Reigning National Women’s Soccer League champions Soccer2 (Auckland-Manukau) maintained their hopes of winning the competition again at Memorial Park, Palmerston North, on October 25, with a hard-earned 3-1 win over Central Soccer, who began the match as the incumbent league leaders.      They were outplayed for the bulk of the first half, however, by the visitors, who, given their need to get back to winning ways after a reversal in their last match - a result which prompted two line-up changes - set out their stall to accomplish their objective, namely take home three points.      An eighth minute raid was indicative of their game plan. Margot Bowker and Amber Hearn linked in midfield, the latter playing the ball wide to Michele Keinzley, who cut inside before curling an effort just past the far post.      After Central goalkeeper Lisa Wilson, who was deputising for the injured Kylie Sutherland, had grabbed a couple of efforts from Vicki Rainbow and Sara Clapham, the latter opened the scoring in the seventeenth minute with a typical poacher’s goal.      Terry McCahill and Bowker linked neatly, the playmaker steering a delightful pass into Clapham’s feet. Turning sharply, the striker forced her way through a couple of challenges and made the most of a favourable ricochet before prodding the ball home.      It was no more than the "A Team" deserved to that point, Central having struggled to make any headway dur as much to their own inaccurate passing as the visitors’ steady pressure, further evidence of which came in the 23rd minute.      Rainbow and Clapham combined to release Rachel Doody on the left, who made ground before rewarding Clapham’s advancing run. The striker turned well before crossing to Keinzley, who set up a shooting chance for Hearn.      Her twenty-five yarder flew over the crossbar, as did that of Rainbow three minutes later, after Keinzley’s inspired run from right to left saw her link up with Doody, who produced a fine turn to shake off her marker before laying the ball into Keinzley’s path, the striker having continued her forward foray.      On the half-hour, the Aucklanders were unfortunate not to double their advantage, and it was only the instincts of Wilson which prevented them from doing so. A probing lobbed ball from Hayley Moorwood, seeking out Clapham, dipped viciously and late, forcing the goalkeeper, who was advancing off her line to grab the ball, to suddenly adjust herself in order to volley clear.      It proved fortuitous, as it sparked Central’s first raid, led down the right by Ella Wiebe, who played the ball across to Tina Stevenson. She, in turn, steered it inside for Jo Evans, as Central’s triple-edged sword prised open the "A Team"’s defence. But the tracking run of Hearn thwarted the danger, and helped turn defence into attack once more for the visiting side.      Rainbow played the ball forward to Clapham, who evaded two challenges before steering the ball into Bowker’s path. But the combined efforts of Wilson and Hannah Bromley denied the striker, who came close again soon after, just failing to make contact with Keinzley’s vicious low cross after the SWANZ international had powered into the penalty area on receipt of a super pass from Hearn.      Prior to this chance, however, Central spurned a great opportunity to level the scores. Wiebe again led the charge, this time down the left, on receipt of an Evans pass. The former SWANZ striker continued her run forward, one which wasn’t tracked by Melissa Ray. Her lapse nearly proved costly - but for Yvonne Vale hurtling off her line to deny Evans as Wiebe’s cross sought her out, it would have been.      After Hearn had hooked over, due to Central failing to clear a Dana Humby corner, and Clapham had been thwarted by Wilson’s fingertip save, the visitors’ defensive over-confidence in their own penalty area almost gifted Central a goal.      Evans pounced on Moorwood’s ponderous play, and whipped in a cross to the near post. Vale, McCahill and Wiebe arrived as one, but none of them made contact with the ball, much to the Aucklanders' relief.

The second half began with a fingertip save by Wilson thwarting Clapham, after she had pounced on an uncleared cross from Humby. The home team charged straight downfield, and took full advantage of Ray’s sluggishness in moving forward, thereby springing the offside trap. Evans stormed through and rounded Vale before stroking the ball goalwards. Stevenson raced in to gleefully ram home the equaliser from point-blank range.      The goal sparked an almighty struggle - a good old-fashioned arm wrestle between two teams hell-bent on victory for different reasons; Auckland to stay in the title race, Central to retain their lead and oust their rivals from contention. It quickly became apparent that the next goal could well prove decisive.      Within two minutes of levelling the scores, Central were thwarted by Vale, who raced off her line to clear from Evans as she pursued a Stevenson through ball. Auckland retorted through Keinzley, who secured possession in questionable circumstances before firing over a cross which Clapham failed to control.      Gail Hall picked out Evans’ strong 56th minute run with a measured pass, and once again the striker was bearing down on goal at a great rate of knots. Vale advanced to the edge of the penalty area to block the ball, but Evans still managed to unleash a shot on target, only for her delight to turn to despair as Rainbow darted back to clear off the line.      After Bowker had gone close at the other end of the park, Evans came closer still for Central, in the 63rd minute. Stevenson released her team-mate with another probing pass, and the striker muscled in between McCahill and Vale, somehow squeezing a shot between the pair from the tightest of angles. The goalkeeper scrambled after it, and was relieved to see the ball hit the inside of the far post and roll into her path.      It was the fortuitous break the visitors needed, and the "A Team" weren’t slow to regain the upper hand. Wilson again saved from Clapham, while a timely challenge by half-time substitute Nancy Campbell denied Keinzley as she burst forward from half-way. Clapham then hit the crossbar following a Humby corner, while Wilson pawed out a testing near post cross-shot from Doody, after Bowker had released her team-mate down the left.      A pivotal refereeing decision fifteen minutes from time turned the match the visitors’ way. While Central disputed a throw-in which should have been awarded in their favour - referee Glen Lochrie overruled his better-placed assistant’s signal - the "A Team" got on with the job.      McCahill, Moorwood, Keinzley, Clapham and Keinzley again combining in a slick right-flank raid. The last-mentioned’s cross to the near post was met by the outstanding Bowker, who darted in to provide an instinctive finish to a fine move, scoring a classic striker’s goal in the process.       The goal, as well as the circumstances in which it had come about, broke the resolve of the Central side, and three minutes later, Clapham made the points safe for the title-holders, edging out McCahill to steer home Humby’s teasing corner, which Wilson came for, saw, but got nowhere near.      Nine minutes from time, the "A Team" again benefited from a favourable refereeing decision, one which was remarkably similar to that which swung the game their way. This time, the outcome saw Moorwood’s rising fifteen-yard drive tipped to safety by Wilson - one wonders, had the Auckland shooters aimed for the lower corners, rather than high, how many shots Central’s tall custodian would have got down to!      As it was, their 3-1 victory propelled them past Central on the league table, albeit on goal difference, and leaves them three points behind new leaders Capital Soccer (Wellington), who travel to Central on Monday afternoon, while the "A Team" entertain Southern Soccer at Ken Maunder Park. Central:    Wilson; Aim, Cameron (Campbell, 46), Bromley, Waugh; O’Keefe, Hall, Archer; Stevenson (Boyack, 83), Evans, Wiebe Auckland-Manukau:    Vale; Ray, McCahill, Humby; Keinzley, Hearn (Yallop, 77), Rainbow, Moorwood, Doody; Bowker, Clapham Referee:        Glen Lochrie