A stirring finishing flourish from bottom-of-the-table Force 3 (Waikato-Bay of Plenty) fell just short of matching the ninety-minute effort of United Soccer 1 (North Harbour and environs) at the outer oval of North Harbour Stadium on October 27, the home team’s first half goals seeing them savour a 2-1 victory at the end of yet another wind-plagued encounter. Possession aplenty was United’s to savour throughout the bulk of the first half, but penetration proved difficult against a Waikato combination which featured the return of Rikki Williams to the starting line-up. Visiting goalkeeper Kirsty Moore had little to do for the first fifteen minutes of the match, the closest the home team coming to testing the custodian in that time being a low shot from Anna Barlow, which fizzed past the post following a Sarah Gibbs corner. Another such set-piece delivery from the same player created chaos in the eighteenth minute, Stacey Smith clearing off the line after Gillian Thurlow’s headed effort hit the far post. Gibbs had a go herself soon after, but found Moore equal to her thirty-yard free-kick attempt, before the primarily North Harbour-based side produced the best chance of the match to date, in the 24th minute. Rebecca Simpson - a model of consistency, along with defensive side-kick Mary-Lou Hendriks, throughout this encounter - steered the ball into the path of Sarah Sciarone, who was outpaced in a foot-race by the well-performed Kelly Aitken. Unfortunately for the defender, her no-look pass towards Moore found Thurlow lurking with intent, and the evergreen striker dutifully steered the ball into the heart of the goalmouth, the gaping target unprotected. But no-one in a white shirt was on hand to open the scoring, only the royal blue-clad figure of Williams, the visitors having failed to bring an alternate strip with them to counter the home team’s usual all-black ensemble. After efforts from Fran Ebbett and the industrious Catherine Porteous had narrowly missed their intended target, Thurlow broke down the left on the half-hour and bludgeoned her way through a tackle before steering the ball into the path of Sciarone. With the goal at her mercy, the striker squandered a glorious opportunity, shooting straight at Moore, who parried the effort, Aitken getting back to mop up the threat. Two minutes later, the deadlock was broken through an unlikely source. Ebbett’s free-kick was cleared to Julie Ellis, who, with the wind at her back, hooked the ball forward towards Sciarone. Smith was ahead of her, but her attempt to head the ball clear looped awkwardly over the stunned figure of Moore and high into the net for, as far as Waikato were concerned, a tragic way in which to fall behind on the scoreboard. Not that their hosts minded one bit! They quickly sought to build on their advantage, however fortuitously it came about, with Thurlow heading a Gibbs corner wide in the 35th minute, then hitting the post eight minutes later, after Sciarone had dispossessed Ruth Cooper. Right on half-time, Moore somehow produced a save she had no right to make, much to Gibbs’ frustration. Thurlow played the ball wide to Ebbett, whose teasing, hanging cross was the proverbial goalkeeper’s nightmare. Moore stood rooted to her line as Gibbs came flying in, and her point-blank-range downward header looked in for all money. But the

‘keeper’s reflexes took over, Moore snaking out a hand to paw the ball out from under the shadows of the crossbar. The visitors scrambled the ball to seeming safety, but Gibbs quickly regained possession, and drove in a cross to the far post which Ebbett just edged out Thurlow in guiding home from close-range to give the Harbourites a 2-0 lead, with virtually the last kick of the half. The home team’s first half dominance continued in the early stages of the second spell, but Waikato continued to survive by the skin of their teeth!! A Gibbs cross from the left straight from the kick-off left Moore beaten all ends up, but despite the presence of Thurlow and Sciarone on the far post, a third goal wasn’t forthcoming. Soon after, Hendriks and Barlow combined on the left, the latter crossing from the byline for Thurlow. Moore smothered her effort by her right-hand post, then looked on as Gibbs fired a yard wide on the run, following the endeavours of half-time substitute Jennie Cross. A slick one-two between Sciarone and Gibbs on the edge of the penalty area offered the striker another clear-cut chance to find the net, but a tame shot at Moore prompted United coach Billy Harris to unleash Liz O’Meara on the opposition in Sciarone’s place. The SWANZ striker wasted little time in making her mark on proceedings, her strong surge down the right resulting in a cross for Gibbs which the midfielder sent sailing over the bar from eight yards. O’Meara then directed a volley on target from a Gibbs corner, but Moore blocked the effort, and Waikato scrambled clear once again. Another O’Meara effort flew narrowly wide of the mark in the 71st minute, after Hendriks, Gibbs and Barlow had teamed up, while three minutes later, the last-mentioned’s lovely through ball sent Porteous powering through from midfield. She did everything right, and her rising drive over Moore’s head was a gem. But the ball hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and back into play - it was that sort of day for United! For their part, Waikato had made more of a game of it in the second half, captain Cheryl Carter driving the troops on with gusto. And for the best part of the last twenty minutes, they pounded away in search of the goals which would snatch a point from the jaws of defeat. But Simpson and Hendriks, between them, coped admirably with the bombardment, so much so that Jenny Bindon had to make just one save of note, that from Lynda Hemming’s rasping twenty-yarder twelve minutes from time. The pressure had to tell, however, and two minutes from the end, the visitors’ best performance of the season so far gained its due reward when Tarena O’Neill crashed home an unstoppable twenty-five yard volley, after Simpson had headed Kimberley Lewis’ corner to seeming safety. But time was Waikato’s enemy, and the 2-1 loss meant last place was still their lot, as United scored a deserved third win of the season. Nth Harbour:     Bindon; Stenbridge, Simpson, Hendriks, Ellis (Cross, 46); Ebbett, Barlow, Porteous, Gibbs; Thurlow, Sciarone (O’Meara, 58) Waikato:     Moore; Williams, Aitken, Smith, Lewis; Chambers, O’Neill, Carter, Cooper (Black, 69), Hemming; Wakefield Referee:     Chris Richardson