Newly crowned Lotto Northern Premier Women's League champions Three Kings United marked their first appearance on home turf since winning the title a fortnight ago in quite resounding fashion on August 14. This season's league newcomers, Hamilton Wanderers, found themselves on the wrong end of a 16-1 shellacking from the title-holders, who in the process became just the fifth team in the competition's history to clock up 100 goals in a league campaign. That United were keen to make a statement of sorts was evident inside the first ninety seconds of the match, and for those of a Hamilton persuasion, it didn't augur well. Sophie Stewart-Hobbs released Mei Morton down the right, from where she fired a shot across the face of goal. When the home team next fired a shot in anger, in the fourth minute, they opened the scoring. Nadia Pearl sent Martine Puketapu haring through onto a defence-splitting pass, and the striker gave Georgia Candy no chance with a thumping twenty yard finish. Two minutes later, having thundered another shot over the bar in between times on receipt of an Alosi Bloomfield pass, Puketapu plundered her second goal of the game, Morton and Tessa Leong combining to present the league's leading markswoman with the chance to finish clinically. Wanderers rose to the challenge, and were back in the game in the tenth minute through Leanna Ryan, who rammed home a penalty after her cross had bounced and struck the hand of Claudia Crasborn, who gained an advantage from doing so, despite the lack of intent on her part. That goal was akin to waving a red rag at a bull, and this one was in a particularly feisty mood. Straight from the kick-off, Bloomfield and Puketapu combined to set up a chance for Morton. While Candy thwarted her on this occasion, she was beaten all ends up by Hannah Blake's unerring finish across her into the far corner of the net in the twelfth minute, Puketapu having turned provider on this occasion. Still they pressed, a 3-1 lead after twelve minutes merely serving as an incentive to score more goals. Bloomfield set up Leong for a crossbar rattler in the sixteenth minute - how did Puketapu fail to turn home the rebound? - while three minutes later a Crasborn corner was missed by Candy, but not by Morton, who gleefully prodded home. After Puketapu had fired across the face of goal when pursuing her hat-trick strike, United went nap in the 31st minute, and it was Leong's turn to lead the celebrations. Puketapu sent Blake careering away down the left, and while Candy parried her shot, Leong was following in in the manner of all strikers worth their salt. The chances to increase their lead were soon coming almost as quickly as you could blink! Leong volleyed just over from a perfectly weighted Blake cross; Blake spurned a chance which seemed easier to score from, following a super move involving Pearl, Bloomfield, Stewart-Hobbs and Puketapu; Pearl then set up Blake, who dragged a shot across the face of goal. Finally, six minutes before half-time, a sixth goal was registered, with Leong thumping a shot in off the far post after Blake, Pearl and Morton had linked up splendidly. Before the interval, Puketapu grazed the crossbar with a shot arising from Hannah Reid's poor free-kick, while Bloomfield's cross-shot clipped the top of the bar, Pearl having instigated the move with assistance from Blake. The Hamilton players clearly received some gentle reminders at half-time that they weren't here just to make up the numbers, and within five minutes of the resumption Brianna Stewart sent Ryan racing through onto a delightful pass which allowed the striker to round the advancing Rivalina Fuimaono. The less said about Ryan did next, the better, but Three Kings' response to her miss was to stick the ball in the back of Hamilton's net twice more inside the next five minutes. Pearl was having one of those games creative midfielders live for. She seemed to have the ball on a string at times as she sprayed passes around the park, and the one she pinged in the 53rd minute sent Blake marauding in off the left flank. She eventually found herself one-on-one with Candy, who was powerless to prevent the striker from finding the far corner of the net with a stylish finish. 7-1 became 8-1 two minutes later. Bloomfield won

the ball in midfield, and it swiftly travelled from Stewart-Hobbs via Puketapu and Blake to Leong, who controlled neatly before finishing nicely to complete her hat-trick. The Pearl - Blake ticket unhinged Hamilton for a ninth time in the 65th minute, Pearl weaving past three opponents before slipping the ball to Blake, who curled it precisely into the far corner of the net. And the teal-and-royal blue machine simply kept on coming after that. Morton blazed over after Pearl and Puketapu had combined, while the latter's swerving shot was smothered by Candy in the 68th minute after Bloomfield had engineered the opening. Seconds after Puketapu's low cross had skidded just behind Morton, United hit double figures twenty minutes from time., substitute Lily Dowsett benefiting from the combination work of Puketapu, Bloomfield and Leong to leave the youngster one-on-one with Candy. Three minutes later, Blake scored the first of three goals she would score in a dizzying six-minute spell. Pearl and Puketapu had their paw-marks all over the build-up of this strike, a deft finish from eight yards. Four minutes later, Stewart-Hobbs sent Puketapu powering down the right, from where she delivered a cross beyond the far post. Arriving on cue was Blake, whose murderous volley fair screamed home - exemplary technique. Bloomfield then set up Blake's sixth goal of the game in the 79th minute, an unerring twenty-yarder arrowing into the net to make it 13-1 to the new champions. And still they weren't done. The next goal was a special one, as it fired Three Kings into the record books as just the fifth team in the 44-season history of the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League to score 100 goals in a league campaign, joining Eden (171 in 1987), Three Kings United (100 in 1997 & 103 in 1998) and Claudelands Rovers (133 in 2012) in this pantheon of Northern League goalscoring greatness. Appropriately, Pearl was the architect, another slide-rule through ball allowing Puketapu to surge clear through the inside right channel before darting into the box and rifling a shot across the diving figure of Candy and in by the far post, to the undisguised delight of the entire United squad, who knew full well the significance of Puketapu's hat-trick-clinching strike. How to celebrate it? Grab another goal straight from the kick-off! Dowsett dashed through a punch-drunk Hamilton side and rifled the ball home to make it 15-1, the scoreline already the biggest recorded in the competition over the last four seasons. The visitors rallied briefly, largely through Timaru native Ryan, whose storming run through from half-way took her into United's penalty area, from where she let fly, only for Fuimaono to block the effort. Shivi Anthony completed the clearance, sparking another United raid which ended with the ball in the back of Hamilton's net once more. Bloomfield burst out of a tackle in midfield and fed Puketapu, whose pass invited Dowsett to complete her hat-trick. The ball struck the fast-closing figure of Candy, and rolled agonisingly over the line to the delight of the youngster, whose first hat-trick in senior level football this was. And the last goal of the game, too, although Puketapu went close at the death, Candy bravely saving at her feet after Blake had pounced on her poor clearance and set up her strike partner. 16-1 was Three Kings' lot, the sound of the final whistle blessed relief to Hamilton's ears, although the drama for them wasn't over, with substitute Summer Gunn fainting after the final whistle, although she had recovered her senses by the time the St John's team arrived. The visitors, newly promoted at the start of this campaign, met a team at the peak of their powers, and one very much on a mission in this match - to bring up their goalscoring ton for the season. Having been on a season-long learning curves, at least  Hamilton know they're unlikely to face many more as steep as this one ever again. Three Kings:     Fuimaono; Stewart-Hobbs, Pritchard, Philpot (Anthony, 58), Crasborn (Robert, 64); Pearl, Leong, Bloomfield; Morton (Dowsett, 70), Puketapu, Blake Hamilton:     Candy; Rose, Reid, Ali (Clark, 46), Cox; Peresson, Foster, Baylie; Mackay (Gunn, 56), Ryan, Stewart Referee:     Mark Fleming