A powerful individual performance from Maia Jackman was the highlight of the “A Team”’s 5-0 defeat of North Harbour at Keith Hay Park on July 30, as Auckland’s representative women’s team began their quest to win the National Women’s Soccer Tournament once again on a winning note. The new-look “A Team” - sporting their new white, blue and red colours for the first time - tore into their opponents from the off, with Jackman setting the tone inside the first minute. Her powerful surge down the right saw her whip in a low cross which fizzed beyond both Amanda Crawford and Angela Vujnovich to Kristy Hill, who was caught off-guard by the fast-arriving ball, and fired wide as a consequence. The “A Team” continued to press, and were rewarded for imposing their will on the opposition after just 150 seconds. Vujnovich forced an error inside North Harbour’s penalty area, and whipped in a superbly weighted cross to the far post, where “A Team” debutant Lily Somerfield was arriving to send the ball bulleting into the net with a strong header. Stung, North Harbour looked to retaliate in kind quickly, Anita Sloot sending Gillian Thurlow past Terry McCahill prior to crossing for Jenny Cross. She didn’t have a chance to let off a shot, as Yvonne Vale was off her line like the proverbial rocket to save at her feet. Both Amanda Crawford and Vicki Rainbow were denied by the fingertip saves of North Harbour’s ‘keeper, Rachel Howard, in the next ten minutes, but the goalkeeper was rendered helpless in the seventeenth minute, as the “A Team” doubled their advantage. Pressure by Jackman forced another North Harbour error, and Crawford was quick to capitalise upon it. She surged forward past two opponents before drawing Mary-Lou Hendriks across, which left Vujnovich free. Crawford slipped the ball across to her team-mate, who coolly took her time before picking her spot beyond Howard - 2-0. Jackman and Rebecca Sowden forced saves from Howard in the next seven minutes, while both Vujnovich and Crawford went close to increasing the “A Team”’s advantage in this period, as Jackman, with the aid of Claudia Hicks in the first instance, continued to create merry hell down North Harbour’s left flank. The pacy right-sided midfielder crowned her dominant performance with a stunning individual effort in the 25th minute. Gathering the ball some thirty-five yards out from the target, she set sail for goal, scything her way through five challenges as Crawford and Vujnovich provided supporting runs which left opposing defenders in two minds. Jackman’s appearance in the penalty area saw Howard come racing out in an attempt to avert the danger, but the ball careered past the ’keeper in the opposite direction, entering the net via the upright for one of the best goals of Jackman’s career to date. At 3-0, the “A Team” eased off the pace somewhat, creating just three chances in the remainder of the half. Both Crawford and Vujnovich were thwarted by Howard’s presence, while Jackman sent a header screaming over the crossbar following a Somerfield corner. After a half-time rev-up from coach Chris Milicich, the “A Team” tore into their cross-town rivals straight from the kick-off, with Jackman again leading the charge. Within fifteen seconds of the resumption, the SWANZ international had carved open the left-hand side of North Harbour’s defence once more to create a chance for Vujnovich, which the striker sent crashing into the sidenetting.

Soon after, McCahill volleyed wide following a Crawford corner, while the same source provided a heading chance for Sowden in the 56th minute, which the midfielder directed narrowly past the post. In between times, North Harbour had gone close to pulling a goal back, only for Vale to come to the “A Team”’s rescue. Having thwarted Thurlow half-way through the first half, she was called upon to save superbly at the feet of Liz O’Meara early in the second spell, after Cross had led a break down the right. The introduction of substitutes by both teams in the second spell punctuated the flow of the game as a spectacle for much of the remainder of the match, but midst the mundane was another collector’s item from Jackman. Melanie Gooch and Rebecca Parkinson, two of the “A Team”’s four debutants in this match, combined on the left in the 72nd minute, with the latter slinging over a super cross. Jackman came hurtling in from the right and, flinging herself full-length, sent a classic diving header flying past Howard and in off the post for a memorable fourth goal for the reigning National Champions. Eleven minutes later, Julie Hendriks curtailed a Vujnovich turn in somewhat clumsy fashion. Unfortunately for the defender, the striker was near the edge of the goal area when the offence was committed, and Crawford duly did the honours from the penalty spot - 5-0. Gooch was denied a goal on her debut five minutes from time, after setting off on a storming run from half-way. After careering past three challenges, a slick one-two with Vujnovich provided her with a sight of goal, but Leesa Greenall’s timely challenge thwarted her in the act of shooting - the last act of note in the match, one which the “A Team” were feeling the effects of afterwards, this being their first run for two weeks. “A Team”:                   Vale; Humby, McCahill, Hicks (Exler, 46); Jackman, Sowden, Rainbow (Gooch, 67), Hill (Taylor, 46), Somerfield (Parkinson, 58); Crawford, Vujnovich North Harbour:          Howard; M. Hendriks, Sloot (Gibbs, 74), Porteous (J. Hendriks, 46); Young, Barlow, O’Meara, Tito, Marcellino (Greenall, 27); Cross, Thurlow Referee:                   Linda Ritchie