Played in great conditions, Northern had to weather Nomads’ early threat after they hit the post in the opening minutes.
Northern took the lead after seven minutes, when Alex Dale and Sam Cosgrove combined. The ball was squared into the box, Nick Brett stepped over it to deceive the Nomads defence for Isaac Simons to score at the far post.
Northern — spurred on by a home crowd chanting and singing the whole game, alongside a bagpiper — did not have to wait long for another.
A direct forward ball found Nick Brett, who laid it off to Sam Cosgrove, who won the one-on-one to score.
Nomads hit the woodwork for the second time on 35 minutes with a curling effort, but Northern held a 2-0 lead at the break.
The second half was more even, as Northern settled but still had to work hard defensively, as Nomads looked for an opening.
Northern made sure of the win with 10 minutes to go when Nick Treadwell held off his man and laid the ball off to find Dale, whose shot from the edge of the box looped over the keeper.
The Dunedin City Royals travelled to powerhouses Christchurch United and claimed a morale boosting 1-0 victory in Connor Neil’s 150th game.
At the 20th minute, United’s Joel Stevens, having been gifted the ball, could not chip it over goalkeeper Alex Boomer.
The Royals continued their forward pressure and secured the lead in the 25th minute when a left inswinging corner saw Kazik Swain rise high to head it home and give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
From the restart the Royals were down to 10 men when keeper Boomer was shown a red card after his momentum collecting a route one long ball took him outside his box.
Substitute Jacob Drumm stepped in to take over the gloves with 65 minutes still to play and was immediately called into action with a diving save to push away the resultant free kick.
Despite being a man down, and conceding plenty of possession, the Royals played a good defensive game.
Whenever United did break through, Drumm was resolute to ensure the Royals deservedly took all three points.
Wanaka fell 4-1 to Ferrymead Bays at home.
The visitors capitalised in the sixth minute, when a long throw into the box was not properly dealt with, giving Liam Stanton a simple tap in.
Despite responding well, Wānaka were undone again conceding from another long throw, this time to Omar Cameron.
Ferrymead capitalised on a period of scrappy transitional play, adding a third goal through a well-executed counter attack, scored by Jacob Killick.
Any hopes of a second half Wānaka comeback were squashed when a clearance fell kindly to Cameron who made it 4-0.
Wānaka continued to push forward and were rewarded when Samba Will drove down the flank and was brought down just inside the penalty area.
He converted the ensuing penalty to make it 4-1.
Any chance to build momentum was disrupted with more than 10 yellow cards shown in the final 30 minutes as the game lost its flow.
- Neville Watson
