Anna Green was in red-hot form at Bayer Growers Stadium on December 20, scoring her maiden career hat-trick and setting up the other two goals as she led Auckland’s "A Team" to a resounding 5-1 victory over Capital Football in the Lion Foundation National Women’s League Grand Final. The reigning champions’ first half display was as good as it gets - they scored all their goals in that period, following up two goals in a four-minute burst just before the twenty minute mark with three in the last seven minutes of a half in which they reaffirmed their position as the foremost province in the women’s game in New Zealand. This was Auckland’s fourth successive National Women’s League triumph, and their sixth in the seven seasons the competition has run in this format. They hit the ground running in their pursuit of the silverware in this match between the country’s premier women’s footballing provinces, and it was soon obvious that the "A Team" had brought their "A" game to the competition’s showpiece fixture. Auckland simply didn’t allow the Southern Conference winners to play in the first forty-five minutes. From the moment Rebecca Tegg warmed Aroon Clansey’s gloves with a 25-yarder inside the first 120 seconds, the title-holders warmed to the task, and went close via a lively raid in the eighth minute. Briony Fisher, Tegg, Anna Green and Maia Jackman all combined, with a raid down the right, with the last-mentioned firing in a cross for Kirsty Yallop. Toni West thwarted this opening, but the "A Team" were soon probing Capital’s defence once more. Kristy Hill - a towering performance, which have earned her Player of the Day honours but for Green’s tour de force - sparked this twelfth minute raid by lofting a ball forward which Tegg deftly flicked on into Green’s path. She raced down the left before clipping a cross into the near post area, where Grace Vincent was arriving at pace. Her bullet header flashed across the face of goal. The goal which had been threatening finally materialised on the quarter hour. Jackman and Fisher combined on the right, with the fullback angling a ball across to Green. She wriggled through two challenges before flashing a twenty yarder into the top right-hand corner of Aroon Clansey’s net. Four minutes later, the "A Team" doubled their advantage. Kirsty Yallop got the ball on half-way, evaded a challenge and brought Vincent into play. She slipped the ball through the inside-left channel for Green, who took the ball on in her stride and lashed a first-time drive on the run across Clansey and into the top far corner of the net. Capital were reeling, but recovered to create their first chance, in the 25th minute, via a tidy left flank raid. Yumi Nguyen, Terri-Amber Carlson and Hannah Wall - she had few opportunities to shine throughout proceedings - linked neatly to send Renee Leota racing down the wing. Dana Humby came across, but Leota scythed inside her and unleashed a twenty-yard curler which curled nowhere near enough towards the target. Auckland redoubled their efforts, producing some delightful multi-pass interchanges which were calm and composed in nature. On the few occasions Capital secured possession, they returned it to their rivals in fairly short order - not what you want to be doing when trailing 2-0 against any opponents, never mind your arch-rivals. Seven minutes before half-time, the "A Team" made it 3-0. Hill broke up a Capital move and sent Green galloping down the left past two opponents to the by-line, from where she flighted a cross to the near post. Tegg arrived on cue, and swept home her 35th goal in 36 appearances for her province - 3-0. Tegg was in again seconds later, Clansey denying her with a solid diving save on this occasion, but in the 41st minute, Capital’s ‘keeper was fishing the ball out of the net for a fourth time - Green

Anna Green (Auck) scoring direct from a corner Hannah Wall (Cap) shields from Briony Fisher (Auck) as Emily McColl (Cap) awaits developments Grace Vincent (Auck) controls the ball, watched by Melissa Bartlett (Cap) Kirsty Yallop (Auck) reacts as Renee Leota (Cap) misses her header clear Melissa Ray (Auck, second left, partly obscured) heads home the game's fifth goal.

completed her hat-trick direct from a corner. On the stroke of half-time, the "A Team" went nap. Another Green corner this time arced towards the far post, where Melissa Ray rose unchallenged to power home a header and kill off the contest. Incredibly, Auckland should have scored a sixth goal in first half stoppage time. Hill powered out of defence through three challenges before Jackman took over on half-way and rampaged downfield through three more. She surged into the penalty area before battering the ball over Clansey and inches over the bar. Auckland started the second half as they’d finished the first - hot on attack. Jackman rattled the side-netting inside the first sixty seconds of the half, while three minutes later, Priscilla Duncan launched a raid which featured Tegg, Fisher, Jackman and Vincent, who sent a shot blazing over the bar from twenty yards. Only a vital recovering tackle by the solidly-performed Amanda Rasch thwarted Tegg in the 49th minute, after she got in between the defender and Clansey, to which Capital responded by scoring a cracking goal seven minutes later. Melissa Bartlett hoisted in a free-kick towards the near post, which Leota launched herself towards in spectacular fashion. The striker got in front of Fisher to send a diving header scorching into the roof of the net - a super strike which gave Capital’s confidence a much-needed boost. They improved markedly as a result, but found breaking down Auckland’s rearguard for a second time decidedly challenging. Hill and Ray, with Duncan patrolling in front of them, formed a rock-solid combination which Capital only rarely penetrated again. After Green sent a 25-yarder fizzing a yard over the bar twenty minutes from time, the same player received a raking cross-field ball from Fisher and set up Emily Cooper for a shot which Clansey needed two bites to save. She hoisted the ball downfield, and Hill’s headed clearance landed at the feet of Leota, who played Chelsea O’Callaghan in through the inside-right channel. The youngster’s angled shot was parried then smothered by Esson, one of very few occasions when Capital tested the teenage custodian. They should have had the chance to test Esson’s penalty-saving abilities in the 73rd minute, when Emily McColl nipped in on the blindside of Hill in pursuit of a Leota pass, prompting the defender to tangle with the rampaging midfielder inside the penalty area. Capital screamed for a spot-kick, with justification aplenty, but referee Anne-Marie Keighley ignored their strong claims, and was soon ruling out a Yallop goal at the other end of the park, the offside flag denying Auckland’s captain a share of the NWL Golden Boot which Tegg secured via her goal in the final. Yallop converted a couple of six-pointers over the adjacent rugby posts in the time which remained, while she and her team-mates comfortably contained everything Capital could muster en route to retaining the National Women’s League title and the Roy Cox Trophy, an honour which is at stake whenever Auckland and Capital clash at senior level. The Grand Final marked the 49th time these provinces have clashed, with this victory Auckland’s 25th over their foremost rivals, and sixth in succession. Those six victories are part of a twenty-four match winning streak which commenced on 12 November, 2005, and which include the milestone of their 1000th goal in competitive action, the last scored in this season’s 7-0 defeat of Waikato-Bay of Plenty. Auckland:     Esson; Fisher (booked, 63), Ray, Hill, Humby (Williams, 46); Vincent (Cooper, 68), Duncan, Yallop; Jackman (Gooch, 68), Tegg, Green Capital:     Clansey; Sneddon, West, Rasch, Nguyen; O’Callaghan, McColl, Bartlett, Wall; Leota, Carlson Referee:     Anne-Marie Keighley