Cashmere Technical defeated Caversham 3-0 at ASB Park, in Christchurch, to retain the South Island Football Championship on Saturday.
The visitors got off to a bad start, conceding an early goal when former Caversham player Tom Schwartz climbed high to meet an Aaron Clapham corner in the sixth minute.
Danger man Clapham claimed the second in the 35th minute when he intercepted an under-hit back pass, rounding keeper Liam Little to double the lead. Caversham had enough possession and created chances to be in the match, but just could not finish its opportunities.
The cup holder finished its dress rehearsal for next week's Chatham Cup final against Auckland's Central United in the best possible way. Nick Wortelboer timed his run perfectly to beat Caversham's last line of defence and rounded keeper Little to claim the South Island Championship trophy with the third goal of the match.
In Queenstown, Rovers hosted University in an end-to-end encounter which finished with a 1-1 scoreline. Defenders from both teams
delivered accurate passes with authority to their midfield team-mates who created space to receive, control and turn, and generally maintained possession going forward with numerous passing lanes available.
Rovers' Carlos Herrmann opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a powerful shot from 20m which beat the Varsity keeper on his near post.
University equalised in the 70th minute when Tom Morley robbed Rovers defender Alex Haynes of the ball and chipped keeper Daniel Bocatios to level the scores.
At Sunnyvale, Green Island hosted Dunedin Technical in an entertaining match, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
The visiting side scored through Taylor McCormick and a Green Island own goal, while the host thanked Nick Meklinzi and Jesse Smith for their goals, Green Island's second coming just before the fulltime whistle.
By Wilson James.
