National Women’s Soccer League leaders Auckland-Manukau produced their best performance of the season in their final game in the competition at McLennan Park on November 16, as they trounced a highly competitive New Zealand Under-17 Women’s Development Squad 7-0 to clinch the inaugural National Women’s Soccer League title.      Only a thirteen-goal win by Mainland Soccer (Nelson-Canterbury) over Waikato-Bay of Plenty in their final game of the season could have prevented Sue Taylor’s charges from regaining their position as the country’s premier women’s soccer-playing province.      The vivacious Under-17s, many of whom play for clubs in the Auckland region, gave a very good account of themselves against opposition with far greater experience, but today happened to be the day when Auckland-Manukau finally hit their straps, and God help whoever stood in their way!!      Their passing and movement off the ball was vibrant, and was best epitomised by Amanda Crawford, who relished the extra space she found in a slightly withdrawn role to wreak havoc in the Under-17’s ranks whenever she secured possession.      She it was who sparked the game’s first attack of note, her sweeping ninth minute pass releasing Pip Meo down the left. Her cross drifted behind Margot Bowker, but Maia Jackman was following up, only for her goalbound drive to cannon to safety off team-mate Melanie Gooch.      After a superbly flighted Crawford corner had screamed across the face of goal with no-one on either side getting a touch on the sphere, the league leaders opened the scoring on the quarter-hour.      Terry McCahill and Rachel Doody linked up to spark a forward surge from Melissa Ray. Auckland’s Young Player of the Year threaded the ball through for Gooch, who turned her marker before inviting Bowker to shoot. Her effort completely wrong-footed Under-17s goalkeeper Ashleigh Cox, who dived left as the ball rolled into the bottom right-hand corner of her net.      Within seconds, Auckland-Manukau could have doubled their advantage, McCahill’s powerful header from a Crawford corner flashing inches over the crossbar, as the senior side went about imposing their will on the match, the collective attitude being "We’re not having you young whipper-snappers showing us up"!!      Occasionally they did, however, Sara Clapham engineering the first opportunity for the Under-17s to upset the apple-cart in the 22nd minute. But her twenty-yard volley was comfortably handled by Yvonne Vale.      Auckland-Manukau’s reaction was to strike a second goal three minutes later, but Kirsty Yallop shouldn’t be blamed for her part in it. Her first touch to bring a difficult, dropping ball under control was quite superb - it was just her bad luck that her Lynn-Avon United team-mate, Rachel Doody, nipped in to pinch the ball off her before she had a second bite of the cherry.      It was a clever piece of work by the promising midfielder, who played the ball forward to Bowker. Her first-time pass sent Gooch spearing between two stunned Under-17 defenders, and from the edge of the penalty area, she was given half the goal to aim at by the stupefied figure of Cox, something which Auckland’s Sportswoman of the Year gleefully accepted.      Within seconds, it could have been 3-0, Cox redeeming herself somewhat by tipping a Margot Bowker drive into the sidenetting. Two minutes later, Crawford and Hayley Moorwood combined to present Jackman with a difficult shooting chance, the speedy midfielder’s volleyed chip with the outside of her right foot not quite having the height to loop over the head of Cox - the technical excellence of the strike deserved better fate.      The best player on the park for the Under-17s was Rebecca Tegg, and in the 32nd minute, she left Dana Humby standing as she swept down the left flank. A pass inside to Emily McColl saw the Wellingtonian produce a low drive which Vale smothered solidly.      Six minutes later, Tegg was in again, this time getting between Vale and the retreating Jackman to latch onto the hard work of Emma Humphries and Yallop, much to the consternation of Auckland-Manukau’s captain, McCahill. The youngster’s effort drifted narrowly past the far angle of post and crossbar, which prompted a general rallying of the troops by Auckland’s Player of the Year, who was Above:  Margot Bowker considers her options as Monique Flexman keeps her eye on the ball.

far from amused at the ball-watching tendencies of some of her colleagues. Auckland-Manukau responded to this scare by charging upfield once more. Doody, Crawford and Jackman linked to good effect as they raided down the right, the last-mentioned picking out Bowker with a measured cross. Cox was relieved to see the striker’s header flash past her left-hand upright.      Three minutes before half-time, the destiny of the points was all but confirmed, as Gooch struck her second goal of the game. Ray brought the ball out of defence and played it into Gooch’s feet. The striker turned her marker, Hannah Bromley, and blasted past Kimberley Lewis at pace before burying the ball in the bottom left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.      The second half saw Auckland-Manukau continue their hunt for goals, knowing full well that the more they scored, the harder the task would be for Mainland Soccer to match their tally in twenty-four hours’ time.      To that end, Crawford sent a clever thirty-yard chip just over the out-of-position Cox’s crossbar, before sending Meo scampering down the left seconds later with a class pass. The "Pocket Rocket" fired a low first-time cross to the edge of the penalty area, where Jackman came hurtling in and let fly with a screamer which grazed the top of the crossbar.      The inevitable had to happen, and did in the fiftieth minute. Crawford and Jackman engineered an opening on the right, and from twenty-five yards, Doody chipped home over the stranded Cox - 4-0.      The Under-17s weren’t having a bar of this, and promptly forced a corner at the other end of the park. Humphries’ delivery was headed out by McCahill to Tegg, whose on-target drive cannoned to safety off team-mate Yallop.      Bowker squandered a glorious chance to add further to the growing tally in the 54th minute, firing wide on receipt of a quickly-taken Dana Humby free-kick. But seven minutes later, Bowker’s perfectly weighted pass gave Meo the room on the left from which she picked out Crawford with a cross. The ball was touched onto Moorwood, who coolly picked her spot from ten yards - bottom far corner, 5-0.      The hard-running of Doody on the left flank six minutes later proved too much for the committed challenge of Monique Flaxman to cope with, and the resulting cross picked out the head of Crawford. The Northern Premier Women’s League’s leading goalscorer deserved a goal to crown her performance, but on this occasion, the ball flashed narrowly wide of the mark.      How Lily Somerfield contrived to head another pinpoint-accurate corner from Crawford over the crossbar from virtually underneath it eleven minutes from time defies belief, but it stung the Under-17s into another brief but threatening flurry of activity, with Yallop and Emma Boyack teaming up to prise open their opponents’ rearguard, the latter’s shot being greedily snatched by Vale five minutes from time.      Auckland-Manukau’s late rallies in matches this season have invariably produced goals, and sure enough … after Jackman had shot wide of the mark after being forced to check her run to receive a misdirected pass from Gooch, two goals in the last two minutes brought about the final 7-0 tally.      Humby sent Gooch stampeding forward at a great rate of knots with a splendid forty-yard pass down the right. The striker bettered Tegg, and laid the ball inside for Lacey Parsons, who held onto the sphere before touching it back into Gooch’s path as she continued her forward foray. This left the striker one-on-one with Cox, and there was only going to be one winner in that match-up, given Gooch was on a hat-trick - 6-0.      The final goal came with the last kick of the game. Moorwood’s defence-splitting diagonal ball released Somerfield down the left, and her first-time cross to the near post saw Parsons beat Cox in the air to head the ball goalwards.      Despite the despairing efforts of Tegg, the ball crossed the line to wrap up the scoring, leaving Auckland-Manukau waiting on a phone call or three on Sunday afternoon before it was confirmed that their efforts over the season had been worthy of earning them the title of ‘Champions’ once more. "I was really pleased with our performance", said coach, Sue Taylor, afterwards. "Every player was focused, and did their job well - it was a real team performance today, and our best of the season by far. "The Under-17s greatly impressed me. They didn’t stop playing, and they didn’t play badly either. But today, everything clicked for us - at last! - and we finished off chances! Hopefully we’ve done enough to win the league." Auck-Man.:    Vale; Humby, McCahill, Ray; Jackman, Moorwood, Crawford, Doody (Rainbow, 80), Meo (Somerfield, 61); Gooch, Bowker (Parsons, 66) NZ U-17s:    Cox; Flexman, Lewis, Bromley, Hokai; Fraser (Hawke, 46), Yallop, Humphries, Tegg; McColl, Clapham (Boyack, 76) Referee:    Jan-Hendrick Hintz