6 days ago
Northern seal title with eight-goal rout
Northern clinched their first title in 49 years with a comprehensive victory against Old Boys Invercargill on Saturday.
They beat Old Boys 8-1 at Logan Park turf to lift the ODT Men's Southern Premiership trophy — their first league championship since 1976 — with three games to spare.
Northern have been completely dominant all year, winning all 13 games and scoring more than 50 goals in an impressive tally.
Nick Treadwell's sixth-minute opener settled any nerves for Northern, and Sam Cosgrove's brace in the 36th and 42nd minute added breathing room.
Old Boys conceded an own goal as well for Northern to hold a 4-0 lead at halftime and effectively ensure the title was heading back to the Gardens.
Rory Hibbert, the competition's leading scorer, bagged a brace, scoring after 47 and 62 minutes to extend his season tally to 18 goals so far.
Toby Orchiston scored in the 64th minute and Old Boys' Oliver Milne-Wahren scored the Invercargill side's goal in the 80th.
Janci Gorman rounded out the scoring for Northern in the 83rd minute.
University moved into second spot by beating Roslyn-Wakari 2-0, after Mosgiel lost 2-0 at home to Green Island. Tate Barron and Ryan Walker scored in each half for Green Island.
The Dunedin City Royals jumped ahead of Queens Park and moved to fourth after beating the Invercargill team 1-0.
George Barker scored from a penalty for the Royals in the 53rd minute, and Rodrigo Schmidt De Camargo placed his own penalty attempt for Queen's Park wide 20 minutes later.
— In the Southern League, the Royals secured a point 1-1 draw with a dramatic 96th-minute equaliser against second-placed Christchurch United in atrocious conditions in Christchurch.
Christchurch held the lead at halftime after Joel Stevens guided his effort home despite Jed Collings sliding in on a very waterlogged pitch in a valiant attempt to keep it out.
The home side were reduced to 10 when Ben Stroud was given a red in the 80th minute for pulling back Brady Jacobs.
They paid the price when Lewis Wall ghosted in behind the defence to get on the end of a long ball that Christchurch let bounce and Wall squeezed his shot past keeper Steven Van Dijk from the edge of the box.
Wānaka also came up against atrocious conditions against Nomads United, losing 4-1 in Christchurch.
They lost goalkeeper Josh Shackleton to injury after only 37 minutes, leaving substitute outfielder Elijah Gaeth taking over the gloves.
Nomads broke the deadlock in the second half and were 2-0 up when Ryan Hamilton scored a bizarre own goal after 65 minutes.
Ed Belingher pulled one back for Wanaka on 72 minutes, but Nomads scored another two goals in the last few minutes.
Cashmere Tech beat Ferrymead Bays 3-0 to go top of the table, Universities of Canterbury had a 3-3 draw with Selwyn United, and Nelson Suburbs completed the round with a 2-0 win over Coastal Spirit.
— Neville Watson
