Lynn-Avon United took a giant step towards retaiing the Northern Premier Women’s League title at Keith Hay Park on July 6, an injury-time winner giving them the edge in a five-goal thriller against their closest rivals, Three Kings United. The home team got off to the perfect start in the fourth minute, when ace striker Pernille Andersen fired home a penalty after being felled in the area by Alisse Robertson. This, and a couple of teasing Three Kings corners, had Lynn-Avon under early pressure, but the defending champions responded in like manner soon after. Melissa Wileman and Angela Vujnovich both went close for the visitors before, in the seventeenth minute, the scorers were levelled by Lyn Pedruco. Jill Corner delivered a teasing cross which Three Kings’ ‘keeper, Rachel Howard, advanced towards. But she found herself in no man’s land as the best header of a ball in the women’s game nipped in to flick the sphere over the custodian and into the unguarded net. Beth Clark, for Three Kings, and Maia Jackman, for Lynn-Avon, New Zealand internationals both, went close with headed efforts before the half-hour mark, but come the 34th minute, the home team hit the front again. Jane Simpson whipped in a free-kick from the left which Andersen gathered with her back to goal, and with Terry McCahill, Lynn-Avon’s captain, right on her shoulder. The prolific scorer shielded the ball from her opponent’s challenge before cleverly turning McCahill, at the same time creating enough space in which to fire a crisp left-footed drive across the diving Yvonne Vale and into the far corner of the net. The Danish Under-20 international had the chance, seconds before the half-time break, to strike what would have been a crucial third goal, but after breaching the offside trap to latch onto Jane Neary’s through ball, Andersen fired over the crossbar on the run. After what had been a pretty even first spell, Lynn-Avon came out all guns blazing in the second half, and for some twenty minutes, proceeded to pound away at Three Kings’ goal, only to be rebuffed time and again by the massed ranks of the home team’s defence, the efforts of which were ably marshalled by Simpson and Michele Cox. A goal had to come, however, and did in the 64th minute. Wileman pinged in a free-kick to the far post, where Jackman rose to head goalwards. Howard flung herself to her left to parry the ball clear, but only as far as Vujnovich, who found Abby Allan inside her. From six yards out, the prolific

goalscorer made no mistake - 2-2. The introduction of Karin Fox-Jensen to the fray by Three Kings in the seventieth minute saw the game turn the home team’s way again. Whenever she gathered the ball, Lynn-Avon often found themselves fully stretched to cope with her forwatd forays, one of which, in the 82nd minute, almost brought the home team a third goal. But as Andersen streaked through onto Fox-Jensen’s pass, Vale came hurtling out of her goal to bravely save at the feet of both the Dane and her Lynn-Avon team-mate, Robertson. With time ticking away on the watch of referee Brian Precious - the first time that a Premier Women’s League match in Auckland has enjoyed the services of three match officials, including two who are FIFA-qualified - a draw appeared likely, and would have been fitting given the effort both teams had put in on a heavy pitch in front of a sizable crowd. But a draw was not to eventuate, for a hefty clearance out of defence by Lynn-Avon sent Vujnovich scampering off in pursuit of the ball as the game advanced into injury time. She was giving her opponent, Helen Exler, a head-start, but that advantage disappeared when the Three Kings defender lost her footing, allowing the striker all the time in the world to pick her spot beyond the stranded Howard - 3-2. At this, Lynn-Avon’s celebrations began - now with a four point lead over Three Kings with just five games left, the title appears destined to remain at Ken Maunder Park. But spare a thought for their vanquished opponents, who gave their all in what was a fine advert for women’s soccer, only to end up with nothing to show for their efforts on this day. NB     The significance of Angela Vujnovich’s last-minute winner in this match is borne out by the final league standings in 1997. Had the scoreline remained 2-2, the final placings would have been reversed, and Three Kings would have emulated Lynn-Avon’s “Grand Slam”-winning feats of 1996. It emphasises just how closely matched these two sides were throughout the late 1990s, and what a crying shame it was, for NZ’s women’s soccer community as a whole, that the country’s best women’s teams were destined never to meet in the SWANZ Cup Final - the regionalisation of the draw, to ensure a north v. south final, put paid to that prospect. The players, alone, deserved better.