Lotto Northern Premier Women's League and League Cup winners Glenfield Rovers added the ASB National Women's Knockout Cup to their trophy cabinet for the first time on August 28, scoring a 3-0 win over Coastal Spirit at Palmerston North's Memorial Park to complete the treble. While the showpiece fixture in the women's club footballing calendar disappointed overall as a spectacle, there was no doubting the more deserving team triumphed, although by their standards, Glenfield were nowhere near their best - the absence of the qualities which Katie Bowen (injury) and Priscilla Duncan (work commitments) bring to the team was very evident. Playing in a red-shirted change kit - Spirit sported all black, Rovers set out their stall early, with Steph Skilton prominent in their first attacks. She sent Katie Rood scooting down the left past Chloe Jones before crossing for Hannah Wilkinson, who was thwarted by the eye-catchingly performed Ashleigh Ward in the fourth minute. Seconds later, the roles were reversed, with Wilkinson powering down the right before picking out Skilton on the far post. She steered her shot over the bar during a period in which Spirit gave as good as they got without threatening the Glenfield goal. After Alice Bresnahan and Rood had combined to present Wilkinson with an eleventh minute opportunity - the Football Ferns star was unable to take advantage due to being off-balance when the ball arrived at her feet, a poor clearance by the otherwise impressive Lily Alfeld fell invitingly into Wilkinson's stride in the seventeenth minute, but her thirty yard snapshot sailed across the face of an untended net. Wilkinson continued to be prominent, and featured in the best chance of the match so far, in the 21st minute. Setting off on a run inside her own half, she powered past three opponents before feeding Rood down the right. She evaded a challenge before playing in Skilton, who fired across the face of goal. Rovers continued to press soon after, with the ever-willing Sarah Gibbs urging her team-mates on in her inimitable style. She sent Skilton scurrying down the left with a ball over the top which allowed the player later crowned the Cup Final's MVP to get in behind the Spirit rearguard and set up Wilkinson. Ward lunged in to produce a terrific block, with the ball spilling loose towards Rood. Jones won the race to clear the danger, but Spirit were soon engaged in a rearguard action again as Wilkinson charged through the middle of the park with a bullocking run which included a Jonah Lomu-esque incident when she appeared to run right over the top of a Spirit challenger. That opportunity culminated in Wilkinson crashing a twenty-yarder against the crossbar, and Spirit continued to ride their luck in the minutes which followed. Haley McKnight hooked clear after a Gibbs corner wasn't cleared, allowing Rood to challenge Alfeld at the far post. On the half-hour, Coastal Spirit's custodian produced a brilliant save to maintain the final's scoreless status. Jamie Hackett - rock-solid throughout proceedings - produced a gem of a free-kick which Skilton met with a fine header. Alfeld surpassed it with her save - a superb one-handed effort to tip the ball over the bar. Hackett's resulting corner was met by the head of Liz Milne. She directed the ball down to Skilton, who flicked it across for Wilkinson to drill a shot through the gathered throngs. The ball crashed against the upright - another let-off for Spirit. Rovers weren't playing well, while both teams were guilty of over-hitting their passes - not something Spirit could afford to do given the pressure they were being put under. The Cantabrians produced their first shot in anger in the 32nd minute, a long-range effort from captain Maia Vink which gave Glenfield goalkeeper Lily Ran scant cause for concern. Before half-time, Alfeld dealt capably with a shot from Rood before looking on with relief as Wilkinson guided a near post header over the bar, after Gibbs, Skilton and Jess Innes had combined to good effect down the left. But better was expected of Rovers, something coach

Glenfield celebrate with the Cup Rebecca O'Neill, Rovers captain, brandishes the spoils of war Cup Final MVP recipient, Steph Skilton (Rovers) Coastal Spirit's starting line-up Liz Milne (15, Rovers, extreme right) heads home Jess Innes (Rovers) chased by Zara Walker and Serena Patel (Spirit)

Craig Alexander had been impressing upon them throughout the first spell, and did so at length during the half-time break. The flea in their ear served its purpose, as after a couple of close calls early in the second half involving Wilkinson and Hackett, the treble chasers opened the scoring in the 54th minute. It was a classic set-piece goal. Gibbs' free-kick from the right arced into the near post, where Liz Milne rose to direct a header across Alfeld and into the net, much to her delight and that of her team-mates, who were still celebrating when Spirit mounted an attack straight from the kick-off which culminated in a Vink free-kick which Rovers only just scrambled clear to thwart Laura Merrin and McKnight as both homed in on the delivery to the far post. Skilton led the response to this scare. Released by Innes down the left, she enjoyed the option provided by Rood's superb supporting run, but opted instead to go it alone, only for Bridget Milne to execute a timely tackle as the striker let fly in the 57th minute. Skilton, Rood and Wilkinson then combined to complicate what should have been the relatively straightforward task of doubling Rovers' lead, before Rebecca O'Neill sent Rood through with a peach of a chipped pass. The striker held off two opponents before chipping the ball narrowly over the bar from the edge of the penalty area. Coastal Spirit had strong claims for a penalty turned away by well-performed referee Renee Silvester in the 62nd minute, after Monique Barker went down under the challenge of O'Neill, after which Rovers stepped up the pressure. Rood released Wilkinson down the right in the 65th minute, and she set up Skilton, who fired wide of the near post. Four minutes later, however, the striker made no mistake, although it was Rood who deserved the lion's share of the credit. Her willingness to fight for the ball on half-way saw the speedster outmuscle an opponent before releasing Wilkinson down the right once more. The Football Fern was through one-on-one with Alfeld, and lured the 'keeper out of goal before unselfishly squaring the ball to Skilton, who turned the ball home into an empty net. At 2-0 down with twenty minutes remaining, Coastal Spirit were faced with the proverbial mountain-climbing expedition, and while they went close to reducing the deficit two minutes after the goal - Vink's short corner to Ward saw her cross for Barker scrambled to safety by Rovers' rearguard - the game already looked to be up for the first-time finalists. And so it proved, with Glenfield squandering a trio of opportunities in the next ten minutes. Wilkinson undid all her hard work in getting to the byline by pulling the ball back behind both Rood and Skilton, while Hackett and Rood lashed shots narrowly past the posts soon after. Glenfield made sure the cup would be returning to Auckland in the 83rd minute with a classy goal. Inevitably, Skilton was involved, controlling a Bresnahan throw-in before darting into the penalty area and setting up Hackett, who expertly steered home a goal her performance fully merited. The cup winners-in-waiting were denied a fourth goal two minutes later, O'Neill's celebrations cut short due to a foul on Alfeld, who had cleanly grabbed a Skilton shot at her near post. Few would have begrudged Spirit a consolation goal, and they came close to realising it three minutes from time. Substitute Chloe Webster sent the ball forward for Barker to pursue, but O'Neill was always favourite to get it. Ran came out to clear, and the Rovers' duo got in a bit of a mix-up which Barker only just failed to capitalise upon. Gibbs and Caitlin Smallfield combined to mop up the danger, and after Skilton had scooted down the left and sent a cross fizzing across the bows of Wilkinson, the final whistle sounded, allowing Glenfield's treble celebrations to begin in earnest. Glenfield:     Ran; Armstrong, O'Neill, L. Milne (Hogg, 72), Bresnahan; Wilkinson (McNamara, 90), Hackett, Gibbs, Innes (Smallfield, 63); Rood, Skilton Coastal Spirit:     Alfeld; Van Empel (Webster, 46), B. Milne, Jones, Ward; Patel, Walker (Cameron, 59), Vink; Barker, McKnight (Proctor, 71), Merrin Referee:     Renee Silvester