done and dusted but while we want to come second, it's less important for us than these cup competitions that are coming up for us," he said.
"We're the defending champions of both the Stafford Choat competition and the Federation Cup so we want to hold on to them if we can and we're trying to get some rhythm in our game before they get underway," he said.
The preliminary round of the Stafford Choat Cup starts on July 6, while the Federation Cup gets underway on the weekend of July 20-21.
