Reigning National Women’s Soccer League champions Auckland-Manukau advanced to the inaugural Grand Final of the competition in a fortnight’s time when accounting for Capital Soccer 4-0 at Seaside Park on November 13. The youthful Wellington-based side were unable to prevent the Aucklanders from maintaining their impressive four-goals-per-game average in front of another two hundred-strong crowd, but as ever, the home team only converted a portion of the chances they created. Just two minutes into play, a free-kick struck long by Dana Humby sent Zoe Thompson racing through in pursuit of the ball, but Pam Yates, Wellington’s goalkeeper, won the race against her New Zealand team-mate, the striker picking up a knock in the process. Seven minutes later, Kirsty Yallop sent Leah Tagaloa racing through in pursuit of another long ball, with the youngster lobbing the ball over the advancing Yates but wide of the post. The resulting goal-kick fell to Michele Keinzley, and immediately, the visitors found themselves under pressure in their defensive third. The midfielder played the ball through for Thompson, who raced to the by-line before pulling the ball back for Yallop. The midfielder fair smashed the ball goalwards from the edge of the penalty area, and Yates made a superb save to turn the sphere to seeming safety. Unfortunately for Wellington, Sarah Gibbs was following in, and gleefully steered the ball home to open the scoring in the tenth minute. Four minutes later, a Gibbs corner picked out Maia Jackman, whose glancing header zoomed across the face of goal, needing only a touch to double the score. It was, with one exception, as close as the Aucklanders got to doing this in the next twenty-five minutes, because with the wind at their backs, the home team were tending to over-hit passes far too often, their probing through balls gifting possession to the opposition at times when more patient quality approach play, featuring interchanges of passes and movement off the ball, would likely have proven far more rewarding. The one time this approach came off during this period of play was in the 27th minute, when Humby broke up an Ana Olssen raid on the edge of the penalty area and sent Thompson racing away down the right. The striker had Tagaloa steaming up inside her anticipating a low cross, but Thompson opted for the solo raid, only to shoot straight at Yates. Meanwhile, the Wellingtonians, driven on by the irrepressible Patrice Bourke, were keeping their opponents honest, and gave the Auckland defence a few moments of concern around the half-hour mark. Angela Goodridge sent a dipping twenty-five yard free-kick arcing narrowly over the back-pedalling Ashleigh Cox’s crossbar in the 29th minute, while six minutes later, the same player volleyed wide after Toni West and the lively Sarah Gregorius had combined on the right. But any time the Wellingtonians played anything in the air, Jackman and Melissa Ray reigned supreme - you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times either central defender was beaten in an aerial duel in this encounter, such was their dominance in this facet of play. Just about every Auckland player was guilty of wayward distribution in the first half, but three minutes

before half-time, Yallop unleashed a peach of a pass to reward Keinzley’s diagonal run from right to left. The midfielder was forced wide, however, and Yates grabbed her low cross before the closing figure of Thompson could pounce. While the home team went to the dressing rooms a goal to the good, they would have been disappointed at the quality of their passing in the first half. But the time-honoured words of the legendary Bob Paisley, "It’s not about the long ball or the short ball, it’s about the right ball", were put to good use by Auckland in the second spell, although not before Bria Sargent had sent a thirty-yard free-kick fizzing narrowly past Cox’s left-hand upright a mere two minutes into the second spell. Seconds after this event, Humby picked out Keinzley with a pass which saw the midfielder outmuscle Ali Hansen before linking with Rebecca Sowden to present Thompson with a chance. But the striker shot at Yates from the edge of the penalty area. In the 51st minute, Auckland doubled their advantage. Yallop sent Thompson scurrying away down the right with a gem of a pass, and the striker showed the Wellington rearguard a clean pair of heels before letting fly at goal. Yates parried this effort, but, as with the first goal, Gibbs gained due reward for following in - 2-0. Which became 3-0 within the next sixty seconds. Straight from the kick-off, Wellington gave the ball away, and how they were made to pay! Sowden and Gibbs linked on the left, before the latter clipped a peach of a ball through for Thompson to latch onto. The striker checked inside the covering figure of Sargent before unleashing a twenty-five yard screamer into the top left-hand corner of Yates’ net - 3-0, and how! The visitors looked to strike back straight away, with Bourke hitting the crossbar with a well-struck free-kick. Auckland failed to clear their lines, and Gregorius’ subsequent dipping twenty-yard effort just cleared the woodwork, much to Cox’s relief. Auckland’s goalkeeper looked on over the course of the next fifteen minutes, as her team-mates largely pinned the Wellingtonians inside their own half with a stream of concerted attacks. Firstly, Tagaloa went down under the challenge of Julia Baldwin as Jackman sent the ball forward for her young team-mate to pursue. Referee Sam Tompsett, who was later to issue yellow cards to Gibbs - her first-ever booking - for dissent, and Thompson, for persistent infringement, was the subject of protests aplenty on this and other occasions, poor appointing by the powers-that-be meaning he was refereeing Auckland for the third time in four home games this season. Frustrated on this occasion, the home team ploughed on, with Keinzley the next to prise open the Wellingtonians’ rearguard. After beating a path past Baldwin, the midfielder delivered a precise cross for Thompson, who was only thwarted by substitute Sara Vasey in her attempts to add a fourth goal. Seconds later, Jackman’s ball forward was flicked on delightfully by Thompson for Tagaloa to latch onto. After outpacing Baldwin, the striker sent a twenty-yard drive thundering past Yates’ right-hand post. Thompson and Keinzley went close soon after, while Tagaloa went off for treatment to a blood nose, reducing Auckland to ten players for the best part of ten minutes. It didn’t seem to affect them greatly, for after Petria Rennie and Thompson had teamed up to present Keinzley with

a chance which Yates swiftly denied her, the home team struck for a fourth time, twenty minutes from the end. The architect, this time, was Yallop - a majestic through ball which rewarded Keinzley’s darting diagonal run from right to left across the penalty area. Taking the ball in her stride, Auckland’s leading goalscorer in the Golden Boot stakes confirmed her chart-topping status for the team with an unerring finish, due reward for a fine all-round individual performance. A series of substitutions and stoppages over the course of the next fifteen minutes saw the game go off the boil somewhat, with a twenty-five yard drive from Bourke - which Cox gratefully grabbed - the only goal-threatening incident of note in this time. But the final few minutes saw another flurry of opportunities at both ends of the park, with the substitutes playing a part in those created by the home team. Kimberley Lewis sent the full-of-running Thompson charging forth once more, the striker cutting inside before crossing to Yallop, whose progress was thwarted by Bourke. Yallop was able to lay the ball back to Hannah Rishworth, but Yates was right behind this shot. Seconds later, Rebecca Tegg sent Gibbs scampering down the left with a fine through ball from half-way, and the recipient’s first-time cross was tailor-made for Keinzley to flick across goal towards the fast-arriving Thompson. But the striker arrived a split-second too late, although she was able to quickly recover and send a shot fizzing wide. The final shot of note was fired by Goodridge in stoppage time, a cracking shot on the turn which Cox found far too hot too handle. Her parried save careered right past the closing figure of Ashlee Delahunty, and Rishworth was on hand to spare her team-mate’s blushes and clear the danger. While the defeat leaves Capital out of the play-off placings, all may not yet be lost for Wendi Henderson’s charges - a month-old protest concerning the eligibility of Canterbury’s Canadian recruit, Stacey Malloch, has yet to be ruled on by NZ Soccer, and if it is upheld, the Wellingtonians and the Mainlanders will switch positions on the league ladder, meaning Capital will play Central Soccer for the second time in a fortnight next weekend. Auckland’s 4-0 win, meanwhile, sees them regain the Roy Cox Shield from their age-old rivals, retain the Challenge Cup once more, and finish top of the National Women’s Soccer League table, thereby securing automatic passage to the Grand Final, a date and venue for which have yet to be confirmed. On the subject of which … the National Women’s League Grand Final taking place on the Wembley of New Zealand’s soccer pitches? As the one venue in the Auckland-Manukau area deemed suitable for use in the NZ Football Championship, it would be rather appropriate to see women’s soccer’s elite gracing the hallowed turf of Kiwitea Street in a fortnight’s time, methinks. Watch this space! Auckland:     Cox; Rennie, Jackman, Ray, Humby (Lewis, 87); Keinzley, Sowden (Rishworth, 73), Yallop, Gibbs (booked, 68); Thompson (booked, 74), Tagaloa (Tegg, 75) Capital:     Yates; Wenzlick (Vasey, 30), Sargent, Baldwin, Hansen; Gregorius, Bourke, West (Pearson, 82), Delahunty; Goodridge, Olssen (Ponsford, 46) Referee:     Sam Tompsett