The Challenge Cup changed hands at English Park on September 28, as North Harbour (United Soccer 1) upset holders Mainland Soccer (Canterbury) 1-0 in their National Women’s Soccer League encounter, which was played in the worst conditions this writer has seen women’s soccer played in this year. The final act of the Canterbury association’s weekend-long centenary celebrations fell foul of the weather, with the playing surface more lake-like than park-like in patches at the end of the match. Due to this, there was very little quality football played, as the teams sloshed, slithered and slid through conditions which became increasingly lottery-like - and the players increasingly battle-weary - as the game wore on. The team which adapted better to the situation was the visiting side, although it was the Cantabrians who enjoyed the first shot of note in the match, a seventeenth minute off-target effort from Clare Warner, on receipt of Tina Bosscher’s crossfield ball. United’s first opportunity came in the 28th minute, a twenty-five yard grasscutter from Julie Ellis which skidded narrowly past Ingrid Bain’s right-hand post, after Sarah Gibbs’ corner had been cleared. On the half-hour, the advantage swung the visitors’ way. Another Gibbs corner this time picked out Anna Barlow, whose shot on the turn was parried by Bain. Catherine Porteous reacted quickest of all to the loose ball and lashed it goalwards, but Jane Simpson’s reactions were cat-like. Sadly for the SWANZ international, she wasn’t the goalkeeper, and well-performed whistle-blower Murray Hodson had little option but to show Simpson the first red card of her twenty-seven year playing career, for deliberate handball. The drama wasn’t yet over, however, as Liz O’Meara, the National Women’s Soccer League’s leading goalscorer in 2002, lined up the penalty kick. But Bain produced a superb save high to her right to keep the ball out, and was able to pounce on the loose ball before anyone wearing black could react. O’Meara had her revenge eight minutes later. Barlow slipped a lovely ball down the left into the path of Gibbs - just the sort of game she relishes, this one! She threw off the challenge of SWANZ defender Mel Edwards before firing over a cross which begged a quality finish, one which O’Meara duly provided from ten yards out. Given these were conditions which suggested one goal might prove suffice, it was a well-celebrated strike, and in all honesty, United were great value for their lead, having made better use of the prevailing conditions, inclement though they were. The second spell saw more of the same, only with the rain a little heavier and the wind giving the impression it had arrived at English Park via the South Pole - it was not

pretty for players or spectators alike. But the former group pursued their cause, the visitors continuing to set a better example of how to cope with the conditions, and in the 58th minute, came close to doubling their advantage. Barlow produced the kick-and-chase ball which the game’s star turn, Gillian Thurlow, scampered after and gathered before, under pressure, laying back into Barlow’s path. The midfielder’s low drive was seen late by Bain, who did well to turn it round the post. Gibbs’ resulting corner was cleared to Ellis, whose shot through the massed throngs stopped dead in the surface water just inside the penalty area. Thurlow was following the ball in, and found herself with a shooting chance. Bain was bearing down on the striker at a great rate of knots, however, and forced the Northern Premier Women’s League’s Sportswoman of the Year to prod her effort past the post. The final half-hour saw Mainland’s desperation increasing, as their grip on the Challenge Cup loosened with every passing minute. Kirsty Butland picked out Warner with a deep cross in the 63rd minute, but the striker’s finish failed to trouble Rachel Howard - her mood was such that the Cantabrians would need to produce something special to find a way past her. As it was, they were struggling to find a way past Fran Ebbett, Ellis, Rebecca Simpson and Mary-Lou Hendriks, a quartet whose defiant defending was one of the cornerstones of United’s finest hour to date in New Zealand women’s soccer. Try as they did, the Cantabrians were making little headway, but in the 87th minute, the door was opened inadvertently by Hendriks. Her header went back beyond Ellis, and Bosscher, who had joined the attack as a last resort, saw her chance. She slipped the ball through to fellow stop-gap front-runner, Stef White, who found herself striding into the penalty area one second, and kissing the sodden turf with a thump the next, Howard having hurtled off her line to save at the midfielder’s feet, upending White in the process. The home side screamed as one for a penalty, but referee Hodson found no fault, an after surviving a late corner, the cup was heading north, much to the delight of the visiting United squad, some of whom were celebrating their first honour at senior level as a result of this win in a match in which all players involved deserve commendation for their perseverance in the face of climatic adversity. Mainland:     Bain; Simpson (sent-off, 30), Edwards, Bourke, Bosscher; Warner, Cogle, McDowell, White; Butland, Neilson (Cumming, 76) United:          Howard; Ebbett (booked), Simpson, Hendriks, Ellis; Amadia (Roti, 59), Porteous, Barlow, Gibbs; O’Meara, Thurlow Referee:     Murray Hodson