Four contenders are leading the pack as the Footballsouth Premier League stretches its legs in the season's long grind to win silverware.
Next week, the Chatham Cup offers sudden-death football, but the FPL is more of a marathon than a sprint, and each game is vitally important.
Dunedin Technical already has perfect statistics at the top of the league: unbeaten, averaging nearly six goals per match, and with a miserly goals conceded column of six in six.
Rivals can only hope that the gap left by Andy Coburn - and it is a large one - will create a chink in the Culling Park armour.
But with Aaron Burgess in top scoring form, Tim Myers and giants Matt Joy and Liam Lockhart, plus Tristan Prattley and Hayden Gunn massed in defence, and the Flaws brothers, Justin and Mike, providing a cutting edge, Technical looks well equipped to cruise onwards.
Northern will hope to use its Gardens advantage to upset Technical's flowing game.
Northern is on a roll, unbeaten for three weeks, and with ingredients for success like pace in attack, a swarming hard-working midfield, and defenders that put their bodies on the line.
In beating Roslyn last week, Northern scored a couple of spectacular goals that would have gone in against any opposition. The first team to score today will likely gain a huge advantage.
Caversham is hard on Technical's heels in second place, and coach Richard Murray will not want the five-point gap to increase when his team meets Queenstown at Tonga Park.
The Caversham scoring machine returned to top form last week with eight goals against University, including two each from Harley Rodeka and Darren Overton, and in a cameo appearance, Murray himself scored.
Queenstown has improved in recent matches, can pass and score goals, but its leaky defence, averaging more than three goals conceded per game, makes winning a tall order.
Third-placed Mosgiel fronts up at Memorial Park to Spirit FC from Invercargill.
Mosgiel has scored more than two goals in each game this season, its attacking play netting 14 goals so far.
The Spirit's new Scots import, Craig Ferguson, won man of the match in his first appearance, so there will be considerable interest in his performance.
Fourth-placed Roslyn-Wakari plays Green Island at Sunnyvale, with Roslyn looking for a more direct attacking performance than last week.
The Island is training well under coach Rod Fleming, and since Fleming took the field himself last week, perhaps there will be more authority with his presence.
Still licking its wounds from last week's 8-0 defeat, University will not find it easy to reassert itself at Ocean Grove, where Grants Braes has achieved respect through stability and a hard-working team effort.
