Claudelands Rovers and Three Kings United produced one of the most memorable National Women’s Knockout Cup Finals in the seventeen-year history of the competition at North Harbour Stadium on 19 September, with the Hamilton club eventually prevailing 5-4 after extra time to lift the symbol of supremacy in New Zealand women’s club football for the first time in their history. And what a final! The scoreline merely hints at what a thrilling encounter unfolded before the fortunate hundreds who saw these season-long rivals go at it hammer and tongs from first whistle to last in a final which lived up to its pre-match billing and then some! Three Kings enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, but it was Claudelands who fired the first shot in anger, Sarah McLaughlin’s twenty yard free-kick sizzling over the top of the crossbar in the ninth minute. United responded two minutes later through Sarah Gregorius. She it was who ignited the move, which also featured Emma Kete and an Anna Green cross which was headed out by Kylie Jens. Claudia Crasborn, whose knee injury impacted on the quality of her display, failed to make contact with the clearance, but Gregorius, lurking behind her, made amends with a twenty-five yarder which fizzed over the bar. Rovers opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute. Holly Patterson ran down the right before whipping in an inviting cross which was punched out at full stretch by United’s back-up goalkeeper, Jo Kennedy, who was deputising for the injured Aroon Clansey. The inexperienced ‘keeper’s clearance landed at the feet of Holly Nixon, whose touch to McLaughlin invited the Football Fern to control the ball before swivelling to volley home into the corner of the net from twelve yards, to the delight of the supporters of last season’s runners-up. United sought a swift riposte, with both Crasborn and Kete going close in the next five minutes, the latter shooting across the face of goal upon receipt of Chelsey Wood’s ball forward. In the 22nd minute, Nadia Pearl cut out a Patterson cross and Kristy Hill instantly picked out Kete, who surged forward before threading a sumptuous pass into the stride of Gregorius. Soon to make her debut for the Football Ferns, the full-of-running midfielder raced into the penalty area but was forced to shoot into the side netting by the combined efforts of Alex Shadbolt and Naomi-Beth Carter. The next attack saw Claudelands double their advantage a minute later. Kate Loye led the charge down the left before clipping a cross beyond all-comers. Patterson, lurking in the shadows of the far post, was the beneficiary of her team-mate’s delivery, and she was initially thwarted at point-blank range by Kennedy. Before the retreating Tessa Berger could get in a telling tackle, however, Patterson prodded the rebound over the line - 2-0. Three Kings have produced a few noteworthy comebacks this season, so cobbling one together in the biggest game of the campaign was almost to be expected. Sure enough, they set about their task with renewed vigour, knowing that, if they were to mount such a revival, they had to be the next team to score. Libby Williams linked with Gregorius in the 25th minute, and the overlapping run of Green was rewarded with an inviting pass into her stride. The fullback’s cross was a gem, teasing Carter out of goal before arcing beyond her to the far post, where Rosie White was hurtling in. Launching into a diving header, the striker just failed to make contact with the ball, but gave the post a decent nudge in her efforts to do so. Seconds later, Gregorius and White were causing problems again, the pair combining to present Crasborn with a chance. Her effort deflected through to Carter, whose goal led a charmed life in the 32nd minute as Three Kings continued their pursuit of a way back into the contest. It was a super move, started by Hill and featuring a series of passes involving Green, Crasborn and White, whose neat one-two with Gregorius invited the former OFC Women’s Player of the Year to pick out Kete with a delightful cross. But Shadbolt, Carter and the outstanding Kate Carlton - with Berger the pick of the defenders on the park - combined to get Rovers out of danger on this occasion. Still Three Kings pressed. Crasborn’s ball forward allowed White to get the better of Carlton and wrong-foot the advancing Carter, only for the striker to undo all her good work by smashing her shot high into the side-netting by the near post. All was not lost for the Auckland team, however, for in the 35th minute, they secured their lifeline via a set-piece. Crasborn’s corner to the far post found White coming in from beyond the upright, and she headed the ball down into the goalmouth. From two yards, Hill couldn’t miss - 2-1. Rovers’ attacks had been sporadic at best to this point, but over the next five minutes it was the Waikato contenders who dominated the goalmouth activity. Kennedy saved at the feet of Wong after McLaughlin put the striker through, while the latter squandered a good chance by her standards in the 37th minute when stabbing the ball wide from ten yards after United failed to clear a Patterson corner. Olivia Chance’s first shot in anger saw her unleash a twenty-five yarder down the throat of Kennedy six minutes before half-time, to which United retorted with a couple of attempts to equalise on the stroke of the interval. Wood fed Kete, whose one-two with Williams saw the striker bring White into play. She steered the ball back to Wood, whose one-two with Crasborn

allowed the former Claudelands player to let fly from twenty yards, an effort which the fearless Carlton deflected for a corner. Green’s delivery picked out Hill at the near post, but her header flashed over the bar. Nicole Stratford’s subsequent goal-kick was swooped on by White, but Carlton swiftly dispossessed the striker and sent Patterson powering down the right. The winger took on Hill and took advantage of her untimely slip, which gave Patterson the time and space to let fly from twenty-five yards, a low effort which skidded past the far post to conclude a captivating first half in fitting fashion. Compared to what followed, the first forty-five minutes was a mere aperitif! The second spell was spellbinding - real ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ fare! Claudelands pressed from the off, with Stratford leading the charge initially, before McLaughlin thrashed a thirty yarder into the side-netting. Seventy seconds of quite incredible action followed in the 53rd minute. Chance broke clear down the left before letting fly over the advancing Kennedy from fully thirty yards, and she was beginning to celebrate when the ball cannoned back off the crossbar with a resounding twang! The rebound fell perfectly for Patterson, who surely had to score her second goal of the game. But her hesitance in getting the ball under control allowed Berger time to get back and block her shot. The ball wasn’t cleared, though, and Rovers had another opportunity to score, this time via McLaughlin. Again the crossbar came to Three Kings’ rescue, this time repelling a twenty yard drive to seeming safety. For, after these thirty seconds of sheer mayhem came the third goal Claudelands were striving for. United were still unable to fully clear the danger, and when Chance charged through in the 54th minute, Berger and Kennedy combined to thwart her first attempt to score. The rebound was kind to the rampaging Rover, however - an empty net yawned invitingly, and she gleefully restored Claudelands’ two-goal advantage. Surely there was no way back for Three Kings from this, a situation which, but for a superb flying save to her right by Kennedy, could have been worse in the 58th minute. The ‘keeper’s acrobatics denied Wong’s ten yard effort, Chance latching onto the rebound to set up Loye for a shot which Hill blocked, much to the grateful goalkeeper’s relief. It was roll your sleeves up time for Three Kings, and just after the hour mark, Kete came within inches of making it 3-2. Hill, Williams and Wood combined to send Green on a thirty yard gallop down the left, from where she fed Gregorius. Her first-time pull-back saw Kete stride onto the ball twenty yards out, from where she sent a grasscutter creeping agonisingly past Carter’s left-hand post. United needed something special, and in the 67th minute, White obliged with yet another "Golazo"! Berger intercepted a pass intended for Chance, and instantly sent the ball downfield, releasing White down the right. She raced onto it and, without breaking stride, battered a vicious swerving thirty yarder inside Carter’s near post - the ‘keeper stood not a prayer! 3-2 then, but it should have been 4-2 in the 71st minute. Chance was lining up a shot when Loye nipped in and took the ball off her, only to shoot across the face of goal. United’s riposte brought about parity for the first time in the match. Gregorius - she had a whale of a game - scampered down the left at pace before overhitting her cross. Kete gathered the ball and sent it back into the danger zone, and White launched herself into a full-length diving header to send the ball crashing into the back of Claudelands’ net from six yards - 3-3, and still eighteen minutes to play. It needed just two of them to elapse before Rovers regained the lead in this extraordinary encounter. United were still celebrating when Chance forged a path through the middle in pursuit of a clearance. Hill raced back as Kennedy raced out of her penalty area to challenge the winger, who was afforded the simple task of steering the ball into an unguarded net for the second time after the Three Kings duo collided. How United were feeling the absence of the experience and wherewithal of the injured Clansey now - it was without question a significant aspect in the final outcome, although this final was far from over yet, not by a long chalk! Fourteen minutes from time, Green fired in a free-kick which Wood rose to meet with a looping header. The ball bounced to safety off the top of the crossbar, while a minute later, White’s rampaging run down the left culminated in a cross for Kete which Carter intercepted at her near post. Ten minutes from time, another twist in this wild Cup Final came to pass - another Three Kings equaliser! Comparisons with the truly incredible 1997 final, when United prevailed 7-5 over Petone in Napier inside ninety minutes, were starting to be made by now, although you’ll have to go some to beat that goalscoring bonanza - it was 6-3 at half-time! Nonetheless, United’s fightback continued, led by Gregorius, who rampaged down the left before seeing her initial cross blocked by Carlton - what a fantastic final she had! United’s speedster gathered the rebound and slipped the ball inside to Kete, who, from twenty-five yards, executed an inch-perfect chip over the back-pedalling figure of Carter and into the top far corner of the net - an exquisite finish!

4-4, and this mad affair was far from finished! Straight from the kick-off, Chance, the wind behind her, set sail downfield on a withering sixty yard run, slaloming through Three Kings challenges galore with gay abandon. After evading Berger’s desperate tackle, she let fly from twenty yards with a shot seemingly destined to arrow into the far corner of the net. Kennedy, still nervous, did her confidence a power of good with a splendid diving save at full stretch to her left to deny Chance her hat-trick. Patterson, following up, had the chance to steer the ball home while the ‘keeper lay prone on the deck. But her hesitance allowed Hill and Berger to home in on her, and when she did eventually look to restore Rovers’ advantage, United’s central defenders stood firm. In the dying minutes, Three Kings piled on the pressure - a goal now and there would surely be no way back for Claudelands. They thought they had scored it in the 86th minute - Green’s inswinging corner certainly looked to have gone very close - but referee’s assistant Katie Goulding, whose display throughout the match was of the very nervous variety, deemed that Carlton had managed to head it off the line in time. They had further chances. A vital lunge by Loye diverted a Kete shot to safety in the 88th minute, with the resulting corner from Green a steepling delivery which was spilled by Carter. Wood, six yards out from goal, snatched at the chance and blazed wildly over, prompting the midfielder to raise hands to head in disbelief. Then White and substitute Leah Tagaloa combined to present Kete with a chance to shoot on the turn, one she duly took. Carter was right behind her twenty-yarder, and when the striker dashed through in pursuit of Green’s free-kick in the third minute of stoppage time, Claudelands’ custodian blocked at Kete’s feet, the last act of a quite enthralling ninety minutes. But with the scoreline reading 4-4, and this being the showpiece fixture on the domestic women’s club football calendar, the gathered throngs were in for a treat - just the third case of extra time in National Women’s Knockout Cup Final history. Both teams were out on their feet, particularly Rovers’ Young Ferns’ contingent, but from hitherto unknown reserves they summoned the desire, the energy, the heart, the passion, the strength and the sheer willpower to produce thirty more minutes of memorable cup final action. White and Tagaloa teamed up again three minutes into extra time, the latter’s cross inviting Kete to let fly once more. Carter smothered this shot, while Kennedy did her confidence no harm when calmly dealing with McLaughlin’s thirty-five yard free-kick two minutes later. Carter then grabbed a Green piledriver after Loye had hooked a White corner to seeming safety, while in the last minute of the first half of extra time, Chance sent McLaughlin steaming down the left. Her cross was deflected across the face of goal by Hill, a nudge which took it out of Patterson’s path. She retrieved the ball and set up substitute Grace Parkinson for a rasping twenty-five yarder which fizzed over the crossbar. The teams turned round, and United were the first to fire a shot in anger again. White and Kete combined for substitute Steph Skilton’s benefit, and she scooted down the flank before crossing just too far in front of White, who met the ball at full stretch but got neither power nor direction in her attempt to break the deadlock. Rovers responded via Loye, who sent Parkinson powering down the left to the by-line, inside the penalty area. Berger’s superbly timed tackle denied the substitute on this occasion, but at the expense of a corner, from which Patterson picked out Parkinson, who picked out a beauty - a twenty yard curler which grazed Kennedy’s left-hand post. The groans which followed that opportunity could well have been heard at Galloway Park, but the response from Rovers’ fans which followed the 112th minute incident which decided this stunning contest definitely was! Patterson powered through the inside left channel into the penalty area, only to be hauled down from behind by Hill. Referee Anna-Marie Keighley didn’t hesitate in pointing to the penalty spot, but did in administering the punishment for the prevention of what was a clear goalscoring opportunity - eventually, she got around to brandishing the red card, and Three Kings captain’s cup final was over eight minutes earlier than she’d hoped. Seconds later, so were United’s aspirations of a fourth National Women’s Knockout Cup triumph, as Chance completed her hat-trick from the penalty spot seven minutes from time to put Claudelands in front 5-4. The ten women fought valiantly to the end - Kete’s audacious dribble through three Rovers’ defenders inside five square yards in the penalty area was deserving of a better outcome - but it was Claudelands who were on attack in the final moments, with another crossbar rattler from the Cup Final MVP, Chance, after good work by Parkinson, the final act of note in one of the greatest National Women’s Knockout Cup Finals of them all. Claudelands:     Carter; Stratford, Carlton, Shadbolt, Jens (Robinson, 110); McLaughlin, Nixon, Loye; Patterson, Wong (Parkinson, 66), Chance Three Kings:     Kennedy; Williams (Mathews, 106), Berger, Hill (sent off, 112), Green; Wood, Gregorius, Pearl (Tagaloa, 79); Kete, White, Crasborn (Skilton, 65) Referee:     Anna-Marie Keighley