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FHMU v Coastal Spirit 200714 | FHMU v Glenfield Rovers 070914
FHMU v Glenfield Rovers 070914
Rovers Come From Behind To Win Derby Cup Final
by Jeremy Ruane
Glenfield Rovers won the ASB National Women's Knockout Cup for the second time in four years on 7 September, coming from behind to down Forrest Hill-Milford United 3-2 in the "North Harbour Derby" final at QBE Stadium.
It didn't look likely just 76 seconds into the contest, however, as "The Swans" opened the scoring. Briar Palmer opened Rovers up down the left, jinking inside Lisa Wooles before scything between two defenders en route into the penalty area, at which point she set up Emma Rolston for a steered finish beyond Erin Nayler, whose first touch of the ball involved fishing it out of her net.
Stung, Glenfield sought a swift riposte, and after Katie Rood had headed an Emily Oosterhof cross wide in the third minute, got it five minutes later. Rood robbed Emily Jensen twenty-five yards out from goal and promptly smashed the ball into the top far corner - 1-1.
Last season's beaten finalists were buoyed by the goal, with Alice Bresnahan going close in the sixteenth minute as they sought to gain the ascendancy on the scoreboard. United had other ideas, however, and two minutes later engineered a terrific counter-attacking move, after Jensen had blocked an Oosterhof drive.
Palmer latched onto the loose ball and evaded a couple of challenges before releasing Tayla O'Brien on the left. She held up possession before working a one-two with Palmer, who had raced up in support. O'Brien crossed towards the far post, where Catherine Bott raced in to beat a hesitant Estelle Harrison in the air and direct a downward header towards the target. Nayler, clad in all-red, was all over it like a rash.
In the twentieth minute, Oosterhof, Rebecca O'Neill and Rood combined to good effect, with the last-mentioned directing an angled eighteen-yarder beyond the flailing fingertips of the diving Elise Donovan and inches past the far post - Rood was desperately close!
Unperturbed, the player later named the recipient of the Maia Jackman Trophy as Cup Final MVP tried again four minutes later, twisting and turning her way through a couple of challenges on the edge of the area before engineering space for a shot which Donovan smothered.
Rood would not be denied, however, and in the 28th minute, fired Glenfield in front. She benefited from a ricochet off Katie Jackson on the edge of the area, a defender's attempted clearance striking the midfielder and providing Rood with five yards of space, leaving her one-on-one with Donovan, who hadn't a prayer of preventing Rovers from taking a 2-1 lead.
Now it was "The Swans" who were stung, and their pursuit of an equaliser duly began in earnest. Jensen's free-kick from half-way was flicked on by Kate Seatter into Rolston's stride. Her hooked volley cleared the far post by a narrow margin.
Another Jensen ball forward, four minutes before half-time, wasn't cleared. Instantly, Bott swooped, with only the bounce of the ball and the fast-advancing figure of Nayler combining to curtail her goalscoring chance, seconds before the midfielder was crudely chopped down by Ashleigh Ward, who earned the only booking of the game for her blatant foul.
After Palmer had seen a teasing cross-shot grabbed under the bar by Nayler on the stroke of half-time, United went desperately close to drawing level in first half stoppage time. Bott raced past Harrison before picking out Rolston with a cross to the near post.
The striker controlled the ball before squeezing a shot on the turn in between Nayler and Armstrong. It was almost slow-motion stuff as the sphere rolled across the face of the gaping goal and agonisingly past the far post, with Palmer a stride away from turning it home and preventing Glenfield from going to the dressing rooms the odd goal in three to the good.
Rovers started the second half strongly, and were denied strong penalty claims seven minutes into it when Jensen appeared to use her hands to block a shot struck at her. Penalties and referee Anna-Marie Keighley are rare bedfellows, however, and even though this one had "stonewall" written all over it, the official decided agin.
Immediately, United counter-attacked, Oosterhof's
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teasing cross being fumbled by Nayler, whose error was cleared to Daisy Cleverley. Her twenty-yarder was headed over her own crossbar by Michele Hogg, while from the resulting O'Brien corner, Jensen and Nayler contested the ball in the air, with Rolston's resulting shot being blocked to safety.
Back came Glenfield, Rood leading the charge in the 56th minute. She played the ball across towards Ward, but Donovan was wise to it and instantly sparked a counter-attack, utilising the pace of O'Brien down the right. She surged into the area before passing to Rolston, whose shot on the turn was directed straight at Nayler.
Only a vital headed clearance by Harrison denied Rolston three minutes later, as O'Brien weaved through traffic on the left to get in a telling cross. Three further minutes elapsed, at the end of which Glenfield were celebrating for a third time.
Michelle Windsor's clumsy foul on Rood invited Ward to whip in a free-kick to the near post. Donovan came and missed it, with the ball clipping the head of Jensen and ricocheting into the net behind her as she bested Jackson in an aerial duel - an own goal for the second final in succession, but would it be decisive?
At 3-1, Glenfield certainly hoped so, but Forrest Hill-Milford, unbeaten all season long going into this final, weren't going to give up that record without a hell of a fight. And for the bulk of the next half-hour, they duly proceeded to throw everything but the kitchen sink at their near-neighbours, who pulled everyone back to within thirty yards of their own goal inside the final fifteen minutes as they looked to hold on to what they had - a one-goal advantage.
For after Palmer's 65th minute corner had hit the crossbar, and O'Neill had unsuccessfully auditioned for "Swan Lake" in Forrest Hill-Milford's penalty area, "The Swans" set up a grandstand finish by netting a second goal in the 68th minute.
Cleverley's slide-rule pass played in Rolston with daylight for company on the edge of Glenfield's penalty area. She picked her spot beyond Nayler - 3-2. Game on, big time!
United pounded away in search of an equaliser. O'Brien's break, from a Palmer ball down the left, was thwarted by Armstrong in the area, at the expense of a corner, which O'Brien delivered to the far post. Nicole Stratford's drive was blocked by Nayler.
Seconds later, Cleverley and Stratford combined to contain Rood, with Jensen picking up the pieces and picking out Rolston with a ball forward. The striker's flicked header invited Palmer to take on Harrison, a challenge she accomplished. Beating Nayler from twenty-five yards on the run proved beyond the winger, however - the 'keeper had a top game.
The Football Ferns' number one was kept busy soon after by efforts from Bott and, on two occasions, O'Brien, before a rare Glenfield counter-attack, led inevitably by Rood, saw Ward outpaced by Cleverley as Rovers looked to put the Cup Final beyond doubt. The resulting Oosterhof corner was punched out by Donovan to Bresnahan, whose volley drifted harmlessly past the far post.
It was Glenfield's last chance, United's pressure in the last ten minutes prompting understandable "hold what we have" tactics from Rovers. They held on, but only just, with United only prevented from taking the game into extra-time by a stunning reflex save from Nayler, who tipped substitute Casey Ridsdale's point-blank range header over the bar in spectacular fashion after Bott and O'Brien had combined down the right in the 89th minute.
Palmer's resulting corner saw Jensen's attempt to score at both ends in this Cup Final flash past the far post, and after Stratford's hanging cross had been headed narrowly past her own post by Armstrong, the final whistle sounded, to the undisguised relief of Glenfield Rovers, ASB National Women's Knockout Cup winners once more.
FHMU: Donovan; Stratford, Windsor (Ridsdale, 67), Jensen, Olsen; Bott, Seatter, Cleverley; O'Brien, Rolston, Palmer
Glenfield: Nayler; Wooles (Bunge, 63), Armstrong, Hogg (Stiles, 77), Harrison; Oosterhof (Hallford, 90), Jackson, Bresnahan, Ward (booked, 42); O'Neill, Rood
Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley
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