Reigning Lion Foundation National Women's League champions Auckland retained the Challenge Cup and the Roy Cox Shield in emphatic fashion at Douglas Field on Armistice Day, coming from behind to hand out a comprehensive 5-1 hiding to fellow competition front-runners Capital Soccer in the feature match of the round. The result has all but clinched home advantage in the Grand Final for the “A Team”, who enjoyed early chances to open the scoring in this encounter, all of which fell to Zoe Thompson. While a couple of half-chances went begging in the first two minutes, two great openings were spurned by the speedster in the fifth and sixth minutes, both of which were sparked by through balls from Marlies Oostdam. The first of them presented Thompson with a chance to lob the advancing Lily Ran. She declined the chance, and suffered the consequences as Bria Sargent got back to snuff out the threat, an act Capital's captain repeated seconds later when Thompson attempted to check inside the defender. Those missed openings were mercilessly punished by the visiting league co-leaders in the ninth minute, when Capital opened the scoring. Andrea Scott secured possession on the right and clipped an angled ball in between Sarah Gibbs and Terry McCahill. Surging onto it was former “A Team” striker Michele Clarke, whose well-taken finish saw her angle a crisp shot across Jenny Bindon and just beyond the diving goalkeeper's fingertips into the far corner of the net. Zarnia Cogle and Maia Jackman exchanged long-range efforts during what was to be the visitors' best spell of the match. Then, in the seventeenth minute, Cogle sent Sarah Gregorius scooting clear on the left. Bindon hurtled out of her goal to narrow the angle, but the Under-20 international lifted the ball over the `keeper and towards the gaping net, only for her joy to turn to dismay as the sphere struck the post. It was a let-off for the “A Team”, and while they weathered more Capital pressure - Bindon turned a Clarke effort round the post after Patrice Bourke had put her through, and Tonja Heinze's resulting corner was headed past the far post by Wendi Henderson - one sensed that that post-rattling effort would prove to be a pivotal moment in an eagerly anticipated clash. And so it was. For the growing influence on the game of Jackman, Rebecca Sowden - a revelation in midfield given she hasn't played for eight weeks due to injury - and the fully fit Melissa Ray saw the “A Team” begin to gain the ascendancy in all the key areas of the park. Capital survived a scare after Sowden had picked out Jackman's head in the 22nd minute, the visitors allowing the ball to bounce dangerously in their goalmouth. Ran's relief in grabbing the ball as Rebecca Tegg closed in was palpable. The `keeper was in action again to deny Oostdam on the half-hour, around which time the bounce of the ball was again failing to favour Thompson, as Auckland's pressure continued to gather apace. Capital attempted to quell it with an incisive move in the 34th minute. Scott, Gregorius and Bourke combined to put Henderson in the box, but Sowden's tracking forced the player-coach to turn back. Bourke was still an option, and on receipt of a pass, let fly with a stinging drive which ricocheted skywards off the head of Terry McCahill. Bindon grabbed it gratefully and promptly sparked a flurry of “A Team” raids in the next two minutes, by throwing the ball out to Oostdam. She surged forward before playing a slick one-two with Thompson. Auckland's captain then sent her twenty-yarder careering past the near post. The “A Team” quickly regained possession from the resulting goal-kick. Sarah Gibbs and Oostdam linked up, the latter playing the ball to Jackman, whose reverse pass put Tegg in behind the defence with just Ran to beat. The `keeper stood her ground and blocked well with her legs, and was in action again seconds later to thwart a power header from Jackman, after Kirsty Yallop had regained  possession for the “A Team” and set up Gibbs to provide a tantalising cross. Two goals in two minutes inside the final ten minutes of the half turned the game on its head, and rewarded Auckland's pressure in the manner they desired. Jackman's roving commission saw her out on the left flank in the 37th minute, shielding the sphere while waiting for the appropriate option amid the clamour of calls for the ball from her team-mates. Legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley's mantra, “It's not about the short ball or the long ball; it's about the right ball”, was applied to the letter by Jackman on this occasion. Spotting an angled run from Tegg beyond the last defender, she picked out the striker with a peach of a pass, and with acres of space in which to work, the league's leading goalscorer picked her spot and made no mistake - 1-1. Two minutes later, Jackman was in again, this time on the right, where she worked an opening with Thompson before flighting a gorgeous cross to the far post which found Yallop sliding in to give Auckland a 2-1 lead, despite the best efforts of Ran to keep out

Rebecca Sowden powers past Wendi Henderson Rebecca Tegg shields from Tess Murphy Michele Clarke turns away from Petria Rennie Maia Jackman edges Zarnia Cogle in aerial combat The battle of the Sarah Gs!! Gregorius heads Gibbs Marlies Oostdam in full flight

the midfielder's effort. Capital swiftly sought to fight firepower with firepower. Straight from the resumption, they surged downfield, Scott and Clarke playing a one-two on the right before the former hit a cross-shot which Bindon palmed to safety. The “A Team”'s `keeper was in action again soon after, Bourke lashing a twenty-five yard free-kick straight at the custodian. Right on the stroke of half-time, the “A Team” were harshly denied a third goal by the offside flag. Jackman's persistence in pursuing a lost cause was rewarded when Ran spilled the ball, allowing the New Zealand international to fire an instant cross into the goalmouth. Thompson arrived bang on cue to turn the ball home, only for her mounting frustration to be further increased. Capital had few answers to their arch-rivals' dominance in the second half, Heinze the only player in gold and black to provide genuine resistance in the face of the blue-and-white tide, which resumed pounding away straight from the kick-off. Both Sowden and Oostdam blazed over from inside the eighteen yard-box after Jackman-inspired raids inside the first three minutes of the half, the first of which featured Thompson and Yallop, the second, Tegg. The “A Team” continued to dictate terms, looking to exploit the superior pace of their three-pronged strike-force, compared to that of Capital's defensive triumvirate, at every opportunity. A little too frequently, however, raids would come unstuck as a result of over-hit or under-hit through balls In the 63rd minute, Thompson forced Sargent into playing a back-pass towards Ran which the goalkeeper had to clear hurriedly, such was the rate of knots at which Tegg was bearing down on her. Seconds later, Petria Rennie released Thompson down the right once more, and this time the striker got some reward for her efforts. Her cross struck the hand of Julia Baldwin in the penalty area, and referee's assistant Phil Lawrence didn't hesitate to flag for a spot-kick. Harsh it certainly looked, but Oostdam wasn't in a sympathetic mood, and duly drilled home the penalty - 3-1. With Ray now winning everything in the air, Capital had to try other options, and a solo effort from Heinze saw them go close in the 65th minute. The midfielder evaded the clutches of Sowden and Gibbs in a swashbuckling run which culminated in her firing a shot over the bar. It offered the visitors a spark of hope, but the “A Team” relentlessly snuffed out all such prospects at source, as the disappointment of a number of their squad in missing out on an international opportunity for their country, allied with a desire to make amends for last week's substandard performance against the NZ U-18 Development Squad, was channelled in the proper manner - to produce a performance far more in keeping with Auckland's exacting standards than anything else seen this season. With Tegg tiring after her relentless running, the home team introduced the even faster Melanie Gooch into the attack fifteen minutes from time, and Jackman wasted little time in unleashing the substitute's speed on Capital's over-worked rearguard, slipping Gooch through to leave the newcomer one on one with just Ran to beat. She did, all ends up, only to be denied by the post. Three minutes later, Sowden and Thompson teamed up to send Gooch scooting through again. But with the latter racing into the penalty area looking for a low cross in return, the newcomer's striking instincts took over, and a great chance went begging as she tried unsuccessfully to beat Ran at her near post. The “A Team” rounded out their triumphant return to the sort of form of which they are capable in fine style, with two goals in the final minutes, in between which Capital substitutes Ashlee Delahunty and Carena Oosterbaan engineered an opening which saw the latter's effort fly wide. Three minutes from time, Jackman was marauding down the left before linking with Gibbs, who curled over a beautifully flighted cross to the far post, where Yallop was ghosting in to clip an airborne volley home across Ran - 4-1. And in stoppage time, the “A Team” rounded out their nap hand victory. Ray played the ball forward to Thompson, whose lay-off sent Jackman - Capital's chief nemesis in both this match and last season`s Grand Final - powering past Tess Murphy to the by-line, from where she clipped a measured cross onto the head of Thompson. With the hat-trick-hunting Yallop on her shoulder, the striker climbed high to head home via the underside of the crossbar, thus concluding another chapter in the oldest rivalry in New Zealand provincial women's soccer in a manner befitting Auckland's dominance of their age-old foes on this occasion. Auckland:     Bindon; Rennie, McCahill, Ray, Gibbs; Yallop, Sowden, Oostdam; Thompson (booked, 85), Jackman, Tegg (Gooch, 75) Capital:     Ran; Murphy, Sargent, Baldwin; Scott (Carlson, 69), Heinze, Henderson, Bourke (Oosterbaan, 81), Cogle (Delahunty, 87); Gregorius, Clarke Referee:     Wayne Scott