Waikato-Bay of Plenty and Auckland produced a highly entertaining 2-2 draw in their ASB National Women's Youth League encounter at Gower Park on November 20, with the home team coming from behind to draw after taking an early lead. The visitors began brightly, with Martine Puketapu pouncing on a Kate Carlton error in the third minute and powering past both Carlton and Libby Williams before driving a shot at Naomi-Beth Carter. Wai-BOP's 'keeper was busy again four minutes later, tipping a Tayla Hetherington effort round her near post after the striker had wriggled through a couple of challenges and side-stepped Williams en route to lining up a shot on goal. But the home team responded in the ninth minute courtesy the industry of Olivia Chance and Kate Loye on the left flank. The latter's cross picked out Holly Patterson, who thumped a shot against the upright from ten yards. Auckland captain Tessa Berger - a lion-hearted performance - tidied up the rebound, but was powerless to prevent Patterson from opening the scoring five minutes later with a super goal. Surrounded by opponents, Patterson somehow wriggled her way through then swept past two more rivals as she surged into the penalty area, where she worked a slick one-two with Sarah McLaughlin before sweeping the ball beyond Rebecca Rolls into the far corner of the net. After Hetherington had given Carter cause for concern with a long-range effort, Chance regained possession for Wai-BOP after a McLaughlin pass had gone astray, and slipped Loye through the inside-left channel. Rolls smothered this effort at her near post, then grabbed another effort from Loye after she was allowed to run through unchallenged from midfield. Jessica Snell was enduring a first half she'll want to forget, much to her team-mates' frustration, and her struggles were being exploited by her opponents. Eleven minutes before the break, Kylie Jens stripped the youngster of possession and promptly sent Loye careering through in pursuit of a peach of a pass. The midfield general pulled her latest effort across the face of goal, then pounced on a Berger error to set up Chance for a chance which she chipped over the bar. Loye and McLaughlin then worked a one-two in midfield in the 41st minute which saw the playmaker swivel and ping a forty yard pass into Patterson's stride as she powered down the right. On this occasion, the goalscorer shot early but inaccurately, the ball careering across the face of goal, moments before Rolls saved at the feet of Tessa Leong after the youngster had been picked out by McLaughlin's defence-piercing pass in the shadows of the half-time whistle. Leong spurned a great chance to double Wai-BOP's lead forty seconds into the second half, firing wildly over the bar after Courteney Van Lieshout's clearance had landed right in front of her. Two minute later, Leong came closer still to increasing the home team's advantage, after Gaby Rotteveel and Loye had prised open Auckland's rearguard to put the youngster in with just Rolls to beat, a feat Leong duly achieved. But fortune favoured the custodian, the ball hitting the far post and rebounding back into the goalmouth, where Rolls gathered the sphere and swiftly sent it soaring downfield, the strong cross-field wind aiding its flight. The dropping ball deceived Carter, who spilled the sphere, prompting Patterson to race back in an effort to tidy up. Martine Puketapu got there first, however, and went down under the retreating wing-back's challenge inside the area, prompting referee Ben Norman to unhesitatingly point to the penalty spot. Berger swiftly grabbed the ball and battered the equaliser past Carter - 1-1 after 49 minutes, and a goal Auckland's captain's massive display richly merited. The goal rocked Wai-BOP, and they very nearly found themselves behind on the scoreboard three minutes later. Daisy Cleverley and Grace Vincent - in her farewell display before heading to Melbourne to study - linked with Van Lieshout, who sent Puketapu racing through the inside right channel, from where she lashed a shot narrowly past Carter's left-hand post. Cue the introduction of Helen Collins, who was swiftly brought into play by McLaughlin, and just as swiftly gave Rolls cause for concern, the 'keeper racing out to save at the newcomer's feet within a minute of the substitution's introduction. McLaughlin then took control of the ball in the centre circle and stormed downfield, leaving three opponents trailing in her wake. A deft pass in behind Chelsey Wood invited Chance to let fly, and she sent a drive soaring towards the top right-hand corner of Rolls' net. The dual international called upon all her goalkeeping and wicket-keeping skills to produce a

Kylie Jens (WBOP) Tessa Berger (Akld) Olivia Chance (WBOP) Tayla Hetherington (Akld) Holly Patterson (WBOP) Jolene Muir (Akld)

stunning save high to her right, with the fact she held onto the ball making the denial all the more impressive. Leong just failed to get on the end of a cross from the overlapping Jens on the hour - McLaughlin was again the inspiration - while Hetherington responded with a long-range effort which Carter grabbed greedily at the other end of the park seconds later. This was the signal for another wave of Wai-BOP pressure, with Chance narrowly astray with a 65th minute free-kick, while seconds later Patterson set off on a solo run from half-way inside her own half which culminated in a shot deflecting off Berger and flying narrowly past Rolls' left-hand post. The resulting corner, from Chance, was a wicked inswinger which hit the bar, over which Carlton fired the rebound after pandemonium briefly reigned in Auckland's penalty area. Sixteen minutes from time, Puketapu lashed a twenty-yarder narrowly past the post after catching an opponent in possession and taking on all-comers en route towards the target. The resulting goal-kick was a poor one, and prompted Carlton to play a back-pass. The look of horror which enveloped her face as she saw Puketapu pounce on it was priceless, and the striker nutmegged Williams to leave Snell one-on-one with Carter. The striker smashed the ball over the head of the advancing 'keeper and high into the net to give Auckland the lead, 2-1. Cue a stirring fightback from Wai-BOP, Collins twice going close inside the next ninety seconds, with Rolls' rock-solid save at the striker's feet on the second occasion seeing Collins crumple to the ground. Having just recovered from a broken ankle, she needed another injury setback like a hole in the head, so there were plenty of sighs of relief released when she gingerly got to her feet and returned to her attacking spearhead position. Patterson is still learning the ropes with regard to the defensive aspects of her new wing-back role, a situation confirmed when her eagerness to deny Auckland substitute Jolene Muir saw her clatter straight through the newcomer twelve minutes from time. Referee Norman could easily have brandished the yellow card on another occasion, but erred on the side of caution where issuing a caution was concerned, settling on a free-kick alone as suitable punishment. Lucy Carter's delivery to the far post was punched out by her namesake, Naomi-Beth Carter, to Cleverley, whose volley careered over the bar. The game-long tussle of Van Lieshout and Chance was every bit as good as that of McLaughlin and Berger, with the young fullback more than holding her own against the exciting wing wizard. But seven minutes from time, Chance escaped the clutches of her marker, and the visitors were pegged back on the scoreboard. Leong won the ball on the right and fed Collins, who evaded a couple of challenges before slipping a shot past Rolls inside the penalty area. As had happened to Leong earlier, the post denied the striker, but this time the rebound fell perfectly into the stride of Chance, following in ... 2-2. Instantly, Berger left the fray, a tight hamstring prematurely concluding her fine display. Her departure gave the invigorated Wai-BOP combination fresh hope that they could record a come-from-behind victory against rivals who had denied them in dramatic fashion in their Bill McKinlay Park clash, but it was not to be. It wasn't for the want of trying on Wai-BOP's part, however. Chance drilled a shot at Rolls, while McLaughlin thundered a twenty-five yarder narrowly over the bar as the home team piled on the pressure in search of a winner. Their hopes appeared dashed, however, when a sight no football fan wants to see brought play to a halt as the match entered stoppage time - one of the game's best players lying injured. Chance had landed awkwardly, rolling her ankle in the process, and was carried from the pitch to a healthy round of sympathetic applause from both sets of supporters. Her departure prompted an extension of the indicated amount of injury time, and in the dying seconds, Wai-BOP almost made it count. A weak Michelle Windsor clearance saw the ball arrive in the stride of Loye, who let fly from point-blank range. Rolls' superb save turned the ball round the post and ensured Auckland would again earn themselves a share of the spoils from another memorable clash with Wai-BOP. Waikato-BOP:     Carter; Patterson, Carlton, Williams (Hayes, 79), Jens; Porteous (Stewart, 68), Rotteveel (Collins, 52), Loye; Leong, McLaughlin, Chance (Boden, 90) Auckland:     Rolls; Van Lieshout, Berger (Windsor, 84), Wood, Head; Carter (Kolose, 84), Vincent (Mathews, 67), Cleverley; Snell, Puketapu, Hetherington (Muir, 67) Referee:     Ben Norman