Central Football scored a stirring come-from-behind 5-3 victory over a brave Football South combination at Park Island on January 30, taking the outright lead in the ASB Women’s Youth League’s Southern Conference as a result of their triumph. The home team afforded themselves the ideal start when, after just fifty seconds, Caitlyn Bloxham hoisted the ball downfield and Bridges flicked it on into the stride of Jane Barnett, who raced clear of the defence and fired past Tess Nichol, who committed herself far too early, thus affording the scorer all the time in the world to pick her spot. The player who was to prove herself one of the day’s star turns, South’s Georgia Brown, was soon in the thick of the action. Pouncing on Kowhai Hudson’s error, the speedster scooted downfield and swept past Charlotte Harris en route to the penalty area, where the FIFA U-17 World Cup Finals experience of Chloe-May Geurts proved decisive, the ‘keeper saving soundly at the feet of the fleet-footed Brown. Central were soon on the attack again, Tiffany Kawana-Waugh releasing both Bridges and Barnett at pace down the left. The duo worked their way inside before Barnett let fly with a curling twenty-five yard effort which Nichol grabbed greedily. The locals then suffered a blow when one of their brightest prospects, Rosie Missen, went down in front of the dug-outs with a knee injury, her day’s work over after landing awkwardly barely ten minutes into the match. While Central reeled from this setback, South took the bull by the horns and began to play their way into the match. Brown and Mary Fraser gave the home team plenty of cause for concern with their pace, with the former linking with Paige Aitcheson in the fourteenth minute to play Sam Muirhead in. Geurts smothered her effort. Back came Central, Harris and Kawana-Waugh combining to send Bridges racing through. She volleyed over the bar in the sixteenth minute, while five minutes later, Kawana-Waugh and Coral Seath, Missen’s replacement, worked a one-two which saw the former releasing Barnett down the right. She clipped the ball over Nichol but over the bar also. South retorted two minutes later, Fraser and Kushla Glover combining to release Jordyn Walker down the left. She cut inside before letting fly, but her effort didn’t trouble Geurts unduly. The next one unleashed by the visitors gave the ‘keeper trouble of the back-bending variety - fishing the ball out of the back of her net! The impressively performed Shontelle Smith slipped a sumptuous ball wide for Brown to exploit, and she stood up her opponent before curling a tantalising cross to the far post which left Geurts flailing in vain. Muirhead, ghosting in beyond the upright, gleefully headed home the equaliser. South were good value for it, too, with the jewels in their crown, Smith and Brown - the name of a famous department store from days gone by - in particularly eye-catching form. The latter’s 28th minute corner required Torepe Taumaunu to head the ball to safety as the visitors visibly grew in confidence thanks to their goal. They nearly found themselves behind again on the scoreboard three minutes earlier, however. Kawana-Waugh slipped Barnett in on the right, from where she whipped in a vicious cross which Hudson met with a full-length diving header. A foot lower, and it would have been a candidate for goal of the season, but the ball flashed inches over the bar. The same combination caused South further grief in the 32nd minute, Barnett’s teasing cross arcing over Nichol this time. Hudson was just unable to capitalise upon it on this occasion, but seconds later Barnett gave Nichol something else to think about - a thumping thirty-yarder which the ‘keeper dealt with confidently. South came again, five minutes before half-time. Glover and Muirhead combined to send Fraser through one-on-one with Geurts, but the striker’s first touch failed her, allowing the ‘keeper to save easily. When next their paths crossed, the outcome would be decidedly different. Before that incident, route one nearly worked for Central as they sought to regain the lead before half-time. A raking Geurts clearance left Sara Stannard - a recent replacement for the injured Kelsey Kennard - in a tangle, the newcomer not helped by Bridges bearing down on her at a fast clip. The striker duly swooped on the sphere and slipped it past the advancing figure of Nichol, only to groan with despair as the ball crept inches past the post. Soon after, Barnett and Seath combined to set up Wenzlick, whose eighteen-yarder fizzed narrowly over the bar. In between those efforts, South stunned Central by taking the lead. Glover slipped a pass to Aitcheson, who had moved up in support as Brown created space

Nikki Wenzlick (Cen) challenged by Kushla Glover (South) Amber Mulhill-Larsen (South) edges out Rhonda Bridges (Cen) Mary Fraser (South) watched by Nicole Baird (Cen) Sara Stannard (South) chased by Tiffany Kawana-Waugh (obscured, Cen) Sam Muirhead (South) challenges Nikki Wenzlick (Cen) as Kushla Glover (South) looks on Georgia Brown (South)

down the right. The fullback bided her time before delivering a delicious through ball which would have lit up the eyes of any striker hungry for a pass on which to feast. Fraser was ravenous, and strode onto the ball in an instant before sweeping it unerringly across Geurts into the far corner of the net with a first-time finish. South were good value for their lead, and looked to build on it in the early stages of the second spell. Muirhead and Fraser were both thwarted by fine saves from Geurts, Walker and Smith the respective suppliers. Central responded with a 52nd minute equaliser, the first of four goals they would score in the next nineteen minutes. Kawana-Waugh and Wenzlick - the old firm in central midfield - weaved their wizardry to release Bridges through the inside left channel, from where the striker fired precisely past Nichol into the far corner of the net. Within seconds, Central were looking to exploit the same route to goal, Hudson this time releasing Bridges with an early pass. The striker took on three defenders before looking to lob Nichol from twenty yards - the ‘keeper wasn’t having a bar of it! Two minutes later, Hudson’s persistence forced an opening which Barnett looked to exploit. Annie Gilchrist got in a timely block, but the ball fell to Bridges some six yards out from goal. She shot straight at Nichol on this occasion, but made no mistake in the 59th minute. Wenzlick surged out of her own half before producing a gorgeous defence-splitting pass into the stride of Bridges. She held off the challenge of Gilchrist before rifling a shot inside Nichol’s near post. Central’s 3-2 lead became 4-2 in the 65th minute. Yet again, Bridges careered through, this time down the left, and she confidently fired past Nichol once more. This time, the post came to South’s rescue, but only temporarily, for Seath was following in, and won the race to ram home the rebound. A few heads had dropped in the South team by now, and a few of them were running on empty. But they didn’t lose heart, and nearly pulled a goal back two minutes later. Glover let fly from twenty-five yards with a shot which bounced in front of Geurts, rearing up viciously and forcing the ‘keeper to quickly adjust her save from a comfortable grab to a reflex tip-over - a good one it was, too. South attacked again a minute later, Smith releasing Brown down the right. She cut inside before letting fly, only to find the gloves of Geurts appearing between the ball and its intended destination. Twenty minutes from time, Barnett stole in on Smith’s blindside and stripped her of possession, swiftly slipping the sphere to Kawana-Waugh. Once more, Bridges was released, but Nichol was her nemesis on this occasion. The ‘keeper could do nothing to prevent the lively number nine from completing her hat-trick a minute later, however. Hudson’s cross found the striker perfectly placed on the far post to fire across Nichol and into the far corner of the net - 5-2. Central sought a sixth goal sixteen minutes from time. Taumaunu’s pass to Hansen saw the substitute flick the ball on to Bridges, who laid it off to Wenzlick as she steamed up in support from midfield. A match-winner last week, her final act in this match saw an eighteen yard bullet scream towards the target. Nichol made the save look easy. A raft of substitutions followed, as the hot weather took its toll on tiring players, but four minutes from time, one of the newcomers made her mark on the scoreboard. Sahara MacDonald was the beneficiary of yet more work which bore the Smith and Brown stamp of approval, and the replacement slammed home a beauty from fifteen yards, the ball flying inches past the fingertips of the diving figure of Geurts into the bottom far corner. South’s third goal of this highly attractive game of football was its last, although Central mustered one last attempt to alter the scoreline before the final whistle, with Kawana-Waugh, Nicole Baird and Barnett combining to send Bridges through yet again. Nichol was wise to the striker’s "sit ‘n’ sprint" ploy by now, and produced a save at the hat-trick heroine’s feet to ensure that Central would prevail by a 5-3 scoreline over a South team which offers promise aplenty, Brown and Smith particularly, while the efforts of Fraser, Aitcheson and Muirhead also caught the eye during their time on the park. Central:     Geurts; Taumaunu, Bloxham, Harris, Baird; Missen (Seath, 15) (Hansen, 71), Wenzlick (Perry, 77), Kawana-Waugh, Hudson (Black, 83); Barnett, Bridges South:         Nichol; Aitcheson (Currier, 62), Mulhill-Larsen, Gilchrist, Kennard (Stannard, 37); Brown (Todd, 87), Glover, Smith, Walker; Fraser (Sewpersad, 62), Muirhead (MacDonald, 81) Referee:    Trent Pedley