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08/08/07
Champs Overhaul Springs To End Season Unbeaten
by Jeremy Ruane
Northern Premier Women's League champions Three Kings United signed off their season in style at Albie Turner Field on August 8, as they came from behind to down Western Springs 3-2 in a rescheduled fixture which was only confirmed twenty-four hours previously.
With both teams missing their New Zealand squad members - their Los Angeles-bound flight was glimpsed briefly just before half-time - and a few other regular starters, it meant several of the players on show were playing their second game of the day.
The presence of so many school-aged players detracted little from this match, however - it was an enthralling game to watch between two evenly matched sides who, incredibly, failed to fire a shot in anger between them during the first twenty-five minutes, despite enterprising approach play aplenty.
Disappointing delivery of the final ball was often the downfall of a promising Three Kings raid, while much of what Springs did which was good in an attacking sense foundered on Hannah Rishworth, who was back to her very best at the heart of the United defence.
The champions were gradually getting on top of proceedings, and in the 25th minute, generated the first opening of the game. Anna Green controlled the ball well before heading it on to Betsy Hassett, whose neat control was followed by a precise pass for Roseanne Cox to latch onto.
She raced clear of the retreating Springs rearguard, and as she powered into the penalty area opted to try and catch Danielle McFadyen by surprise with an early shot. But Cox fired wildly wide, although United didn't have long to wait to make amends.
From the resulting goal-kick, fifteen-year-old Lauren Murray, in only her second Premier League start, produced a delicious reverse pass to compliment the neat touches and clever movement she had shown in the early stages of the match. The beneficiary of her vision was Stephanie Eaton, but the striker's progress was curtailed smartly by Sarah Nelson.
Seconds later, Murray was in possession again, linking neatly with Cox near the edge of the penalty area, into which she dashed on receipt of a return pass. The striker's shot fizzed across the exposed figure of McFadyen, and narrowly past the far post as well.
United continued to pile the pressure on, and in the 28th minute Kristy Hill surged forward from deep with a run which completely confused Springs' defenders. Green and Hassett linked with the charging defender to contrive an opening for Cox, whose driven cross-shot zoomed across the face of goal and just beyond the incoming figure of Katie Baker.
Such an incessant burst of pressure had to tell sooner or later, and in the 29th minute, the deadlock was broken. Cox and Sarah Gibbs played a neat one-two on the left, which allowed the winger to curl in an early cross to the near post area, some twelve yards out from the target.
Murray met the ball with a delightful glancing header which completely outfoxed McFadyen. By the time the goalkeeper had reacted to the danger, it was too late, and the sight of the sphere slipping into the net beside the left-hand post sparked scenes of delight amongst the United players.
Their joy was short-lived, however, for Springs, with Poppy Binning full of enterprise, were back on level terms inside two minutes. Rebecca O'Neill gathered the sphere on half-way near the left flank and promptly sent Jessica Rollings racing off in pursuit of a through ball.
Gathering it in, she surged to the by-line before producing a wicked cross which curled tantalisingly away from the near post - a nightmare for any goalkeeper to deal with, let alone one making her debut, as was the case with United's Natasha Smith.
It also deceived Rosie White and the retreating Three Kings' rearguard, who had collectively dashed towards the near post. Arriving just beyond the penalty spot, with an untracked run from midfield, was Annabelle Bramwell, into whose stride the ball
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curled. She took one touch to control the sphere before battering it beyond Smith to level the scores.
Five minutes later, Smith made amends for a poor goal-kick by recovering to save at the feet of Rollings, as Springs looked to capitalise on the opening. When the next such opportunity materialised, it was at the other end of the park, some three minutes before half-time.
Anne Allen, making a rare start in Premier League football - her last appearance from the first whistle came in 2005, sent Hassett haring down the right in pursuit of her pass. The lively youngster secured possession and turned the ball back into Katie Baker's path, and a cross into the middle was swiftly delivered.
Murray was the recipient, and she held the ball up well before setting up Stephanie Eaton for a shot on the run which fizzed over the bar from twenty-five yards.
A minute later, Allen, from just inside Springs' half, curled an angled cross in behind her opponents' rearguard, which enticed McFadyen out of goal. She was a little hesitant in coming, however, and that was all the incentive Murray needed to race into view and prompt the panic stations button to be hit in Springs' defence.
The lively striker got to the ball before the advancing McFadyen and swiftly rounded the `keeper, only to snatch at the shot and fire wide of an unguarded goal, as Hannah Valentine and company beat a hasty retreat in an effort to avert the danger.
The second half saw Springs begin in far more enterprising fashion, the introduction of Penny Chapman and a change to a three-pronged forward line igniting their attacking ambitions.
Yet it was Hill who almost provided them with the lead just two minutes into the half, as her over-hit back-pass sped past the wrong-footed Smith towards the target. The `keeper beat a hasty retreat and got back in time to avert the danger, two minutes before watching a snapshot from White fly narrowly past her left-hand upright.
In the 52nd minute, Rishworth foiled an O'Neill-inspired raid with an interception and clearance to Eaton on half-way. She flicked the ball on through a square back-line, and the speedy figure of Murray motored onto it.
Jessie Verdon closed her down well, but Murray simply switched the ball to her left foot and, upon entering the penalty area, and with McFadyen narrowing the angle well, lashed the ball past the `keeper. Unfortunately for the striker, her effort rolled inches past the post as well.
It was a let-off for Springs, but also a warning, and it prompted them to resume their attacks. Chapman should have done far better when clean through on goal with just Smith to beat in the 55th minute, but shot tamely at the debutant goalkeeper with the goal at her mercy.
Despair turned to delight for the orange-shirted Springs team seconds later, however, as they took the lead, albeit in scrappy fashion. There appeared little prospect of a goal when Bramwell prodded a bouncing ball forward to the edge of the penalty area, but with Smith out of goal, White, who had been lurking on the fringes of proceedings, suddenly took centre stage and hit a shot on the turn.
She didn't connect cleanly with the ball, not that that mattered one whit to Springs' baby-faced assassin as her shot bounced past the unsuspecting figure of Smith into the far corner of the net - 2-1 Springs after 56 minutes.
United's unbeaten record was on the line, and before play resumed, some well-chosen words by Rishworth reminded her young charges of the fact. They didn't let their captain, nor their absent senior team-mates down, responding to the challenge as does a bull to a red rag.
Straight from the kick-off, an angled ball in from Green put Murray in behind the defence, and while she was thwarted by Nelson on this occasion, she was almost presented with a second chance by
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Valentine, whose hasty clearance careered across the bows of the striker and narrowly past her own post.
Springs survived this threat, but found themselves back on level terms in the 59th minute thanks to a cracking goal. Gibbs, Cox and Green combined on the left flank, and the resulting cross found Eaton holding off defenders around her as Murray came surging through the middle to meet it.
This she did in spectacular fashion, her twenty-five yard volley sizzling beyond the diving figure of McFadyen into the bottom right-hand corner of the net to restore parity for the second time in the game.
Springs grumbled about Eaton's role in proceedings, and they certainly had a case, but they were generally afforded little change on the night by referee Jan-Hendrik Hintz, who preferred to let the game flow as much as possible.
He did award Springs a free-kick in the 63rd minute, some twenty yards out from goal, and Chapman's eyes lit up like saucers at the prospects unfolding before her. She did everything right in her execution, whipping a gem of a delivery low around the wall towards the far corner of the net. But Smith, who couldn't have seen the ball until late in the piece, flung herself to her left to produce a fine parried save.
It was understandable, with so many of the combatants having played earlier in the day, that tiring legs would start to play a part in proceedings during the last half-hour, and on a number of occasions, the spirit was willing, but the legs proved less so.
Rollings had run herself to a stand-still, and was replaced by Holly Jones for the final twenty minutes of a match which was well in the balance, and looked well capable of providing another goal or three at least.
United proved the point in the 74th minute. After a clever short corner routine with Gibbs had seen Green thrash a cross-shot narrowly past the far post, the champions regained the lead in thrilling fashion.
Gibbs sparked the move, picking out the effervescent figure of Hassett, who was still full of running and remained so right to the end. Whether or not that would have been the case had Nelson connected with her flying lunge at this point in time will forever be unknown, but Hassett evaded the challenge well and exploited fully the gap vacated by the defender.
Valentine was horrified to see Murray striding into the open space behind her, and the youngster was coolness personified as she tucked her hat-trick goal past McFadyen to put Three Kings in front, 3-2.
Back came Springs, two minutes later. Chapman whipped a corner into the near post, which Smith missed. The ensuing scramble culminated in Rishworth clearing the ball off the line, with the assistance of fourteen-year-old debutant substitute Laura Shaw, whose first touch saw the danger averted.
United's response saw Green head the ball forward for Eaton to chase. Valentine won the race, but her clearance cannoned off the striker, who found herself in with a chance to seal the points, only to send her shot on the run blazing over the bar.
The miss mattered not, as neither team was able to muster a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity in the final ten minutes, a situation which allowed Three Kings to hold onto their 3-2 advantage to the very end, and complete a championship-winning season in which their lone reversal came in a penalty shoot-out in NZ Football's National Knockout Cup, a trophy upon which Western Springs have their sights set.
Springs: McFadyen; Binning, Valentine, Nelson, Verdon (Fisher, 84); Pearl (Chapman, 46), Wood, O'Neill, Bramwell; White, Rollings (Jones, 68)
TKU: Smith; Allen (Jowitt, 88), Hill, Rishworth, Gibbs; Baker, Hassett, Green, Cox; Eaton, Murray (Shaw, 75)
Referee: Jan-Hendrik Hintz
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