National Women's Knockout Cup holders Lynn-Avon United retained the trophy in style at North Harbour Stadium on September 20, overwhelming Cup Final debutants Claudelands Rovers 5-1 in a one-sided final which was over as a contest by half-time. With Katie Hoyle - the Javier Mascherano of NZ women's football - at her imposing best as she single-handedly dominated midfield, United strangled the life out of their young rivals, scoring some superb goals as they completed the treble of Northern Premier Women's League Premiership, NPWL Grand Final and the one they want to win most of all, and have now won nine times, the National Knockout Cup. Claudelands simply never got the chance to get into the match - they weren't allowed to. Lynn-Avon hit the ground running from the very first whistle, to such an extent that Rovers hardly escaped the confines of their own half throughout the first ten minutes of the match. By which time they found themselves trailing by a goal. After Ria Percival had seen her second minute shot blocked to safety following a Caitlin Campbell corner, Briony Fisher took an eighth minute throw-in which the splendidly performed Amber Hearn neatly controlled before whipping in a cross on the turn to the near post. Sarah Gregorius slid in to meet it, and steered a first time effort between the upright and Rovers' startled `keeper, Janice Fraser, and into the far corner of the net - 1-0. Hearn was clearly in the mood to have some fun at Claudelands' expense in her ninetieth match for Lynn-Avon, and careered down the left past Kate Carlton in the tenth minute before firing over a cross beyond Percival. Emily Cooper was backing up her team-mate, and evaded a challenge before crossing to Gregorius, whose spectacular diving header flew across the face of goal, rather than at the target. Seconds later, a Campbell corner was cleared to safety by Rovers, prompting captain and talisman Sarah McLaughlin to launch a solo raid into United's half. Her long-range effort gave Ashleigh Cox scant cause for concern, as she merely pinged the ball downfield to send Gregorius storming through the inside-right channel. Her cross picked out Hearn, who cut in and unleashed a twenty-yarder which Fraser smothered. The `keeper dealt with a similar shot from Hearn in like manner three minutes later, either side of which Cooper and Hearn hammered twenty-five yard efforts narrowly past the uprights. Hoyle was all over McLaughlin like a rash during the early stages of the game, so Claudelands turned to plan B - Kate Loye - as their source of midfield inspiration. In the 24th minute, she found some space in Lynn-Avon's half and threaded a ball through to Jackie Pretswell. But Rovers' leading markswoman didn't get the chance to shoot - Hoyle stripped her of possession to leave the well-supported Hamiltonians wondering what they had to do to make an impression on, for many of them, the biggest game of their lives to date. They tried another option, which got a very distinct reaction from Lynn-Avon - some very sturdy, marginal and uncompromising tackles which often had referee Anne-Marie Keighley in two minds where awarding free-kicks were concerned. Claudelands coach, Dave Edmondson, was in no doubt what the official should have been doing in response, and some of the more unruly challenges were duly punished by free-kicks and the odd calming word of authority. There was no doubting which team was playing with authority, however - Lynn-Avon were well on top, even if the scoreline didn't reflect it. But after Hearn and Gregorius had both gone close to addressing that situation with spectacular volleyed attempts on receipt of crosses from Hoyle and Percival respectively around the half-hour mark, three goals in an eleven-minute salvo killed off the Cup Final as a contest. The first of the three, in the 34th minute, saw Nicole Stratford's goal-kick smashed straight back with interest by Percival, who, from fully thirty-five yards, unleashed a screamer on the volley into the top left-hand corner of Fraser's net. Stratford's despairing groan was audible and understandable - how can you defend against that? Fraser saved at the feet of Hearn soon afterwards, Liz Milne and Gregorius having linked to engineer the opening, while Rovers' `keeper handled outside the penalty area in the 37th minute, the resulting free-kick seeing Percival thrash a shot from the edge of the

Happy co-captains, Kirsty Yallop and Melissa Ray (LAU), with the Cup Two-goal heroine Amber Hearn (LAU) Ria Percival (LAU) puts Andrea Rogers (Rovers) under all sorts of pressure deep inside the penalty area Amber Hearn (LAU, obscured by Janice Fraser (Rovers' 'keeper) heads home the fourth goal Cup Final MVP Katie Hoyle (LAU) proudly raises aloft her trophy, as NZF's CEO, Michael Glading and Chairman, Frank Van Hattum, look on

penalty area into the side-netting. Claudelands cleared the ball downfield once more, but mere seconds later, Campbell angled it through from the left, expecting a run through the middle from a team-mate. None was forthcoming, but as Rovers rearguard prepared to let the ball go through untouched, a blur of blue slid in amongst the suddenly startled starlets clad in red, and the ball was in the back of the net a second later. Hearn's splendid opportunistic strike was followed on the stroke of half-time by a more conventional finish, her near post header from a Campbell free-kick bulleting into the net to make the score 4-0 and round off one of the most comprehensive forty-five minute displays of dominance by a team you could wish to see. Had Lynn-Avon maintained the mood in which they finished the half, the scoreline could have blown out in a big way during the second spell, but Claudelands came out determined to produce a far better second half display, and to their credit, they did. Indeed, McLaughlin forced Cox to save at the second attempt in the 51st minute as her twenty yarder startled the `keeper, who grabbed a forty yard effort from Rovers' captain six minutes later. In the 65th minute, Andrea Rogers sent McLaughlin steaming through the inside left channel with a lovely pass which allowed her to race into the penalty area. The advancing figure of Cox parried her shot, then snaffled the rebound, before thwarting a Pretswell shot three minutes later after the striker had outpaced Fisher. Lynn-Avon had gone right off the boil, their only offerings of note for the half being crossbar-clearing efforts from Hearn and Campbell, a cross-shot from Gregorius which Fraser gobbled up greedily, and a crossbar-rattling attempt from Milne in the 56th minute which stemmed from the energetic efforts of Gregorius. All that changed fifteen minutes from time, when the generally humdrum nature of the second spell was punctuated by an absolute thunderbolt of a strike from Fisher. Freshly introduced substitute Sam Selwyn's first touches saw her beating Stratford, before firing in a cross which Claudelands scrambled clear. The ball sat up perfectly for Fisher, who was lurking some thirty yards out from goal. The technical excellence of this volley was stunning, and the accuracy unerring. From the moment the ball left her boot, it never rose more than a yard above the ground, and it was past Fraser before she had a chance to react - 5-0, and a classic Cup Final goal to boot. The time remaining saw Lynn-Avon attempting to set up Hearn so she could complete her hat-trick. Rogers thwarted her first effort ten minutes from time, while Fraser was right behind the striker's twenty yarder five minutes from time. In stoppage time, Hearn sent Gregorius galloping through once more, and she took on Stratford and Alex Shadbolt before seeing her shot deflect off the latter. Fraser was forced to tip the ball round the post, with Percival's resulting corner just missing Hearn. The ball was cleared to Hoyle, a player who richly deserved a goal for her Cup Final MVP Trophy-winning display, but her volley flew narrowly wide, a feat repeated in the final seconds of the match by Gregorius, whose speculative attempt to try and net a sixth goal for the cup winners was turned round the post by Fraser. That was the last act of the final, but seconds before it, Claudelands' travelling army was treated to a lasting memory of the biggest day in their club's history, a Cup Final goal. Stratford's goal-kick wasn't dealt with by Lynn-Avon as they switched off in anticipation of the final whistle, and through stormed Pretswell, who kept the chasing figure of Fisher at bay before belting the ball past the startled figure of Cox, who afforded the opponent half the goal to aim at, an offer which Pretswell duly claimed. 5-1 then, a repeat of the team's play-off semi-final scoreline, when Lynn-Avon came from behind to win. On this occasion, they did so comprehensively, as befits a combination few would dispute is, right now, the best women's team in the land. Claudelands:     Fraser; Stratford, Carlton, Shadbolt, Rogers; Patterson, Loye, McLaughlin, O'Connell (Cross, 88), Robinson (Newell, 88); Pretswell Lynn-Avon:     Cox; Fisher, Humby, Ray, Milne (Head, 78); Percival, Hoyle, Cooper (Noble, 83), Campbell (Selwyn, 73); Hearn, Gregorius Referee:     Anne-Marie Keighley