Southern keeper Dom Dixon has been in dynamic form all week and produced another stunning effort at the national under-21 tournament in Auckland yesterday.
His efforts helped Southern outscore competition leader North Harbour 3-2 in the shootout.
The sides were locked 2-2 at fulltime after Benji Edwards scored from a penalty corner with about four minutes remaining.
That meant another shootout for Southern — its third of the tournament. The team has won two of them and it is largely down to the work of Dixon.‘‘Dom has been all over the shootouts the whole week,’’ Southern coach Gabe Rawcliffe said.
"Pretty much every time a player has come in he has looked like he is going to save it.
"You don’t always come out on top in a one on one but Dom was just real dominant in goal today."
Despite his efforts, Harbour scored from its first two attempts. But Dixon kept the next three out and Dan Guthrie scored what proved to be the winner. Southern picked up two points for the shootout victory but is in sixth place with one game remaining.
It has a bye today before completing the tournament with a match against Canterbury tomorrow. A win could enable it to climb as high as fourth depending on other results, Rawcliffe said.
"We dropped a few points earlier in the week, unfortunately. We should have won the game against Capital.
"We had a lot of opportunities but couldn’t finish it off in regulation and it ended up being 1-1."
The Southern women’s under-21 team recorded another comprehensive loss. It was thrashed 6-0 by Canterbury and is anchored at the bottom of the competition standings with four losses from four games.
Southern has conceded 19 goals without scoring one itself. It plays Capital, which is also winless, this morning.
