The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
01/06/03 | 01/05/05 | 19/06/05 | 30/04/06 | 01/08/07 | 18/05/08 | 29/06/08 | 10/06/12 | 12/08/12 | 04/05/14
01/06/03
Premier Women’s Champions Slip Four Points Clear
by Jeremy Ruane
Lynn-Avon United extended their advantage at the top of the Northern Premier Women’s League to four points with a game in hand on June 1, after the champions of the past three seasons scored a solid 6-2 win at Eastern Suburbs, who began the day in second place.
What became a highly entertaining top-of-the-table affair started in nightmarish fashion for the home side, Lis Garman steering an Amber Hearn cross intended for Sara Clapham past the advancing Ginny Tan and into her own net just sixty-eight seconds into the action.
Suburbs’ goalkeeper quickly recovered from this setback, pawing out a teasing Kirsty Yallop cross-shot in the third minute, then capably dealing with an eighteen yard shot on the turn from Rebecca Parkinson two minutes later, after she had latched onto a Hayley Moorwood through ball.
After Dana Heiford had sent a twenty-five yard free-kick fizzing a foot over the crossbar, Suburbs stunned Lynn-Avon by scoring with their first attack of any consequence. Vicki Chong released Kelly Mawston into yards of room down the left, and the former SWANZ international made the most of it before crossing to the league’s leading goalscorer, Rebecca Tegg.
The young striker turned her marker before firing a shot across the diving figure of Yvonne Vale and in off the far post to level the scores.
Stung, United responded in predictable fashion - anything you can do, we can do also! At least, that was the theory. They hadn’t reckoned on Tan and her team-mates doing everything they could to prevent them from putting it into practice!!
The goalkeeper produced a fine flying save low to her left to deny Yallop two minutes later, after Hearn had switched the ball to the left flank, while a slick one-two on the right between Parkinson and Clapham culminated in the latter crossing for Michele Keinzley. Her shot was blocked by Chong, with Hearn lashing the rebound goalwards, but at Tan in the 21st minute.
Two minutes later, a quick Heiford free-kick to Moorwood resulted in a delicious curling cross which enticed Tan out of her goal as Clapham went in where angels fear to tread. With both players eyeing the ball, their collision was inevitable, and both were shaken by their ordeal, the striker requiring treatment from Lynn-Avon’s physio before continuing.
That Clapham bore no ill effects from the clash was evident two minutes later, as she directed a downward header at goal from Parkinson’s cross. Tan, too, was back in full working order, as she sprung to her left to parry, then grab the ball, before Clapham could pounce on the rebound.
The goalkeeper then raced off her line to save splendidly at the feet of Keinzley after a Moorwood pass had split Suburbs’ defence asunder, but Tan was eventually beaten again in the 28th minute, again through no fault of her own.
This time, it was Moorwood’s pressure which prompted Deb Gerrard to direct a back-pass towards her goalkeeping team-mate. Unfortunately for the midfielder, it was a wayward effort, and Parkinson was quickly in for the kill. She rounded Tan and stroked the ball home into an empty net, copping a clattering tackle from Jen Somerfield in the process.
The incident curtailed the striker’s activities for the remainder of the half, and earned the defender a strong censure from referee Perry Tompsett, who, while letting Somerfield know that she would have been sent off for a professional foul had the ball not gone into the net, admirably allowed the spirit of the game to overrule the letter of the law on this occasion.
Despite this latest setback, Suburbs came storming back at Lynn-Avon, only for Vale to prove her worth with two outstanding saves in a five-minute spell which emphasised her current ranking as New Zealand’s number one number one.
Mawston let fly from twenty-five yards in the 32nd minute with a free-kick which looked every inch a goal, until Vale launched herself to her right to turn the ball to safety. Five minutes later, Tegg turned Jennifer Carlisle in the penalty area, and while Terry McCahill was on hand to rescue her colleague, Janet Groves picked up the pieces and slipped the ball inside via Natalie Davies to Chong.
With defenders closing, she played an inviting pass into Tegg’s path, and the striker let fly from close-range at a gap between the advancing Vale and her near post. The league’s leading goalscorer couldn’t believe her eyes as the custodian produced another top stop to keep her team in front.
Following these scares, Lynn-Avon grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, and in the remaining minutes of the half, Tan had to be
|
at her best to ensure there was no change to the 2-1 scoreline. After smothering a shot on the turn from Keinzley following Melissa Ray’s ball forward, the goalkeeper looked on as McCahill headed a Hearn corner just past her left-hand upright.
Somerfield was on hand to spare Tan’s blushes seconds later, after she gifted possession to an unsuspecting Keinzley, while after saving an eighteen-yarder from Moorwood, Tan was beaten all ends up by the same player a minute before the break, only for the crossbar to intervene - Moorwood’s dipping twenty-five yard drive deserved better fate.
In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Ray unleashed a splendid diagonal ball forward which the marauding Moorwood flicked on for Keinzley to latch onto. But Tan’s anticipation was such that the striker didn’t even get the chance to capitalise on the opportunity, as the goalkeeper brought the half to a close by saving at her feet once again.
Lynn-Avon, with the strengthening wind at their backs, stepped up a gear in the second spell, and nearly extended their lead in similar circumstances to the first goal of the game just three minutes after the resumption. Ray’s ball down the left released the ever-lively Yallop, and her cross for Clapham was almost turned into her own net by the retreating Somerfield.
After Tan had comfortably dealt with a Clapham header following a Heiford cross five minutes later, some incisive off-the-ball movement by Yallop was rewarded by a pass from Parkinson. The youngster’s teasing cross to the far post left Tan in no man’s land, but proved just too high for Clapham to capitalise upon.
The resulting goal-kick eventually found its way to Carlisle, who unleashed the pass of the match on the hour - a forty-yard grasscutter which released Moorwood down the right. Her cross was a virtual invitation to score, and Clapham duly did the honours, nodding into an empty net by the far post.
Five minutes later, the defending champions stretched their advantage still further. Cutting in from the right, Keinzley left three defenders trailing in her wake before slipping a pass into Clapham’s path. The striker let fly, only for the ball to cannon down off the angle of post and crossbar. But Yallop was following in, and gained due reward for doing so by heading home the rebound - 4-1.
Which became 5-1 in the 69th minute - and how! Bobbie Moore’s defensive blunders were pounced on by Hearn, who unleashed a pulverising twenty-five yard drive into the top left-hand corner of Tan’s net - such was the sheer speed of the shot that the goalkeeper only reacted to it as it screamed past her some four yards away from its destination.
By now, Suburbs’ heads had collectively dropped in defence, and it was only a sprawling save by Tan which denied Yallop fifteen minutes from time, after the midfielder had teamed up with Keinzley. But the goalkeeper hadn’t a prayer from the resulting corner - Heiford’s delivery picked out McCahill, whose downward header arrowed into the net - 6-1.
The home team rounded off the scoring three minutes later. Moore threw the ball into Groves, who made her way down the right before crossing to Tegg, who lashed home a beauty from fifteen yards out which rendered Vale helpless, the goalkeeper having saved from the same player just seconds before as Tegg failed to capitalise on a wayward clearance.
In the ongoing contest between Tan and Keinzley, the goalkeeper confirmed her superiority once again ten minutes from time, as the striker raced through on goal with the custodian her only obstacle. Tan spread herself well as she raced off her line, and the SWANZ international was left to rue her ill-fortune once again.
Six minutes later, a through ball from Hearn was poked past Tan by the stretching Moorwood, only for the woodwork to deny the midfielder for a second time. The ricochet off the post was pounced on by Keinzley, who played the ball into Moorwood’s path, only for Tan to race off her line and save at the playmaker’s feet.
The goalkeeper deserved a final flourish, and produced it in stoppage time, a stunning save to deny a flying header from Hearn, following a cross by Parkinson. But Lynn-Avon were well happy with their 6-2 triumph, a result which leaves them well clear of the chasing pack as the league campaign approaches the half-way mark.
Suburbs: Tan; Moore, Somerfield, Garman; Gerrard, Chong, Davies, Mawston; McLeod (Wilson, 55), Groves, Tegg
Lynn-Avon: Vale; Carlisle, McCahill, Ray; Keinzley, Moorwood, Heiford, Hearn, Yallop; Parkinson, Clapham (Vincent, 70)
Referee: Perry Tompsett
|