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SWANZ Cup 2004
Lynn-Avon "Three-Peat" With Win Over Three Kings
by Jeremy Ruane
Lynn-Avon United became only the second club in the history of the Uncle Toby’s Women’s Knockout Cup Final to win the trophy in three successive seasons on September 5, as they downed Three Kings United - the other "three-peaters" - 1-0 before a four hundred-plus crowd at Fred Taylor Park.
It was a tense, tight and extremely physical final, with the players of both teams getting on with things by fair means or foul, in spite of the presence of rookie referee Shannon Smith, who, quite frankly, failed to satisfy the standards expected by the players on the showpiece occasion for women’s club soccer in New Zealand. That it was a decidedly questionable penalty which decided the contest only serves to underline this fact.
Such an event deserves the best official available, gender regardless, and while it may be desirable to have female officials in charge of the women’s final, the powers-that-be need to put matters of political correctness to one side on occasions such as this, and make the best needs of the players their prime consideration.
With regards to the choice of referee, they failed to satisfy that expectation for the 2004 event, and left a young official with potential in a nigh-on impossible situation, surrounded by players who ended up taking out their frustrations with her inexperienced and inconsistent officiating on each other.
The match itself saw Three Kings enjoy the greater share of the chances, the first of which came just twenty seconds into play. Maia Jackman’s twenty yard drive was fumbled by Ashleigh Cox, but Alisse Robertson, playing her last match before retirement, cleared the danger before Zoe Thompson could pounce on the loose ball.
After Rebecca Parkinson had seen Wendy Horneman grab her twenty-five yard free-kick, Rebecca Sowden fired a tame shot at Cox in the fourth minute, after Thompson and Jackman had teamed up.
Lynn-Avon were enjoying the early territorial advantage, but their opponents were giving them little change, particularly Petria Rennie, who produced an enormous performance at the heart of the Three Kings defence, something to which Michele Keinzley could testify in the ninth minute, as the youngster denied the striker with a timely tackle on the edge of the penalty area.
Cox’s final concluded in agony in the twelfth minute, as she raced out of goal towards the left-hand edge of her penalty area. Jackman had threaded a ball through for Thompson to chase, and the striker, the ball, the goalkeeper and the covering figure of Melissa Ray arrived simultaneously.
The custodian was left with a leg injury from the collision which saw her carried from the field on a stretcher to await the arrival of an ambulance. Replacing her between the sticks was a Lynn-Avon legend, former New Zealand goalkeeper Yvonne Vale, who has been playing as a striker in social grade soccer this season, having hung up her gloves following last season’s National Women’s Soccer League - or so she thought!
The call to take up the reserve goalkeeper’s position was made on Tuesday, fortuitously as things turned out. And Vale’s first touch of the ball suggested that she has lost none of her reflexes, as she produced a blinding save high to her left to thwart Sowden in the seventeenth minute, the midfielder having been picked out by Kim Rowney.
Hannah Rishworth and Sowden combined to put Thompson in on goal in the 21st minute, and she fired a shot across Vale towards the target. The retreating figure of Terry McCahill covered the threat, however, at the expense of a corner. Sarah Gibbs’ delivery picked out Jackman, whose goalbound shot was blocked to safety by Jennifer Carlisle.
Three Kings had another shot blocked on the line on the half-hour, fourteen-year-old Ria Percival - the youngest player on the pitch - denying Rowney’s close-range effort after Sowden had picked out Jackman from a corner.
Lynn-Avon were struggling to create any genuine scoring opportunities of their own, as epitomised in the 37th minute, when Rennie cleared the ball to Kirsty Yallop. She charged to the byline and whipped in a cross intended for Parkinson, but Horneman had anticipated the danger well, and gathered cleanly.
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Three minutes later, however, Three Kings’ ‘keeper kept her side on level terms, as Keinzley broke through onto Vicki Rainbow’s header forward.
Under pressure from the closing figure of Dana Humby, the striker got to the edge of the penalty area before letting fly, only for Horneman to save with her outstretched leg and snaffle the last genuine chance of a half which, primarily - but not only - due to Cox’s injury, saw nine minutes of additional time played.
The second spell saw Three Kings charge forward straight from the kick-off and go close once more. Sowden, Rishworth and Jackman teamed up to create an opening for Thompson. Clever defending by McCahill forced the striker wide, but she still got a shot on target, forcing Vale to save at the foot of the post.
Two minutes later, the action switched to the other end of the park, with Dana Heiford directing an under-strength clearance from Horneman back towards the penalty area. Parkinson’s pursuit was halted by the goalkeeper’s hefty clearance on this occasion.
Another timely tackle from McCahill thwarted Sarah Ropati five minutes later, as the physical nature of the contest began to see things get a little too heated, players from both sides being guilty of some clattering challenges as a few old scores were readdressed.
A little surprisingly, only two players were booked - Keinzley for a robust challenge, and Thompson, who was guilty of retaliation against her nemesis, Ray, whose towering individual performance at the heart of Lynn-Avon’s defence fully merited the MVP award later bestowed on her.
Twenty minutes from time, Heiford played the ball wide to Rainbow, whose cross was cleared back to her by Renee Dale. Rainbow then tried a subtle curling effort, targeting the near post of Horneman. The goalkeeper, anticipating another cross, adjusted her position quickly to produce a fine save.
Further Lynn-Avon pressure followed, with Ray’s inspiring left-wing raid culminating in a shot from Heiford which fizzed past the post. Within seconds, however, referee Smith’s intervention presented the cup holders with the chance to open the scoring.
Cutting in from the left, Keinzley got around Rennie inside the penalty area, but before she could cross, the defender produced a timely tackle to cleanly steer the ball out for a corner. From the official’s angle, however, it appeared that Rennie had brought Keinzley down in the challenge, and she pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Parkinson, who lashed the ball high into the top right-hand corner of Horneman’s net - 1-0 Lynn-Avon.
Three Kings came charging back, with Vale plucking a Ropati cross off the head of Thompson within seconds of the goal, the striker then seeing a shot deflected to safety after finally managing to escape the clutches of Ray - their ongoing battle was the outstanding duel within the match, and it was a genuine case of no holds barred, often quite literally.
Twice in the last ten minutes, Jackman sent headers flashing past the post following crosses by Humby and Gibbs, while Horneman dealt capably with crosses from Parkinson and Heiford two minutes from time. Then a fine covering tackle by Humby thwarted the hard-working Keinzley, after Margot Bowker had sent her team-mate scampering forward.
But after Robertson had sent a twenty-five yard effort narrowly over the crossbar following Heiford’s miscued corner, the final whistle sounded, and Three Kings could only ponder upon what might have been had they taken their chances, as they watched Lynn-Avon celebrate their long-awaited "three-peat".
Lynn-Avon: Cox (Vale, 16); Robertson, McCahill, Ray, Carlisle; Percival (Bowker, 63), Heiford, Rainbow, Yallop; Parkinson (Tansell, 90), Keinzley (booked, 51)
Three Kings: Horneman; Dale, Rennie, Humby, Rowney (Butterworth, 78); Jackman, Sowden, Rishworth, Gibbs; Ropati, Thompson (booked, 70)
Referee: Shannon Smith
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