Two hundred people were treated to an outstanding spectacle at QE2 Park in Christchurch on October 28, as Mainland Soccer and Auckland-Manukau fought out a 2-2 draw in a classic National Women’s Soccer League encounter between two teams hell-bent on maintaining their perfect winning records. The result means Mainland retain their grip on the NZ Women’s Soccer Challenge Cup, this being their first defence of the trophy in its new Ranfurly Shield-style format. But the silverware was a mere sideshow - this match represented 21st Century New Zealand women’s soccer at its very best. It was a ding-dong go right from the kick-off, with neither team giving quarter nor taking prisoners - the game-long duel between Maia Jackman and Rachel Oliver (pictured below, thanks to Kevin Clarke Photography) was ample evidence of this, and would have been well worth the admission money on its own, had there been a charge to pay at the gate! Make no mistake, this game was of such high quality that those who witnessed it shouldn’t have baulked had they been asked for a donation - the players’ efforts, passion and industry fully merited it. Indeed, given the choice of watching a game as good as this, or paying $20 to watch a Football Kingz home game … let’s just say the NWSL put the NSL to shame on this occasion!! The closeness of the contest was highlighted in the first fifteen minutes, both teams setting out their stalls to produce a good old-fashioned, hard, physical battle, while still producing a high standard of soccer - all credit to referee James Thian and his team, too, for allowing the players to play in this manner, because their contribution to this memorable encounter was a significant factor in its being so. Mainland opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute. Zarnia Cogle was left to roam on the left, and her punishing run inside culminated in a fierce drive which Yvonne Vale could only parry across the face of her goal. Clare Warner was following in, and steered the ball home from close range, much to the delight of her team-mates. Almost immediately, Auckland-Manukau began imposing their game plan on proceedings, passing the ball around and probing for openings. One came in the 28th minute, Pip Meo throwing the ball into Hayley Moorwood, and scampering off down the left for a made-to-measure return pass from her team-mate. "Pocket Rocket" Meo evaded Tina Bosscher’s challenge before whipping in a cross to the near post for the diving figure of Amanda Crawford. But as the striker launched herself to head the ball goalwards, Cogle appeared from nowhere to hook the ball off her opponent’s head to safety. Five minutes later, the visitors drew level, with a classy finish providing fitting reward to patient approach play. Jackman sparked the move, working an opening with Dana Humby and Rachel Doody on the right. The ball was played into Crawford, who held it up before rolling it square into the path of the charging Vicki Rainbow. The midfielder swept past a defender and lured Ingrid Bain out of goal before calmly slipping the ball under the ‘keeper for a very well-taken equaliser. Stung, the Mainlanders immediately sought to restore their advantage. How they failed to do so before the interval, God alone knows, and even The Almighty may well be struggling for an explanation!! In the eleven minutes after the equaliser, Auckland-Manukau cleared the ball off their goal-line on no less than four occasions, including a two-minute spell in which they scrambled clear three times!! In the 37th minute, a bone-jarring challenge on Meo by Jane Simpson saw the SWANZ international force the ball wide to Warner. Her cross flew beyond Cogle to former England women’s rugby rep Karen Almond, whose header flew past Vale. Unbelievably, the sphere cannoned off the inside of the post and spun across the face of goal, Melissa Ray reacting quickest of all to clear off the line. The resulting corner from Oliver picked out Kelly Jarden, whose header flew towards the target. But Jackman appeared from nowhere to produce a text-book header off the line to safety. Within seconds, Mainland forced another corner, the Oliver-Jarden ticket again the preferred combination. This time, Jarden’s close-range effort was stopped on the line by Vale - it was desperate stuff which drew plenty of "Oohs" and "Aahs" from the fortunate few present. And still it wasn’t over. A minute before the break, Cogle buccaneered to the byline on the left and whipped in a low cross for Almond. But Meo appeared on the scene to scramble the ball to Ray, who sparked a counter-attack which saw Crawford marauding forward from half-way, with Melanie Edwards matching her stride for stride. The striker evaded the impressive defender’s challenge and let fly from close range, only for Bain to produce a superb parried save to her left. Within seconds, a gripping first half was brought to a close, allowing players and spectators alike the chance to draw breath before embarking on another furiously contested forty-five minutes of frenetic end-to-end action. And end-to-end it most definitely was, the game swinging on a pendulum to the gasps and encouragement of those present. But nine minutes into the second spell, Jackman, in one of her finest-ever performances, silenced the natives. Melanie Gooch set sail down the left, and cut inside past the tracking Edwards before squaring the ball to Crawford, whose shot was blocked by Simpson. The ball fell neatly for Jackman, who, from the edge of the penalty area, let fly with a low drive which deflected off the recovering Simpson and flew beyond

the diving Bain into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. Back came Mainland, Vale pawing an Oliver free-kick over the crossbar on the hour mark, before Leigh Alexander sent a ferocious twenty-five yard volley crashing into the stanchion after Terry McCahill had headed Jarden’s corner to seeming safety. Auckland-Manukau responded in kind, Gooch and Crawford leading raids which Simpson and Edwards were able to contain, the first-mentioned Mainland defender producing a superb recovering tackle in the seventieth minute to thwart Gooch as she made a beeline for goal, Jackman having released her team-mate down the right. A minute later, the action was back at the other end of the park, Cogle’s cross-shot zooming across the face of goal with Almond arriving just too late on the far post, Vale left to look on with relief. In the 73rd minute, Mainland drew level, the luck which had deserted them in the first half finally going their way. Cogle’s initial cross from the right was blocked by McCahill, but Mainland’s most impressive performer tried again, this time succeeding. Jackman had tracked back to head the ball clear, and did so, but Jarden, who had slipped as she pursued the cross, flicked her leg up and steered the ball into the net with a quite remarkable instinctive volley - 2-2, and all on for young and old, as if that hadn’t already been the case!! From the kick-off, the ball was fed to Jackman, who scythed down the right through three Mainland challenges, before letting fly from inside the penalty area. Bain was right behind the effort, and was well-placed to deal with a Crawford effort on the stretch seconds later, as Auckland-Manukau came charging forward in search of a third goal. With ten minutes remaining, Mainland hearts skipped a beat, as Bain fumbled a Crawford corner inside her goal area. The ball bounced, the defence was static, and Jackman was lunging at the sphere. She got her toe to it, but couldn’t direct it into the roof of the net, the ball, instead, clearing the bar by mere inches. It was a life for the home team, and eight minutes later, after McCahill had headed a  Crawford cross over the top, and Jackman and Oliver had enjoyed a friendly chat with referee Thiam as their battle royal threatened to boil over, they looked to make the most of it. Almond catching Kristy Hill in possession as the substitute attempted to dribble out of defence. The striker supplied Sarah Cumming with the ball, and she fired in a cross for Oliver. But right on her shoulder was Jackman, who again saved the day for her side. The former Chinese Women’s Super League professional repeated the feat two minutes later, beating Oliver to the punch again as a cross from Cogle this time threatened the Auckland-Manukau goal. Seconds before this incident, however, the game was well and truly up for grabs, as Margot Bowker, another of the visitors’ substitutes, gathered the ball on half-way and released Crawford through Mainland’s square defence. The striker sprinted clear and, once inside the penalty area, let fly, only to shake her head in disbelief as Bain pulled off a magnificent one-handed save to her right to maintain parity. Soon after, the final whistle sounded, with all present rising as one to applaud the outstanding efforts of two teams who, to a woman, gave everything and then some for their respective causes. Neither side deserved to lose, and as both deserved to win, a draw was a fitting conclusion to a rip-roaring encounter rich in quality football, skill, passion and personal and professional pride - one of the truly great inter-provincial women’s soccer matches. "I was very impressed with our workrate, and we played some great football", said Mainland’s coach, Ali Grant, afterwards. "The chances were there for us to go in at least 3-1 up at half-time, but … Auckland-Manukau worked hard, and strung some nice football together". Grant’s counterpart, Sue Taylor, was speechless afterwards. "What a battle!! It could have gone either way. While we didn’t play in as composed a manner as we have done, we made up for that with some committed defending, and a willingness to get bodies behind the ball. "Mainland played well", Taylor added, "and as a result, I’m quite happy to go home with a point". There were twenty-seven stars on the pitch, when one takes into account the substitutes who contributed to this thriller, but a handful of players merit special mention. Cogle was dynamic in a Mainland side which boasted strong performances from Bain, Simpson, Edwards, Jarden and Oliver, while Auckland-Manukau were well served by Crawford, McCahill, Humby, Rainbow and Doody, on a day when Jackman was, quite simply, irrepressible. Mainland:    Bain; Bosscher, Simpson, Edwards, West (White, 67); Warner (Cumming, 57), Alexander, Jarden, Oliver; Cogle, Almond Auck.-Man.:    Vale; Humby, McCahill, Ray (Hill, 78); Jackman, Rainbow, Moorwood, Doody, Meo (Somerfield, 67); Crawford, Gooch (Bowker, 71) Referee:    James Thian Former Liverpool player, the late Sir Matt Busby, gives his definition of a great player: "The great players have great games in the great games. When it really matters, they perform".