New Zealand's Football Ferns marked their 150th "A" international on foreign soil with a win on 6 March, as they downed Scotland 1-0 in their opening Cyprus Cup encounter at Nicosia's GSP Stadium. Betsy Hassett scored the only goal of the game, capping off a fine individual display with the 26th minute decider, the move for which was ignited by Ali Riley. The fullback darted inside off the left flank before switching play to Sarah Gregorius, who dashed through with just Shannon Lynn to beat. Scotland's goalkeeper stood her ground well to prevent Gregorius from opening the scoring, but was helpless to deny Hassett as she followed in to tuck home the rebound. The win capped an impressive display by the Football Ferns, for whom this tournament marks their first steps on the road towards their twin targets, the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals in Canada, and the 2016 Olympic Women's Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro. "We tried to control the game a lot more when in possession", said coach Tony Readings afterwards, "and dominated for long periods as a result. Scotland were getting rather frustrated by the end. "As we set off on this four-year journey, it was quite refreshing to see us embracing a style of football we want and need to be playing not only against Scotland, but higher-ranked teams as well". There were a couple of new faces in the Football Ferns' line-up against the 23rd-ranked Scots, with two of the usual suspects in the starting eleven sidelined by injury for this tournament. Jenny Bindon and Rebecca Smith are both unavailable this time round, as is another of the team's stalwarts, Kirsty Yallop, in her case due to personal commitments. And for this match, Annalie Longo endured a watching brief, having picked up a knock in training. Cue starts for Rebecca Rolls, Rebekah Stott - with Hassett and Ria Percival, one of the stand-outs for the Football Ferns in this match - and debutant Helen Collins, who offered the team another dimension in attack. "She did really well", enthused Readings of a player who last represented her country at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Russia. "She held the ball up well in attack, her passing and movement were good, and she was denied a goal on debut just before half-time when the 'keeper saved in a one-on-one situation". Another unfamiliar name in the starting line-up was the armband-wearer in Smith's absence, Hayley Moorwood having married long-time fiancee Dan Bowden during the summer. Scotland coach Anna Signeul, commenting on the SFA website, had a different take on proceedings to Readings. "It was a tough result to take. We had the better of the chances, but didn't take them. "It was quite an even game over all. New Zealand had two one-on-ones with our goalkeeper and Shannon made two great saves, but we didn't get back quickly enough to take care of the rebound that led to the first goal. "We fought to get back into the game, but couldn't make the breakthrough. We have very high expectations as a group, so we're not satisfied after this match. "We do have a very young squad and we're struggling a bit with injuries just now. However, it's important for our younger players to get more experience at this level, and we have some more challenging matches coming up". Scotland:     Lynn; Beattie, Jones, Brown; Lauder, Love, Little, Sneddon, Crichton; Evans, Ross (no substitution details available) F'ball Ferns:     Rolls; Percival, Stott, Erceg, Riley; Bowden (Bowen, 70), Hoyle, Hearn, Hassett; Gregorius (Wilkinson, 75), Collins (White, 63) The Football Ferns now take on eleventh-ranked Italy at the GSZ Stadium in Larnaca from 1.30am NZ time on Saturday, knowing that a win will guarantee them a top-four finish at a tournament in which they want to excel. The Italians bottled a 2-1 lead in going down 4-2 to England in the other group encounter. Debutant Jordan Nobbs gave the English an eighth minute lead, but a double-strike from Elisa Camporese turned things round in Italy's favour before the half-

hour mark. Two goals in three minutes soon after that milestone turned the game back in favour of Hope Powell's charges, the goals of Steph Houghton and Jess Clarke supplemented by Ellen White's points-clincher six minutes from time. In Group B action, three-time Cyprus Cup winners Canada scored a 2-0 win over Switzerland, thanks to goals from Diana Mathieson and captain Sophie Schmidt, who opened the scoring just two minutes into her 100th appearance for John Herdman's team. Meanwhile, Holland had to rely on an 83rd minute equaliser from Danielle van de Donk to earn a point from their clash with Finland, whose goal in this 1-1 draw was scored by Sanna Talonen nine minutes before half-time. Eire were the big winners in Group C, trouncing Northern Ireland 5-1. Diane Caldwell and Louise Quinn were on target in the first half for the victors, and after Alana McShane pulled a goal back on the hour, the Republic team really went to town, Megan Campbell, Shannon Smyth and Ruesha Littlejohn all scoring in the last twenty minutes. In the other Group C fixture, two goals in eleven first half minutes earned Korea Republic a 2-0 victory over South Africa, whom the Football Ferns played in pre-tournament training match on the weekend, drawing 2-2 in Larnaca. Abby Erceg opened the scoring in a game which, due to being played in three thirty-minute sessions, isn't recognised as an "A" international. Mary Ntsweng levelled the scores for Banyana Banyana, who took the lead through Jermaine Seoposenwe after Janine Van Wyk's shot had been parried. The Football Ferns had the final say, however, forcing South African defender Nothando Vilakazi to put through her own net late in a fixture which was the first time New Zealand had taken to the field since their Olympics quarter-final clash against Team USA in August. The Americans are under new management, with former Matildas coach Tom Sermanni now in charge of the Olympic champions, and they kicked off their Algarve Cup campaign by downing Iceland 3-0, courtesy second half goals from Rachel Buehler, Shannon Boxx and Abby Wambach. The other match in their group saw China's Ren Guixin and Sweden's Sara Thunebro - on her 100th appearance - scoring in each half in a 1-1 draw. There was a shock earlier in the day when Norway overturned Japan 2-0, thanks to goals in the first sixteen minutes from Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Stolsmo Hegerberg. In the final match of the day, Denmark and Germany fought out a scoreless draw, while in Group C, Renae Cuellar's 49th minute goal earned Mexico a 1-0 win over Hungary on a day host nation Portugal triumphed 2-0 over Wales, thanks to a first half penalty and a second half strike from Edite Cristiana Fernandes. A prestige friendly also took place, with France and Brazil fighting out a 2-2 draw, Giovania having twice given the Brazilians the lead. Eugenie Le Sommer netted the first French equaliser just before the hour mark, while a Gaetane Thiney penalty three minutes from time brought about the final score. Cyprus Cup details: England 4 (J. Nobbs (8), S. Houghton (30), J. Clarke (33), E. White (84)), Italy 2 (E. Camporese (17, 27))  HT 3-2 Scotland 0, Football Ferns 1 (B. Hassett (26))  HT 0-1 Canada 2 (S. Schmidt (2), D. Mathieson (79)), Switzerland 0  HT 1-0 Holland 1 (D. van de Donk (83)), Finland 1 (S. Talonen (36))  HT 0-1 Korea Republic 2 (TBA), South Africa 0  HT 1-0 Northern Ireland 1 (A. McShane (58)), Eire 5 (D. Caldwell (11), L. Quinn (26), M. Campbell (70), S. Smyth (76), R. Littlejohn (90))  HT 0-2 Algarve Cup details: Denmark 0, Germany 0 Japan 0, Norway 2 (C. Hansen (7), A. Hegerberg (16))  HT 0-2 Sweden 1 (S. Thunebro (59)), China 1 (R. Liping (32))  HT 0-1 USA 3 (R. Buehler (48), S. Boxx (63), A. Wambach (75)), Iceland 0  HT 0-0 Hungary 0, Mexico 1 (R. Cuellar (49))  HT 0-0 Portugal 2 (E. Fernandes (37 pen, 74)), Wales 0  HT 1-0