Caversham had to fight hard to earn a 2-0 victory against a tenacious Green Island side which played with steely determination despite conceding an early goal.
Caversham's Seamus Ryder was the recipient of a defence-splitting through ball from team-mate Brett Clifford in the fifth minute and directed his shot into the corner of the net leaving Island keeper Nick Grant no chance.
Once Green Island had settled into its rhythm, it played with confidence and tested Caversham's defensive capabilities but could not find a way past big Caversham keeper Liam Little no matter how hard it tried.
Caversham enjoyed the benefit of a strong wind in the second half and continued to press the visiting side for the second goal.
The home team finished the game off in a positive fashion when Bradley Scott hit a strong shot from just inside the box in the 87th minute.
With the Green Island keeper beaten, the ball rebounded straight to Lewis Jackson, who controlled and slid home an accurate shot from 6m to wrap up the three valuable points.
Second-placed Dunedin Technical gave its supporters minor heart murmurs with a thrilling second-half performance against Northern, at Forrester Park.
The visiting side found the net five times in 45 second-half minutes, to register a close-fought 3-2 victory. To make the title chase interesting, Technical coughed up two own goals by centrebacks Andrew Douglas and Matt Joy.
The Technical attackers saved the defenders' blushes when Taylor McCormick scored from the edge of the box, while talisman player-coach Aaron Burgess headed in his 200th goal for the club to draw Technical level with Northern heading into the last 15 minutes of the game.
McCormick did the honours for Tech in the 83rd minute with a good header from a free kick to claim the win.
At Ellis Park, Roslyn Wakari played out a 1-1 draw with Mosgiel for each team to bank some reward for their efforts.
Mosgiel striker Regan Coldicott suffered a bad injury during the second half of the match and looks set for more time recovering on the sidelines.
The home side got its nose in front in the 72nd minute, when Cam Attwood stroked home a superb free kick, giving the Mosgiel keeper no chance.
Just 10 minutes later, Cody Brook scored the equaliser for the Plainsmen when he redirected a quality cross from the right flank into the net for Mosgiel to get a share of the points.
In the final game of the round, Queenstown Rovers continued its fine recent form with a quality performance and valuable 2-1 victory over University at the Caledonian Ground. Rovers scored first on the hour, when Dan Jackson slotted home after some good build-up play from Carlos Hermann.
Varsity equalised shortly after with a well-worked goal and finish from Seb Brown. Queenstown took the win through a deflected cross-cum-shot rebounding off a Varsity defender in the 85 minute.
By Wilson James.
