Lynn-Avon Prevail On Penalties After Epic Women’s Final by Jeremy Ruane For two hard-fought hours on July 21, Ellerslie and Lynn-Avon United gave their all and then some in an epic Uncle Toby’s Women’s Knockout Cup Final at Bill McKinlay Park. That there were no goals did not do justice to a marvellous encounter, the final outcome of which deserved to read 3-3, 4-4 or higher still. As it was, five hundred-odd folk were treated to a thrilling scoreless spectacle, made so by some outstanding goalkeeping, amazing misses and resolute defending by players of both teams. But after those two gruelling hours, with the sides still locked together on the scoreboard, it came down to the cruellest method of all to separate them, and Lynn-Avon usurped the cup holders 5-3 on penalties to claim the trophy for a record-equalling third time. The early exchanges were, like the rest of the match, fairly even, Sue Taylor firing a twenty-five yarder wide of the mark for Ellerslie in the fifth minute, while Stephanie Puckrin saved at the feet of United’s Hayley Moorwood six minutes later, after the ball had got stuck under the feet of the lively midfielder following Dana Heiford’s near-post corner. Yvonne Vale then produced the first of the saves which ultimately earned her the much-coveted MVP award of the 2002 final. A fine Ellerslie build-up, featuring Michele Keinzley, Kristy Hill, Melanie Gooch and Vicki Rainbow, culminated in a rasping angled thirty yard drive from Taylor which Vale spectacularly tipped over the crossbar. From Rebecca Sowden’s resulting corner, the goalkeeper plucked the ball off the head of Hill. Back came Lynn-Avon, Moorwood feeding Terry McCahill, who sent Amanda Crawford scampering through Ellerslie’s rearguard on the quarter-hour. An instinctive first-time drive had Puckrin back-pedalling frantically, but the ball flew narrowly past the ‘keeper’s left-hand upright, and the cup holders breathed again. Puckrin then smothered a Rachel Doody drive, before another flying save from Vale thwarted Keinzley, the goalkeeper tipping the striker’s effort over the crossbar after Lill Summerfield’s early ball forward had caught McCahill napping. Amber Hearn and Rainbow exchanged shots on goal before the half-hour mark which gave neither goalkeeper cause for concern, but Puckrin was off her line like a cat ten minutes before the interval to save at the feet of Crawford, who had been slipped through Ellerslie’s offside trap by Melissa Ray. Keinzley and Sara Clapham then fired volleyed efforts on goal which had both goalkeepers looking on with relief as the ball whizzed narrowly past the woodwork on each occasion, while right on half-time, Puckrin produced a fine save low to her left to thwart Clapham, who had met a Crawford cross on the volley. The second half continued in the same helter-skelter fashion, neither side giving an inch, yet giving everything and then some in a gripping final. Within two minutes of the resumption, both teams had gone close, Puckrin blocking at the feet of Crawford, and Keinzley rifling a drive into the sidenetting, after Gooch had battled hard to secure possession on the right. Moorwood then sent Crawford cruising through the heart of Ellerslie’s defence, the front-runner finding no-one within ten yards of her. With Puckrin to beat, the seasoned SWANZ striker let fly with an unexpectedly early shot which dipped over the goalkeeper but crashed against the top of the crossbar five minutes into the second spell. After Gooch had spurned a grand chance to set up Keinzley, Clapham slipped Crawford through once more. Dana Humby came to Ellerslie’s rescue on this occasion, but Kirsty Yallop was quickly onto the rebound, only for Summerfield to clear her goal-bound shot to safety in the 55th minute. Back came Ellerslie, the speedy figure of Gooch leading the charge two minutes later. A stunning turn by the striker gave her two yards on her opponents, and she took full advantage before letting fly from the edge of the penalty area. The save Vale produced, late and low to her left, was phenomenal - had she missed it, Ellerslie would have been celebrating. Instead, they were left to rue the presence of New Zealand’s foremost goalkeeper once more, in the 67th minute. Vale’s perfect positioning meant the save she made from Sowden’s curling free-kick looked routine, and she immediately sparked a Lynn-Avon counter-attack. Clapham was on the charge as a result of her team-mate’s raking clearance, and she found herself with just Puckrin to beat. The goalkeeper stood her ground and saved splendidly at the feet of the young goal-getter, who quickly pounced on the rebound and drove the ball goalwards. Lynn-Avon were already beginning to celebrate when Hill appeared from nowhere to hammer the ball off the line and into touch - if her team-mates were in need of inspiration at this point in the game, their uncompromising colleague had just given it to them with bells on! Last season’s runners-up weren’t keen on tasting defeat for a second successive occasion, however, and in the 75th minute, Crawford, of all people, squandered what, by her standards, was an absolute gift. A raking free-kick from McCahill sent the striker clean through on goal, and she swept past Puckrin to leave mere air between herself and the gaping target. "That’s it!", thought many, but no! On the stretch, Crawford’s shot flew up and up, and hit the top of the crossbar - unbelievably, the scoreline remained 0-0. And it remained so till the end of the ninety minutes, although Lynn-Avon were denied a scrambled goal in stoppage time by referee Graham Whitford. So to "Golden Goal" extra-time, during which two of the substitutes, Ellerslie’s Kim Rowney and Lynn-Avon’s Jennifer Carlisle, shone like beacons - both performed outstandingly in the taxing additional half-hour of action, which, like the ninety minutes before it, was incident-packed. McCahill was homing on a Heiford free-kick when Rowney got in a vital headed clearance on the 100 minute mark, while sixty seconds later, Puckrin produced a stunning double save to thwart Crawford and Moorwood. The latter then screwed a shot wide of the target when put through by the solidly-performed Melita Harrison ten minutes from time, before the former Three Kings United star produced a goal-saving tackle to deny the rampaging figure of Keinzley five minutes from the end, after she had bulldozed through United’s tiring rearguard. Doody, who had enjoyed a tremendous tussle throughout the entire match with Pip Meo in the individual duel of the final, then thwarted Keinzley in timely fashion three minutes from the end, which, when it came, meant one thing - penalties. It’s a cruel way to determine the outcome of any cup final, particularly when one considers that neither combatant had conceded a goal in any of their games leading up to this showdown. But the rules being what they are, a winner there had to be. Crawford, Puckrin, Harrison - via the post, Humby and Hearn all found the mark, before Sowden stepped up to make it 3-3. She didn’t, shooting straight at Vale, and immediately handing the initiative to Lynn-Avon. They didn’t relinquish it, for, after McCahill and Keinzley had exchanged successful spot-kicks, Heiford - a superb choice as United’s final penalty-taker of the first-choice quintet - drilled home the ball to secure a third Uncle Toby’s Women’s Knockout Cup for her team. Ellerslie:          Puckrin; Hill, Summerfield, Humby; Keinzley, Rainbow, Taylor (McLeod, 94), Sowden, Meo; Bowker (Rowney, 31), Gooch Lynn-Avon:     Vale; Harrison, McCahill, Ray; Doody, Hearn, Heiford, Moorwood, Yallop; Crawford, Clapham (Carlisle, 90) Referee:           Graham Whitford Final MVP:      Yvonne Vale