Claudelands Rovers further cemented their claims for a top-four play-off spot in the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League on May 30 when trouncing reigning champions Lynn-Avon United 5-0 at Ken Maunder Park, the first time since 1996 that Rovers have netted five goals at the ground. They were gifted the first of them just two minutes into this clash, after having gone close to conceding a goal a mere 35 seconds after referee Cory Mills had signalled a start to proceedings. A Holly Nixon error near the edge of her own penalty area was pounced on by Vicki Phipps, who promptly set up Megan Lee. Her twenty-yarder sizzled a yard over the bar, and prompted a response from Claudelands to which Lynn-Avon had no answers. Olivia Chance and Katherine Robinson worked a one-two on the left inside their own half, with the left-back's sharp return pass releasing Chance down the left at pace. She crossed early to the far post, where Holly Patterson arrived on cue and completely unmarked, having given her marker, Therese Saito, the slip. An unerring finish into the bottom far corner duly followed, Ashleigh Cox left beaten all ends up as Rovers enjoyed the ideal start to proceedings on a glorious afternoon for quality football. Unfortunately, patrons didn't get to see too much of it! This game never really got going, and certainly never rose to any great heights, Indeed, it took United a full ten minutes to muster a response to their early setback, with Caitlin Campbell's curler grabbed under her crossbar by Naomi-Beth Carter, after Kate Carlton had cleared the ball straight to the Football Ferns starlet. Rovers' form was patchy, but on the occasions they hit their straps they invariably produced something noteworthy. Such as in the fifteenth minute, when Cox made a superb fingertip save at full stretch to deny Kate Loye after Chance had exploited the injured Natalie Wimbrow's discomfort to the full. With the ball out of play, the fullback was able to receive treatment, but she was not to return, thereby allowing Young Ferns prospect Tessa McPherson to make her Lynn-Avon debut. Something of a baptism of fire it was, too, given she was instantly up against Chance, her international team-mate, who was causing problems aplenty down Rovers' left flank. She it was who stung Cox's gloves in the seventeenth minute with a rasping drive following a short corner routine with the ever-alert Patterson - she, too, excelled throughout. Lee was prevented from equalising in the 21st minute by some desperate Claudelands defending. Having been picked out in the penalty area by Campbell, who had worked a clever opening with Rebecca Gage on half-way, the youngster initially controlled the ball, only for Carlton to come hurtling in and divert it away from her. Lee promptly won it back off Nicole Stratford in the area, but before she had the chance to shoot, Carter swooped to save at her feet - a let-off for Rovers, who survived another scare ten minutes later when Melissa Ray only just failed to make contact with a long-range Campbell free-kick delivered to the far post. The visitors responded by doubling their advantage straight from the resumption. Emily Cooper - impressive throughout, save for this one blemish - was caught in possession by Loye half-way inside Rovers' half, and the midfielder promptly played the ball to Chance. She played a slick one-two with Hannah Wong which opened up United's defence, the fast-retreating figure of Ray not quick enough to catch up to Chance, who raced on before coolly slotting home the game's second goal beyond Cox. Lynn-Avon looked to get back into the contest, but made little head-way until Robinson's stray pass two minutes before the interval was pounced on by Campbell, who was clearly struggling with a shoulder injury which would ultimately force her premature departure from proceedings early in the second half. Her twenty yard snapshot shaved the far post on this occasion, bringing to a conclusion a half in

which Claudelands had been the better team without being overly impressive against opponents who hadn't made many in-roads into Rovers' rearguard in the first half, an impression which didn't alter a great deal after the interval. Three minutes after the resumption, Chance effectively killed the game off as a contest with her second goal, Claudelands' third. Kate Seatter's pass to Ray was badly under-hit, not that Wong cared greatly as she seized on the opening and played in the full-of-running flank player, who finished emphatically past Cox to make it 3-0. It was a blow from which United never recovered, and Rovers continued to press in search of more goals. Wong, Patterson and Loye all fired narrowly past the post inside the next ten minutes, a period in which Sarah McLaughlin set her sights with a low twenty-yarder which Cox smothered to her right. The first shot United fired in anger in the half came on the hour mark through an error by Alex Shadbolt. She cheaply conceded possession to Gage some thirty-five yards out from goal as Rovers looked to build from the back. The striker, aware that Carter was well off her line, swivelled and struck a gem of a chip which had 'Goal' written all over it until the back-pedalling 'keeper somehow pawed it out one-handed from beneath the crossbar - a spectacular denial, and one which suggested that it just wasn't meant to be for Lynn-Avon on this particular day. And so it proved. Inside the next ten minutes, a Kelly Drummond cross-shot wasn't far away, while Dana Humby's rasping twenty yarder was headed out by the fearless figure of Carlton, who was rock-like at the back for the visitors. After Loye had lashed one from twenty-five yards narrowly past Cox's left-hand post, one of the best moves of the match saw Saito, Drummond, Cooper and Lee combine to set up a shooting chance for Gage in the 73rd minute. Carlton deflected it over her own crossbar from point-blank range. Five minutes later, Rovers inflicted further frustration upon their hosts by scoring a fourth goal. No emphatic Claudelands victory would be complete without a trademark long-range thunderbolt from McLaughlin, and the midfielder - by her standards, this was a quiet display - duly obliged twelve minutes from time, unleashing a savagely struck thirty-yarder which completely deceived Cox en route to the far corner of the net. Inside the next four minutes, Loye shot straight at Cox after Patterson and Wong had weaved an opening, before Claudelands went nap - a teasing cross-shot from Patterson arced over the head of Cox and in by the far post after Stratford and Loye had combined to lure Saito out of position, to the benefit of the player who had opened the scoring. To Lynn-Avon's credit, they kept up their pursuit of a goal to the bitter end of this clash, despite the daunting scoreline. Straight from the kick-off, Ray surged forward before sending Lee through the inside-left channel, where she found herself one-on-one with the approaching Carter. The fleet-footed flank player fired past the advancing 'keeper, and was about to celebrate a goal when substitute Kylie Jens - it's great to see her back in action once more - hurtled in to clear the ball off the line. Ray then directed a header, from a Drummond free-kick, at Carter, while after Stratford had narrowly missed with a long-range effort at the other end of the park, Saito's tenacity secured possession for Lynn-Avon in stoppage time, allowing Casey Ridsdale to send Lee down the left and inside the challenge of Carlton. Her cross picked out Drummond, arriving on the far post, from where she sent the ball crashing into the side-netting with the last meaningful kick of a somewhat unusual match, one not truly reflective of its 5-0 scoreline in the visitors' favour. Lynn-Avon:     Cox; Wimbrow (McPherson, 17), Ray, Humby, Saito; Campbell (Drummond, 54), Phipps, Cooper, Seatter (Ridsdale, 68), Lee; Gage Claudelands:     Carter; Stratford, Carlton, Shadbolt, Robinson (Jens, 71); Patterson (Funamoto, 84), Loye, McLaughlin, Nixon (Parkinson, 61), Chance; Wong Referee:     Cory Mills