Auckland-Manukau (Soccer2) ended the six-day reign of North Harbour (United Soccer 1) as Challenge Cup holders on October 4, when downing their cross-town rivals 2-1 at Bay City Park in the National Women’s Soccer League.      The match, as a spectacle, was spoilt somewhat by the blustery downfield wind, which limited the prospects of the "Battle of the Bridge" being a quality football encounter, but the "A Team" took full advantage of the prevailing gusts as their backs to dominate the first half.      Long-range efforts were the norm early on, with Vicki Rainbow and Hayley Moorwood both warming the gloves of Rachel Howard, while Amber Hearn sent a twenty-five yard grasscutter fizzing past the post in the eleventh minute, after a neat four-player interchange.      United’s best hopes hinged largely on counter-attacks at pace, and one such raid, in the twelfth minute, saw Liz O’Meara surging forward, supported by Gillian Thurlow. But the former’s pass to the latter was capably dealt with by the combined efforts of Melissa Ray and Yvonne Vale.      The goalkeeper later coped well under pressure with a teasing Sarah Gibbs cross, one of the few times in the game the usually inspirational United midfielder was able to emerge from the shadow of Maia Jackman, who dominated that particular individual battle within the battle.      These moments aside, it was all one-way traffic in the first spell, but the "A Team" didn’t play to the conditions as well as they could have done. Dana Humby, on her birthday, had a real mix-and-match day with her set-piece deliveries, although a seventeenth minute corner found Hearn darting in at the near post. The midfielder’s header cleared the crossbar by inches.      Seconds later, another Humby cross was pawed out by Howard to Kirsty Yallop, who had an inspired game, and was desperately unlucky not to crown it with a goal when her rising twenty-yard drive crashed against the crossbar and ricocheted to safety.      Just shy of the half-hour mark, a slick "A Team" raid culminated in Howard saving superbly at the feet of Moorwood, whose runs from midfield were often going unchecked by North Harbour. Another such surge, on the half-hour, saw the midfielder homing onto a low cross from Yallop, after the solidly-performed Rainbow had instigated the attack. Howard again prevailed.      Moorwood and Jackman combined soon after to engineer an opening which Margot Bowker steered wide of the mark at the near post, before Hearn and Moorwood invited Yallop to turn Steph Stephens inside out as she scythed in off the left flank, before drilling a shot wide of the target ten minutes before the interval.      North Harbour looked to be on course to hold their opponents scoreless to half-time, but two minutes before realising that prospect, they made a fatal mistake. Unsurprisingly, Moorwood was involved again, scooting down the right before delivering a low cross to Bowker. She steered the ball back into the path of the unmarked Michele Keinzley, who, from ten yards, hammered home unerringly past Howard, who stood no chance of stopping the shot.      After gathering a Hearn drive from distance, Howard found herself racing off her line to thwart Bowker in stoppage time, after the striker took advantage of some fortuitous ricochets to leave herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Howard spread herself well, forcing Bowker to shoot horribly high and wide as the half drew to a close.      The second spell was just twenty seconds old when the "A Team" were denied a clear-cut penalty by referee Jan-Hendrik Hintz. Straight from the kick-off, Bowker released Yallop down the left, and her teasing cross to the far post was left by Howard. Jackman came flying in to meet the ball, but found herself crashing to the turf as Gibbs, in her eagerness to thwart

the danger, bundled her opponent over.      With the Aucklanders anticipating the whistle, North Harbour promptly charged downfield, with Thurlow finding herself all alone in the "A Team"’s penalty area, only to pull the ball back for a non-existent oncoming team-mate - the first, and not the last instance of the visitors’ defence being rattled by the home team’s pressure in this half.      Invariably, however, they were able to play their way out of danger on those occasions, and, despite playing into the wind, proved themselves the better team, confidently retaining possession and using the ball well.      Such as in the 47th minute, when Rainbow turned past two opponents and slipped Moorwood through the inside-right channel. But with Keinzley and Bowker racing into the middle anticipating a cross, the midfielder produced something nearer a shot, one which failed to trouble Howard, who comfortably dealt with a twenty-five yard free-kick from Humby soon afterwards.      The key moment in the second spell came three minutes shy of the hour mark, when Bowker’s pursuit of the ball prompted Howard to clear it hurriedly. Hearn returned it with interest, and North Harbour’s game-long laxness in allowing Moorwood to roam free was mercilessly punished.      With Bowker in an offside position, but clearly retreating from her forward foray, Moorwood hared through and found herself one-on-one with Howard. The ‘keeper saved the midfielder’s first attempt, but Moorwood made no mistake with the rebound, clinically steering the ball home to give the "A Team" a two-goal cushion, and a vice-like grip on the Challenge Cup.      Five minutes later, Howard was busy once more, foiling Jackman’s header following a Humby corner. Then after O’Meara had volleyed a Fran Ebbett cross wide at the other end of the park, the "A Team" produced a super move fully deserving a goal.      That the combination work of Hearn, Rainbow, Moorwood and Jackman wasn’t duly rewarded by a quality finish from Keinzley was due to Ebbett’s timely interception as the striker sought her second goal of the game.      A flurry of substitutions followed, the most significant of which saw Rainbow depart from the fray, for this gave North Harbour a foot-hold in midfield. Keinzley and Yallop sent volleys flying over the crossbar in the last fifteen minutes, and the visitors looked to be all but home and dry, only to find themselves victims of a sting in the tail.      With her nemesis having been replaced, Catherine Porteous was given more freedom to press forward for the home team, and her efforts were rewarded with a stoppage time finish, as an Auckland attack breaking down inside their own half. Ebbett and O’Meara took full advantage to create the opening, and Porteous poked the ball past the advancing Vale to set up a grandstand finish.      It nearly came to pass, too, with a Gibbs free-kick deep in stoppage time causing all sorts of consternation in the "A Team"’s goalmouth, no less than three North Harbour players failing to get a touch on the ball as it arced across the target, a goal being all the home team needed to retain the cup.      But the sound of the final whistle soon after ensured the Challenge Cup would be on the move for the second time in a week, this time back to surroundings in which it became a familiar sight during the days of National Women’s Soccer Tournaments - Auckland. North Harbour:    Howard; Ebbett, Simpson, Hendriks, Ellis (Stenbridge, 90); Stephens (Sciarone, 77), Porteous, Barlow, Gibbs; O’Meara, Thurlow Auckland-Manukau:    Vale; Humby, McCahill, Ray; Jackman, Moorwood, Hearn, Rainbow (Doody, 74), Yallop; Keinzley (Thompson, 84), Bowker (Clapham, 81) Referee:        Jan-Hendrik Hintz