Ngongotaha complete perfect home record

Ngongotaha AFC lifted the WaiBop Premiership trophy on Saturday after a 3-0 home victory over Waikato Unicol. The win completed a perfect home record for the Villagers and took them to 99 goals scored in their 20 games this season.

After a rather subdued first half in which Unicol, the only side to take points off Ngongotaha this season, kept the game scoreless, the hosts clicked through the gears after the break. Big striker, Josh O’Sullivan, scored twice, either side of another Eamon O’Donoghue goal as the Villagers eased to another comfortable victory.

But the match was merely a prelude to what the Ngongotaha players and fans were really at Stembridge Road to see - the presentation of the Premiership trophy. A week after winning the league, and after several seasons of coming close, O’Sullivan finally lifted the silverware.

While Ngongotaha still has two league matches to play, their focus is now surely on the northern league playoffs, which look set to begin in late-September.

In the Premiership’s tastiest match of the day, the Matamata Swifts completed a 2-0 derby win over neighbours Cambridge at the Matamata Domain. Logan Raynel, in his first start for the Swifts, opened the scoring five minutes before halftime, finally beating Fraser Nicholls in the Cambridge goal. Nicholls had been superb until then, keeping the Swifts scoreless thanks to a string of fine saves.

Ben Vogt completed Matamata’s win, scoring with less than 10 minutes to go, but Cambridge had gone close to an equaliser when they hit the upright during their best spell of the game midway through the second half.

Their win lifted the Swifts into second spot, at least temporarily. They sit three points ahead of Cambridge, but the red and whites have a game in hand and a markedly better goal difference.

Further down the table, Otumoetai maintained fourth spot after Papamoa gifted them victory by default while Melville United sealed a top five finish with a 5-1 win at Tauranga Boys’ College. Mohammed Kakai hit a hat trick, while Dylan Blair and Luke Goodwin also found the back of the net for Melville.

Franz Marko and Wes Green were on target for Old Blues as they completed a 2-1 win at Rotorua United to move within touching distance of a top-six finish.

At the bottom of the table life is looking grim for Katikati FC after they became the first side to lose to Tauranga City United this season. Their 2-1 home defeat means Katikati trail Tauranga Boys’ by three points with both sides having one game to play. They host Unicol this weekend while the students will travel to Cambridge next weekend.

For Tauranga, their first points of the season, secured courtesy of a Glenn Greene double, came as a shining light in a miserable 2016 campaign.

WaiBop Championship winners, West Hamilton, completed their 2016 schedule with a low-key 2-2 draw at Otumoetai reserves. The result maintained the Hamiltonians’ unbeaten record for the season.

With the title having been wrapped up last weekend, all interest in the Championship is now focused on the promotion race, which now looks like coming down to the Taupo-Te Awamutu match at Crown Park on Saturday.

Nick Field’s priceless strike gave the Lakesiders a 1-0 win in a tricky tie at Tokoroa, while Te Awamutu strolled to a 4-0 victory against wooden spooners Whakatane Town to maintain the status quo.

Taupo trails Te Awamutu by three points with two games in hand and a vastly superior goal difference so a win on Saturday will all but send them up.

In other matches, Cambridge reserves beat Matamata reserves 2-0 in the early game at the Matamata Domain, thanks to an Aaron Huesser double, while Ngongotaha reserves and Waikato Unicol reserves couldn’t find a goal between them as their match ended 0-0. Old Blues reserves defaulted to Hamilton Wanderers.

The inaugural WaiBop Women’s Premier League is now Rotorua United’s to lose as they hammered Otumoetai 8-0 on Sunday after Northern United had surprisingly been held to a 2-2 draw at Melville United.

Rotorua’s lead at the top of the table stretched to four points after their merciless victory. Kim Maguire was the chief destroyer, finding the net five times, while Analiese Heuval struck twice and Jordyn Ewert once in what was a one sided Bay of Plenty derby.

The Hamilton derby was altogether tighter. After falling to Rotorua the previous weekend, Northern will be ruing more dropped points. Georgia Greene’s double kept them in with a chance of victory, but goals from Ali Galletly and Jackie Pretswell ensured Melville walked away from this one with a well-earned point. Northern will be hoping Melville achieves something similar this weekend when they travel to Rotorua.

Hamilton Wanderers won 15-0 at Waikato Unicol in Division two’s only match of the weekend.