Golden Boot winner Aaron Burgess did not take his foot off the pedal as Dunedin Technical hammered Northern 9-0 in a senior match at Culling Park on Saturday.
Apart from adding another four goals to his league total of 32, Burgess registered several firsts.
Notably, it was the first time in his lengthy career that Burgess had played an official game on Technical's home ground.
Another first was the 360deg victory flip Burgess performed to celebrate his fourth goal.
Then, after having his jersey nearly torn off in a Northern tackle, Burgess pulled it off and offered it to the offending Northern player.
This, of course, forced referee Callum Alexander to award Burgess a yellow card, which certainly was not a first for the feisty striker.
Late in the game, a clattering Northern tackle finished Burgess' involvement and he limped off, to the concern of coach Mike Fridge, who is looking to keep his squad injury-free for the South Island Championship semifinal on September 5.
Fridge fielded several youngsters in the match, with James Govan, Tim Dunn and Sam Enright fitting in seamlessly among the experienced trio of Blair Scoullar, Andy Coburn and Burgess.
Northern battled hard and won a fair amount of possession, but lacked finishing ability, and as Technical turned the screw, coach David Martin-Chambers' side lost any effective team shape.
It was 3-0 to Dunedin Technical at half-time following a brace from Burgess and a well-taken goal by Tristan Prattley.
Coburn and Burgess each added two second-half goals, and George Milne and Tim Dunn also scored.
At the Caledonian Ground, coach Squib Foster's young Roslyn-Wakari side did well to beat University 3-2 in a match that started in spectacular fashion.
Within five minutes, Invercargill referee Phillip Bulling awarded two penalties to Roslyn.
Varsity keeper Lloyd Huysmans saved the first spot-kick, but almost immediately a penalty awarded for hand ball was drilled in by Roslyn's Ryan Smith for a 1-0 lead.
Roslyn went further ahead after 30 minutes when Fraser Cameron finished off a searching free-kick by Brett Wanden, then Varsity hit back with a brilliant right-wing run by Kelichi Osunira that fed Alex Mason for a headed goal just before half-time.
Building on the brilliant defensive partnership of James Watson and sweeper Aajay Cunningham, who recently returned from a successful Milk Cup campaign, Roslyn played controlled football in the difficult windy conditions.
A University own-goal should have wrapped up the result for Roslyn, at 3-1, but another defensive mistake gifted the students a goal, which made for an exciting finish.
At Ocean Grove, Mosgiel stayed three points clear at the top of the table with a 2-1 win over Grants Braes.
