Northern Football scored a solid 5-0 victory over cross-town rivals Auckland at Parrs Park on 23 October to surge to the outright lead in the ASB National Women's Youth League's Northern Conference. The result came as no surprise given the relative inexperience of the Auckland squad named for this match compared with that of their Northern counterparts, nine of whom, some would argue, should be playing in blue and white rather than all black given they are registered with clubs in the Auckland federation. League regulations, however, allow teams in this predominantly U-20 competition to select any age-restricted players who play or reside within their boundaries, and it is the residency aspect of the equation which Northern has capitalised upon, together with Auckland's failure to get their plans for the season in place on a timely basis. Both teams were missing some of the over-age contingent - Northern captain Rebecca O'Neill was absent, as were Auckland duo Rebecca Tegg and Grace Vincent - but it was another member of the "oldies" brigade on whom the spotlight turned in just the second minute of play. Young Auckland striker Martine Puketapu bore down on Pam Yates' goal with just the 'keeper to beat, only for the former Football Ferns custodian to block her progress right on the edge of the penalty area. She appeared to handle the ball outside the box in the process of thwarting the opportunity, which prompted appeals aplenty from Auckland players and coaching staff for a red card to be brandished for a professional foul which denied Puketapu a goalscoring opportunity. Referee Sarah Walker saw things differently, however, deeming that the ball had been kicked out of the 'keeper's hands, an action which wasn't clearly evident to many, but which saw Yates breathing a huge sigh of relief as Northern resumed play with a free-kick. From that moment, the home team never looked back. Megan Lee's unchallenged seventh minute raid saw her run forty yards before letting fly, prompting the first of a number of saves from Auckland 'keeper Jessica Reddaway. Two minutes later, a Tessa Berger blunder was pounced upon by Hannah Wilkinson, only for the defender to make up for her error with a fine recovering tackle, resulting in a corner. This was played short, but eventually found its way to Wilkinson, whose shot was superbly parried by Reddaway. Briony Fisher hooked the ball to safety on this occasion, while a headed clearance from Rachel Head in the thirteenth minute was pounced upon by Rebecca Burrows, who stung the gloves of Auckland's goalkeeper with a fierce drive. Sixty seconds later, Reddaway was beaten all ends up by a stunning opening goal. Caitlin Campbell's free-kick was flicked on by Steph Skilton to Wilkinson, who swivelled to volley a fine shot on the turn over the 'keeper and into the top far corner - a fine strike. Auckland sought a swift riposte, and should have been on level terms within six minutes. Fisher's ball forward was splendidly flicked on by Puketapu into the stride of Tayla Hetherington, who raced through before blazing a shot on the run over the bar from twelve yards - a bad miss. And one which was punished mercilessly in the 28th minute. Despite being on opposing teams in this match, club-mates Claudia Crasborn and Berger are great pals, and they enjoyed a fair few laughs throughout proceedings, often in tandem with Fisher. On this occasion, Berger caught Crasborn with a tackle just outside the penalty area which was no laughing matter as far as Auckland's captain was concerned, as it gave Campbell the chance to line up a twenty yard free-kick. It was a cracker! The 99th goal of her career zoomed past the defensive wall and into the corner of the net with Reddaway clutching at thin air - 2-0. Maia Jackman, despite her flu-ridden state, provided the bulk of the experience in the Auckland team, and straight after the resumption she raced down the flank past two opponents before whipping in a cross from the byline for Puketapu's benefit. Yates denied her, grabbing the ball at the near post to spark a Northern raid which was led by Wilkinson and culminated in Skilton's piledriver being blocked at point-blank range by Sivitha Boyce. The ball was cleared to Caitlin Smallfield, who played Wilkinson in down the right, only for her low cross to be grabbed by Reddaway. Hetherington squandered another chance to score following good work by Jessica Snell on the left, a poor finish matched by Wilkinson in the 34th

Caitlin Smallfield (Nthn) gets away from Jessica Snell (Akld) Hannah Wilkinson (Nthn) controls the ball as Rachel Head (Akld) takes evasive action Maia Jackman (Akld) gets a pass away as Jess Innes (Nthn) challenges Megan Lee (Nthn) Briony Fisher (Akld) Claudia Crasborn (Nthn)

minute - she pulled her shot across the face of goal after Campbell had sent her careering through the Auckland rearguard. Seconds later, Skilton played Tayla O'Brien through with a measured through ball, but the speedster was thwarted by Reddaway's timely save at her feet. Her next "save" was far less accomplished. Three minutes before half-time, Hannah Carlsen - another solid shift in the centre of the park - unleashed a thirty yard firecracker which Reddaway was quite content to let fly past her left-hand post. That was until the ball struck said upright, rebounded onto her face and ricocheted off her for a corner - a wake-up call, Northern style! Nothing came of the resulting corner, but two minutes later, Reddaway redeemed herself by twice thwarting Wilkinson, who squandered her first attempt to score upon receipt of O'Brien's pass. Crasborn retrieved Wilkinson's wayward effort and invited the Football Fern to have another go, which she did. Reddaway blocked her effort, and recovered quickly to grab Wilkinson's third attempt as she looked to hook home the rebound. Northern's penchant for pressurising Auckland's players inside their own half paid dividends with the last attack of the first forty-five minutes. Possession was garnered by Crasborn, who fed Jess Innes behind her. A fine cross-field ball found O'Brien lurking with intent near the penalty area, and she evaded a challenge before rounding Reddaway and rolling home Northern's third goal of the half with its last kick. Auckland were faced with the proverbial mountain-climbing expedition in the second half, but Northern were in no mood to let things slip, and didn't. Indeed, it was the home team who looked more likely to increase their lead before the hour, with Reddaway saving from both Wilkinson and Crasborn during this period. Just after the hour, Northern made it 4-0 through Skilton, who swooped on a Chelsey Wood error and surged through before slotting home beyond Reddaway's slow-motion dive. Auckland offered just two attacks of note in response to this strike throughout the remainder of the match, and it was no surprise to see Jackman involved in both. The first raid, in the 67th minute, saw her evade one challenge before picking out Puketapu, who set up Hetherington for a shot which sailed wide of the mark. Twelve minutes later, substitutes Daisy Cleverley and Tina Kolose worked an opening for the long-serving stalwart of the New Zealand women's game, who was only denied a consolation goal by Yates' fine save at her feet. These efforts apart, Northern looked extremely comfortable, and very much intent on adding to their advantage. Reddaway smothered a Wilkinson effort after an awful error by Fisher, while Crasborn was unlucky not to get on the end of a Katie Rood cross in the 71st minute, following another strong run into the opposition's half by Lee. Five minutes later, Wilkinson was denied another volleyed goal by the crossbar - Crasborn, following in, couldn't direct the rebound on target - while a fine covering tackle by Courtney Van Lieshout thwarted Rood seven minutes from time, after Crasborn and Wilkinson had prised open Auckland's rearguard. Two minutes later, Wilkinson got on the end of an Innes cross, only to direct her effort at Reddaway, but the striker wasn't to be denied by the goalkeeper in the 86th minute, Wilkinson powering through before poking home her second goal of the game, Northern's fifth. The width of a post denied Wilkinson a hat-trick in stoppage time, after she had dashed through onto an astute pass from the well-performed Burrows, but Northern were more than content with handing out a 5-0 hiding to their cross-town rivals, whose collective post-match antics left a lot to be desired, to say the least. Only a handful of Auckland players respected their post-match function duties, while Jackman was alone in performing a post-match warm-down - hardly the behaviour one has come to expect of representatives of the province which has, by and large, set the standards for the women's game in New Zealand since the code's introduction here in 1973. Northern:     Yates; Campbell, Smallfield, Lee, Innes; O'Brien (Rood, 64), Carlsen (Milne, 72), Burrows, Crasborn (McNamara, 84); Wilkinson, Skilton (Knott, 88) Auckland:     Reddaway; Fisher (booked, 37), Berger, Boyce (Nakhid-Schuster, 82), Head (Van Lieshout, 74); Jackman, Wood, Carter (Kolose, 74), Snell (Cleverley, 46); Hetherington, Puketapu (Muir, 82) Referee:     Sarah Walker