Caversham overcame extreme wintry conditions to beat Roslyn-Wakari 4-1 in a Football South Premier League match on a waterlogged Ellis Park on Saturday.
Difficult conditions were solved by Caversham's excellent wet-weather techniques and, especially in the first half, coach Tim Horner's side produced power play that swept Roslyn aside.
There seemed to be more red shirts on the park than white ones, as Caversham stitched passing moves together, and applied unrelenting pressure on Roslyn.
"It was one of our better wet-weather winter displays, and the 4-0 halftime scoreline illustrated how well we dominated that half,'' coach Horner said.
It took 16 minutes before Caversham opened up the dogged Roslyn defence, as Michael Hogan slammed his sixth goal of the season past Roslyn keeper Tom Stevens.
In the sluicing rain, Stevens went on to have a fine match despite the difficult ball-handling conditions, but he stood no chance when Caversham increased its lead three minutes later.
Sam Collier combined with Andrew Ridden who flicked the ball over a defender, and might have gone for the shot, but he spotted Lewis Jackson in space and squared the ball to him for a clinically constructed goal.
It was a well worked bit of patterned play, honed at Tonga Park training sessions.
Four minutes later, it was Collier who scored the first of his two well-taken goals, and the score was 4-0 at halftime.
To Roslyn's credit, the team never stopped running and working.
Isaac Nicholson set standards, and Tyrrel Barringer-Tairi pushed forward into midfield, where Ben O'Farrell, Tennessee Kinghorn and Tom Connor tried to restore order.
An improved effort in the second half had Roslyn winning more possession, and testing Caversham keeper Liam Little.
In the 78th minute, Nathan Wilkie pulled a goal back, but too often Roslyn moves broke down, and the eventual final score was 4-1.
Having scored more and conceded fewer goals than any other FPL side, Caversham's lead at the top of the table was stretched to 11 points as second and third-placed Mosgiel and Dunedin Technical drew 1-1 at Tahuna.
At the Caledonian Ground, Green Island drew first blood against University when Andy Marshall beat the students' keeper Charlie Morris with a strong header after 30 minutes.
But an almost immediate lack of concentration allowed Varsity to equalise when Truth Toheriri angled in a strong shot, then Chris Kessell danced through tackles and slammed University into a 2-1 lead in the 34th minute.
The fast and furious scoring continued in the second half as Varsity raised its score to four and looked set to cruise to a clear victory.
But Max Johnstone had other ideas and the young Green Island striker slammed in a hat-trick that threatened University's win.
Coach Darren Hart's students accepted the challenge, however, and with both sides pushing forward the students clinched an important 5-4 result that moves them into fourth place.
In the curtain raiser at the Caledonian Ground, Roslyn-Wakari's Women beat University B 9-0, with goals from Una Madden (2), Holly White (2), Alex McIntosh (2), Lilly Robin (2), and Jordyn Walker.
