Reigning Lion Foundation National Women's League champions Auckland were given an almighty hurry-up by an impressively performed New Zealand U-18 Development Squad at McFetridge Park on Guy Fawkes Day, but managed to eke out a 3-1 win by virtue of their superior finishing prowess. Their victory certainly wasn't earned via any other aspect of the game, because the “A Team” were very much second best for large portions of this encounter, one of those rare opportunities for a number of club-mates in the Auckland and U-18 squads to pit their wits against each other. Usually it is the senior players who enjoy bragging rights after these battles, but not this time. Save for their ability to create and finish off their chances, and Auckland's ultimate desire not to be embarrassed by their young foes - a desire evidenced by some occasionally ferocious challenges, the U-18s were more than a match for their older opponents, and on this showing, just how much potential has this team got? The youngsters had the bit between their teeth right from the first whistle, and forced Stephanie Puckrin to produce two top-drawer saves inside the first two minutes. Just seventy seconds into the match, Merissa Smith motored down the left and picked out Annalies Van Kampen with her deep cross, the midfielder turning the ball into Caitlin Campbell's path. Puckrin tipped her twenty-five yarder round the post, then pawed out Abby Erceg's header as she met the resulting corner from Ria Percival. Auckland were still rocking when Smith put Terry McCahill under all sorts of pressure in the sixth minute. The defender played the ball back to Puckrin, who only just got to it before Renee Leota's surging run could bear fruit. The “A Team” were temporarily numerically challenged when Dana Humby found herself on the wrong end of an errant elbow in the twelfth minute - she was ultimately diagnosed with a broken nose. Before her replacement, Jenny Carlisle, could enter the fray, Auckland started to find a bit of rhythm to their play, a result of Marlies Oostdam robbing Katie Hoyle in possession. Maia Jackman swooped on the ball and promptly threaded a pass to Rebecca Tegg, who swept past Liz Milne before letting fly. Bianca Mori grabbed this effort, then plucked the ball off the striker's head in the seventeenth minute, after Petria Rennie, Kristy Hill and Kirsty Yallop had interchanged passes down the right to present Jackman with the chance to cross. Nine minutes later, a raking Puckrin clearance was allowed to bounce by the U-18s rearguard. Zoe Thompson couldn't believe her good fortune at such hesitance, and promptly pounced on the ball and set sail for goal. But she hadn't reckoned on Mori, who saved superbly at the striker's feet. The U-18s were playing some highly enterprising football, but their attacks were often foundering on the experienced pairing of Carlisle and McCahill, who used that hard-earned nous to great effect throughout proceedings, despite the threat posed by the vim and vigour of their vibrant rivals. It is a measure of the pair's performance that the next effort which threatened the “A Team”'s goal came in the 28th minute, a long-range effort from Percival. Auckland's response, five minutes later, was to produce a lovely move in which Hill and Jackman were instrumental. Thompson was the beneficiary, but Sport Auckland Junior Sportswoman of the Year finalist Erceg, who had a generally marvellous game, negated her club-mate's threat with a superb covering run and clearance. Two minutes later, Erceg and her team-mates were celebrating taking the lead. Percival got the ball on the right and clipped a delightfully flighted ball in behind Carlisle. Arriving on cue was Leota, whose deft glancing header arced over the advancing figure of Puckrin and in off the far post. 1-0 to the Under-18s, and on the balance of play, a deserved lead. They nearly doubled it seconds later, Puckrin escaping unpunished for a moment of hesitancy brought about by the site of Smith bearing down on her at a great rate of knots, Hoyle and Campbell having combined to send the ball through for their team-mate to pursue. Unused to being behind, and on the back foot as much as they had been in this encounter, the “A Team” decided to fight fire with fire, and put the pressure on the U18s in the closing minutes of the half. Oostdam played the ball wide to Rennie, whose teasing cross lured both Erceg and Mori towards it. The defender got there first, but headed the ball past her `keeper. Jackman was racing in behind them, but wasn't expecting her club-mate to err in this way, so instinctively snatched at the chance which came towards her. The ball flew wide of the gaping goal, much to the striker's dismay. That turned to delight with the last kick of the half, however, as Auckland gained, in terms of their share of possession in the match thus far, a scarcely deserved equaliser.

Emma Kete (Auckland) Kirsty Yallop (Auckland) Renee Leota (U18s) and Petria Rennie (Auckland) Zoe Thompson (Auckland) and Abby Erceg (U18s) Maia Jackman (Auckland) Caitlin Campbell (U18s) and Kristy Hill (Auckland)

A one-two between Yallop and Oostdam saw the former, fresh from her twentieth birthday celebrations, thread the ball through for Thompson. Her drive was parried by Mori, whose face bore a look of horror as she saw Tegg closing in … 1-1, and a seventh goal of the season for the league's co-leader in the Golden Boot stakes. The youngsters were all over their older opponents like the proverbial rash straight from the resumption of play, and they didn't let up for the next fifteen minutes. Leota headed over after Hoyle and Percival had combined on the right, while Puckrin plucked a Campbell cross off the goalscorer's head in the 51st minute. Seconds later, an underhit back-pass from Carlisle put Puckrin in all sorts of bother. She was eventually caught in possession outside her penalty area by Leota, who instantly let fly at the target, fully expecting it to be untended. But not so - McCahill, whose 109th “A Team” appearance this was, had smartly dropped back to cover her goalkeeper's foray off her line, and she calmly brought the shot under control and restored some semblance of order to Auckland's frazzled play. The U18s were soon in possession again, however, and in the 54th minute, Annalie Longo and half-time substitute Grace Vincent combined, the latter sending an angled low cross zooming across the face of goal, just too far in front of both Leota and Smith for them to capitalise on the chance. The latter was involved again seconds later, Longo having picked her out on the left flank. She took on two opponents, skipped round Carlisle and let fly, beating Puckrin all ends up in the process. Her twenty-yard drive hit the inside of the near post and bounced into the goalmouth, where McCahill - who else? - was on hand to clear the threat. Auckland's response floored their younger opponents - they took the lead in the 61st minute. Finding themselves under the cosh once more, a clearance to Jackman saw the seventy-times-capped Auckland star race up-field, with Thompson surging forward in support ahead of her. Jackman's through ball sent Thompson spearing through the inside-right channel, but with Erceg coming across to cover, she still had plenty to do. The striker skipped round the challenge of her club-mate before luring Mori out of her goal and producing a super finish to put the “A Team”'s noses in front for the first time in the match. Now it was the U18s turn to respond to a mid-game setback, and against more experienced opponents, they found the going tough. While they reeled, Allysha Johnson picked out Jackman with a free-kick which culminated in Mori grabbing the resulting header. Jackman and Tegg then combined for Thompson to get a shot in, one which Milne blocked to safety. Tegg was one of a number of “A Team” players - the exceptions were Carlisle, Jackman and McCahill - who failed to enhance their reputations with the indifferent-at-best nature of their individual efforts in the hour or more they were on the pitch. She made way for Emma Kete half-way through the second half, and the substitute immediately set about ruffling the feathers of the U18 squad in her inimitable no-nonsense style. Johnson, making her first start in blue and white, swiftly followed suit, but her lack of finesse in the challenge ultimately left Campbell on crutches, and herself in hot water with referee Wayne Scott. The U18s got back on track, but inevitably their efforts foundered on the “A Team”'s central defensive combination. Such as in the 79th minute, when Hoyle, Longo and Percival combined to engineer an opening for substitute Holly Nixon. Carlisle headed clear, and with that intervention, the youngsters' hopes of pulling off an upset were gone. For Auckland struck again on the counter-attack seven minutes from time. This time, Kete careered down the left before scything inside between retreating defenders and unleashing a rasping twenty-yard drive which proved far too hot for Mori to handle, the shot careering through her hands and into the net behind her. 3-1 nearly became 4-1 in the shadows of full-time - the offside flag denied Thompson as she swooped on a Jackman through ball - but as it is, the final scoreline flattered the “A Team”, and that's putting it mildly. The Under-18s produced some delightful, enterprising football throughout this encounter, but ultimately succumbed to the finishing prowess of the Aucklanders, their firepower allowing them to maintain their share of the National Women's League lead with pre-season favourites Capital Soccer, whom they trail on goal difference. “A Team”:     Puckrin; Rennie, Humby (Carlisle, 15), McCahill, Johnson (booked, 72) (Gibbs, 73); Yallop, Hill, Oostdam; Thompson, Jackman, Tegg (Kete, 68) NZ U18s:     Mori; Percival, Milne, Erceg; Van Kampen (Vincent, 46), Longo, Hoyle, Campbell (Nixon, 76), Green; Leota, Smith (Collins, 58) Referee:     Wayne Scott