Caversham ventured south to play Southland United under lights on Friday night, and found coach Luis Paiva's side strengthened by three Japanese imports.
Caversham's opening game on April 1 against Roslyn-Wakari was called off because of poor line markings on the Tonga Park pitch.
Southland was competitive at home and has three new Japanese players.
Kazuhiro Obata, Shunsuke Ito and an impressive No 10 Hayato Akino looked sharp and will be useful additions to Southland in its return to the Football South Premier League.
However, the Malcolm Fleming-coached side was still too strong, and dominated the further the game went on. Tori Waechter opened the scoring after 13 minutes.
Seven minutes later, however, Southland applied some pressure, and in a crowded goal-mouth melee, Caversham conceded an own goal and the scores were level.
Invercargill-born Andrew Ridden capped an industrious game by scoring at the far post to re-establish Caversham's lead, and Sam Collier clinched the 3-1 result with a close-range shot.
Fleming respected the increased challenge from Southland.
``When they get used to playing together and the new players `bed' in, they should cause a few upsets,'' he said.
Southland's Portuguese coach Luis Paiva just watched from the sideline in the second half, and agreed that his side did not match the intensity that Caversham's key players exerted.
``Our players have yet to step up a bit, and they expect more time on the ball than they are likely to get in this Premier League, but we will work on it, and I expect a steady improvement,'' Paiva said.
On Saturday, home side Mosgiel lacked verve in the first half against a Roslyn-Wakari side in which new signing Harley Rodeka, and captain Tom Connor were prominent.
Coach Colin Thom's side took a 26th minute 1-0 lead through Tennessee Kinghorn, and using width well, the pacy Roslyn attack might have increased that score.
But after the halftime break, it was a different Mosgiel side that appeared, and forced Roslyn on to the back foot. Andreas Hirczy hit the equaliser after 74 minutes.
Despite losing key midfielder Morgan Day, who was replaced by Regan Coldicott, Mosgiel exerted increasing pressure on Roslyn, and just when a draw seemed inevitable, Isaac Snell hit a 90th minute winner to snatch a deserved 2-1 result for the home side and put his team top of the table.
At Tahuna Park, another late goal was critical. Dunedin Technical took on the unpredictable Queenstown Rovers, and it appeared coach Tony Martin's side had earned the win after substitute George McCall put the Maroons ahead.
Both sides continued to play steady football and, with time running out, it was Queenstown's futsal striker Daniel de Souza who, just on the whistle, blazed in a long-range shot to tie the match 1-all.
Northern started well against Varsity at Forrester Park, but a red card did not help its cause. The students finished stronger and earned an impressive final 4-1 win - thanks to a Ben Horton hat-trick and a well-taken Chris Kessell goal - to climb up to third on the table.
