Auckland maintained their unbeaten start to the 2005 Lion Foundation National Women's League at McLennan Park on Saturday, outclassing Waikato-Bay of Plenty 5-0 to mark captain Terry McCahill's one hundredth appearance for the province in a manner befitting of such a milestone. The “A Team” were quickly out of the blocks, with Maia Jackman whipping in a cross just too far in front of the incoming Melanie Gooch inside the first forty seconds of the match. The visitors swiftly went about closing down their opponents' moves after this initial scare, but this was a match in which Auckland were to enjoy several little purple patches in which they produced some very tidy football, and the first of these commenced in the eighth minute. That raid saw some incisive passes between Rebecca Sowden, Marlies Oostdam, Sarah Gibbs and Melanie Gooch culminating in a right-foot strike from the predominantly left-footed Oostdam which warmed the gloves of Kirsty Moore, the first of a number of saves she was to make in the match. The second came seconds later. Jackman played a one-two with Tegg on the right before picking out Gooch with her cross. The striker's header sat up perfectly for Vicki Rainbow to lash a volley goalwards, but Moore pawed the ball away. This sparked a counter-attack featuring Holly Nixon in full flight, and Oostdam, Dana Humby and Gibbs trailing in her slipstream. Sadly for the visitors, the youngster fired one of their few opportunities wide of the mark. Auckland's response to this was to storm downfield and open the scoring, in the eleventh minute. Tegg completely wrong-footed Moore on receipt of a Gooch pass, after Rainbow's shot had been blocked by Stacey Smith. Only a fine covering tackle by Emma Butler prevented Tegg from inflicting further damage a minute later, after the striker had been picked out by Jackman's pinpoint cross. The number seven has been given licence to rampage down the right wing at will once again, and in the fourteenth minute, Sowden provided Jackman with another opportunity to pour on the pace once more. After getting the better of Dana Braunias, she picked out Oostdam with a low cross, but the midfielder shot straight at Moore. After Jackman had lifted a shot over the bar on receipt of a precise pass from Sowden, Auckland eased off the throttle a touch, until they burst into life again in the 22nd minute, thanks largely to the efforts of their revitalised right midfielder. Jackman showed just how much she is relishing her return to her preferred right flank role by giving Braunias a twenty-yard start in pursuit of a wayward Sowden pass. The New Zealand international powered past the hesitant youngster and fired in an accurate low cross which Tegg, after evading a challenge, coolly lifted over Moore for Auckland's second goal. This ignited another flurry of “A Team” raids, with Moore pawing out Humby's 24th minute corner. Jackman headed the ball back across goal, the sphere arcing inches over the head of McCahill, who was lurking on the far post. Moore then saved at the feet of Oostdam, after Tegg had played her through, while the striker was to be denied by the goalkeeper in the 26th minute, as Tegg chanced her arm from twenty-five yards. On the half-hour, a Jackman cross picked out Tegg, who linked with Gooch to tee up Oostdam. Her curling effort cleared the crossbar by inches, while Tegg's less subtle blast two minutes later sailed over the top, after Sowden and Gooch, each having contrived to concede possession easily, both worked hard to win the ball back and create the opportunity. Much of what was good about Auckland's play featured their flank players, and eight minutes before half-time, Oostdam and Jackman combined to generate another opening. The former's cross-field ball saw the latter relay the sphere via Rainbow to Humby, who flighted a gorgeous angled cross into the penalty area. Tegg pounced, but Moore saved splendidly with her legs, and was quickly on her feet to deny Rainbow as she looked to lash home a third goal. After Gooch had threatened aircraft inbound for Ardmore Aerodrome with an awful effort which flew high, wide and not very handsome - Oostdam's inviting cross deserved far better reward, an Oostdam corner saw Rainbow lay the ball back to McCahill, who clipped the ball goalwards. Tegg's instinctive back-headed effort narrowly cleared the crossbar. Waikato, with Tarena Rangi (nee O'Neill) looking to prompt openings at any opportunity, had enjoyed little change from an Auckland rearguard in which Melissa Ray was in most impressive form, forcing errors, making interceptions, winning aerial duels, and generally giving her centurion sidekick an armchair ride in what, as far as  McCahill was concerned, was just the other ninety-nine days she's had in the Auckland office! But when Rangi finally forced an opening, in stoppage time at the end of the first half, Nixon scampered through, only to find Pam Yates racing off her line to block this threat, the goalkeeper then recovering to grab Rangi's shot and spark off another “A Team” assault, Jackman leading the charge down the right. She played the ball forward to Gooch and charged inside for the return, which she met on the stretch to

Terry McCahill Dana Humby Vicki Rainbow Melissa Ray Rebecca Sowden

send the ball across the face of goal. Butler, racing back, conceded an unnecessary corner, one which saw Humby test Moore with another inswinging effort with the last kick of a lively first half. The second half began very much like the first, Auckland storming downfield straight from the kick-off. Oostdam and Gooch combined to send Jackman surging through, but she pulled her shot wide of the target with just Moore to beat, and groaned in frustration at her fruitless finish. After Moore had thwarted Tegg once more - a good save by the `keeper as the striker stole in behind a defence which was indifferent in its attitude towards clearing the danger on this occasion, Auckland stretched their lead to 3-0 with a sumptuous strike from Oostdam in the 53rd minute. Humby's corner was scrambled out to Jackman, who laid the ball back for the incoming figure of Oostdam. She's never hit a right-foot drive as sweetly, and from twenty-five yards, the ball fair sizzled through the crowded goalmouth en route to the left-hand corner of Moore's net. Within seconds, the “A Team” began celebrating what they thought was a fourth goal, until the offside flag ruled out Gooch's close-range effort, Jackman's shot having been blocked by Moore. Soon after, substitute Kristy Hill let fly, only for Kelly Aitken to block her effort. The rebound fell perfectly for Gooch, who darted into the penalty area, only to meet her match in Moore, who saved bravely at the striker's feet, even though she was clearly suffering from an injury she had sustained in the first spell - the goalkeeper's willingness to play through the pain barrier for the cause was admirable. After a Jackman piledriver had ricocheted off Braunias to Humby, whose deft cross was flicked narrowly over the crossbar by Tegg, the striker completed her hat-trick on the hour with a quite outrageous finish. McCahill, the player all bar the visitors were by now willing to score in order to crown her century of Auckland caps with her thirteenth goal in blue-and-white, sparked the attack. Her ball forward was acrobatically flicked on by Sowden to Tegg, who, at full stretch and from  the tightest of angles, somehow flicked the ball over her shoulder and beyond Moore into the far corner - 4-0. The game won, Auckland took the opportunity to give Jackman a well-earned rest, and her departure coincided with a noticeable drop in the quality of the “A Team”'s display, a lapse in standards which prompted captain McCahill to chide her team-mates about their “lazy and sloppy” play, and urge them to raise the standard of their performance once more for the remaining twenty-odd minutes. A contributing factor to this rallying cry had been a right royal mix-up stemming from sluggish midfield play. It put McCahill in a very awkward spot, and with Yates failing to take command of the situation upon coming off her line, Lynda Hemming stole in between the defender and the goalkeeper and fired the ball goalwards. Unfortunately for the visitors, the sphere bounced the wrong side of the upright. Auckland's response to McCahill's rallying cry was the best kind possible - another goal. It came in the 74th minute, and was prompted by Ray's perceptive pass wide. What made the goal, however, was the sharp turn and burst of speed by Jackman's replacement, Grace Vincent, who allowed Ray's pass to run beyond her before completely outfoxing Braunias with her speed of thought and movement. With her cross, Vincent picked out Gooch's run towards the near post, from where she hammered the ball high into the net beyond the despairing figure of Moore. The goalkeeper's afternoon was far from over, however. She produced a fine reflex save to thwart Sowden two minutes later, after Humby's superb cross had rewarded Vincent's work on the right. Six minutes from time, it was evident that Moore hadn't read the script for the afternoon's proceedings, which decreed that on the occasion when McCahill stormed forward from deep, and after she had played one-twos with Sowden and Oostdam, she was to allow the Auckland stalwart's shot to fly past her into the net, thus allowing the day's sub-plot to also have the happiest of endings. McCahill, however, shot straight at the `keeper, while after Oostdam had acrobatically volleyed over the crossbar after a one-two between Vincent and Gooch had seen the former pick her out with a cross, Moore saved once more, this time with her legs from Hill, who had powered through three challenges into the penalty area before letting fly. Vincent and Oostdam combined once more in the 88th minute, the latter's volley, on receipt of the former's deep cross, flying across the face of goal, while in the dying moments, Hill picked out Vincent with a measured pass which allowed the youngster to take on and beat Braunias before picking out Auckland's final substitute of the day, Margot Bowker. Her deft near post flick was matched by Moore's save, one which ensured Auckland would only have a 5-0 victory over Waikato-Bay of Plenty by which to mark Terry McCahill's one hundredth appearance for her province. Auckland:     Yates; Humby, Ray, McCahill, Gibbs; Jackman (Vincent, 63), Sowden, Rainbow (Hill, 51), Oostdam; Tegg (Bowker, 71), Gooch Waikato-BOP:     Moore; Butler, Aitken (Scott, 78), Smith (Trebilcock, 55), Braunias; Nixon, Newman, Ranui, Lambert, Hemming (Wakefield, 78); Brown Referee:     Matthew Cooke