Southern Soccer battled and scrapped every step of the way against defending National Women‘s Soccer League champions Auckland-Manukau at Ken Maunder Park on October 27, but eventually succumbed 4-0 to the "A Team" who returned to the top of the table with this hard-fought victory. The quality, precision and composure of the home team’s performance left a lot to be desired at times, but nothing should detract from the impressive displays of Southern’s twin defensive rocks, Tess Murphy and Nicola Woodward - former Auckland Under-17 reps both - whose tenacious tackling and interceptions prevented the "A Team" from scoring the hatful of goals they were seeking, given the league title could well be decided on goal difference. Their nemesis was Maia Jackman, who, while as guilty at times as her team-mates of misdirected passes and wayward finishing, provided the penetration and finishing power which ultimately foiled Southern’s stubborn resistance, the SWANZ star scoring twice and unselfishly setting up Zoe Thompson for her first "A Team" goal in between times, the striker responding to this confidence-boosting finish by doubling her tally soon after. The "A Team" squandered three good chances to break the deadlock inside the first ten minutes, Hayley Moorwood volleying narrowly over from twenty yards before both Margot Bowker and Thompson were thwarted by Southern goalkeeper Priscilla Garside, the former’s opportunity resulting from the combination play of Rachel Doody, Thompson and Jackman. The last-mentioned opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute. Melissa Ray picked out Thompson with a well-weighted pass, and the striker controlled the ball neatly before turning and slipping it through a square defence. Jackman burst onto the pass, and raced clear of the defence before steadying herself and slamming home from twelve yards. Doody failed to reward Moorwood’s hard work three minutes later when shooting tamely at Garside, but such was Southern’s dogged defending that it was a further nine minutes before the "A Team" went close to altering the scoreboard, Bowker sending a shot fizzing past the post after Hearn, Moorwood, Dana Humby and Thompson had interchanged passes. Two minutes later, Moorwood sent Jackman down the right, and her measured cross invited a shot from Hearn. The midfielder stumbled over the ball however, but recovered to combine with Doody and Elina Tito, whose shot flew wide, as did that of Terry McCahill seconds later, as the defender arrived on the far post to meet a Humby corner. Every once in a while, Southern would set a cat amongst the pigeons by launching a raid of their own, the first of which came in the 33rd minute. Mariah Meagher’s ball forward was misjudged by Tito, allowing Danielle Shirkey to latch onto it. But before the striker had a chance to capitalise, Humby stepped in to avert the threat, and launch a counter-attack with a ball down the right to Jackman. She cut inside before steering the ball into Bowker’s feet, the striker playing a one-two with Thompson before drilling the ball into Garside’s midriff. Moorwood was next to give the Southern goalkeeper some shot-stopping practice before Bowker and Doody combined on the left, the latter’s cross being flicked on at the near post by Thompson, but just out of reach of the incoming Jackman, who was next seen following in a Humby free-kick to put pressure on Garside, the goalkeeper pawing the ball to safety. The final act of the half saw Southern storming forward once more, this time through Tessa Simpkins, who outsmarted Humby before latching onto a Kushla Glover through ball. The striker steered the ball across to Shirkey, who, as before, was foiled before securing possession, Ray this time the player to intervene for the home team, who went to the

dressing rooms one goal to the good, but with too many individuals having failed to satisfy the standard of football expected of championship contenders. The second half was just three minutes old when the "A Team" doubled their advantage. Bowker’s through ball rewarded Jackman’s strong angled run, and the international bore down on goal, luring Garside towards her before unselfishly slipping the ball across to Thompson, who took great delight in scoring her first goal in the Auckland combination’s colours. Some sound defending by McCahill in the 54th minute thwarted Simpkins in the Southern youngster’s efforts to win a foot race in pursuit of Murphy’s through ball - the striker’s attempt to shoulder-charge the home team’s captain in her frustration at having been outfoxed was a classic case of experience winning out over exuberance. It sparked another Auckland-Manukau raid, with Thompson and Jackman leading the charge down the right. After evading Woodward’s challenge, the former forced the ball inside as Garside approached. Before Bowker could pounce, Murphy stepped in to clear, but only as far as Moorwood, whose rising shot just cleared the crossbar. After Jackman had just failed to make contact with a Doody cross - no-one was following in on the far post for the home team - a 59th minute raid saw the margin of Auckland-Manukau’s lead increase still further. McCahill and Bowker linked up to release Thompson, who got the better of Murphy before setting a finishing example for some of her colleagues to follow - hard and low, bottom corner, leaving Garside with no chance. 3-0. The goalkeeper thwarted Thompson’s attempts to complete her hat-trick seconds later, turning the striker’s shot around the post following Humby’s surging run from deep. Soon after, Thompson appeared on the left flank, holding play up well before substitute Kirsty Yallop arrived in support. The youngster cut inside before unleashing a drive which Garside grabbed at the second attempt, at the feet of the incoming Jackman. After McCahill had volleyed narrowly wide following a Humby corner which Garside got her hands to, another fine tackle by Murphy this time thwarted another substitute, Sara Clapham. Jackman and Thompson dived in for the kill, but Garside prevailed once more, as she did seconds later when Jackman spurned a glorious chance to score her second goal of the game, shooting straight at the ‘keeper in a one-on-one situation. Garside thwarted Jackman twice more in quick succession soon afterwards, before Hearn sent the ball soaring towards the Whau River fifteen minutes from time, after Jackman, having outpaced Jezena Gilmore despite the Southern defender having a five-yard start, had combined with Moorwood. Having sat out Saturday’s encounter with Central Soccer, Jackman’s response was to produce a powerful attacking performance which she rounded off in emphatic fashion six minutes from time. Stealing the ball off Woodward, she burst through Southern’s defence before smashing the ball under the diving figure of Garside to conclude the scoring. The visiting goalkeeper thwarted Clapham - a tame effort by her prolific standards - and Thompson in the remaining minutes, but four goals was all the "A Team" had to show for their efforts, ironically the size of the goal difference advantage they now hold over Central Soccer going into next weekend’s final round of action. "A Team":     Vale; Humby, McCahill, Ray; Jackman, Moorwood, Hearn, Tito (Rainbow, 83), Doody (Yallop, 65); Thompson, Bowker (Clapham, 65) Southern:     Garside; Meagher, Murphy, Woodward, Gilmore; Tranvan, Spedding, Shirkey (Hicks, 87), Glover, Cross; Simpkins Referee:     Jan-Hendrik Hintz