Waikato-Bay of Plenty well and truly cast the record books aside at Keith Hay Park on February 5, crushing the Auckland U-20 squad 7-1 in their ASB Women’s Youth League Northern Conference encounter to take the lead at the half-way mark in the round-robin phase of the competition. They did so in record-breaking fashion, too. Never before has any Auckland women’s representative side, at any level, suffered as embarrassing a home defeat as this one. What’s more, it was fully merited. Frankly, Auckland were as awful as Wai-BOP were impressive. The home team’s display was so error-strewn, it defied belief. Stray passes, wayward clearances, getting caught in possession, poor option-taking … you name it, they were doing it. Badly. Coach Paul Temple’s plaintive cry to "show some pride" after the sixth goal went in came six goals too late. It is a given, like so many other attributes which go hand-in-hand with representing the most successful province in the history of women’s football in this country, almost all of which were conspicuous by their absence throughout this performance. They were in abundant supply in the Waikato-BOP ranks, however. Olivia Chance, in particular, was outstanding in this match, scoring one, setting up three more and generally being responsible for more chaos and mayhem in ninety minutes than the home team are used to dealing with in an entire National League season. She it was who inspired the first goal, her left wing raid straight from the kick-off causing Auckland all sorts of bother. Chance’s cross picked out Sarah McLaughlin, who found herself one-on-one with Jessica Reddaway. The ‘keeper parried the striker’s effort, but Holly Patterson was following in … 1-0 after 58 seconds. Auckland sought a swift riposte, with Steph Skilton’s fourth minute strike being ruled out by the offside flag. Long-range efforts from Skilton and Rebecca Burrows soon followed, both being gobbled up by Naomi Carter. The Wai-BOP ‘keeper had a life in the nineteenth minute, when Burrows whipped in a wicked corner which hit the inside of the far post and ricocheted off the ‘keeper to safety. That sparked a response from the visitors, with Chance on the charge once more, down the left. She scythed inside before stinging Reddaway’s gloves with a fierce cross-shot, an effort which served as a range-finder for her next attempt on goal. Before it, Auckland squandered a great chance to equalise. Claudia Crasborn picked out Rosie White with a measured pass which allowed the striker to take on two opponents. Kate Carlton - a top shelf defensive display - thwarted her progress, but Skilton took over and let fly from eight yards. Alex Shadbolt blocked this attempt, and the visitors scrambled the ball to safety. Auckland were forced to make a further change at this point, with both Annalie Longo and Nadia Pearl having been ruled out of their starting line-up just before kick-off for medical and personal reasons respectively. The latter was called upon to take to the field on the half-hour, as Jessie Verdon hobbled off with a thigh injury. As Auckland were re-jigging their line-up to cater for the change in personnel, Chance struck. On receipt of a Kate Loye pass, she cut inside before battering a thumping angled twenty-yarder across Reddaway into the far corner of the net - 2-0. Finding themselves in a spot of bother, the Auckland players began to panic, their attempts to pass their way out of trouble proving increasingly inaccurate. Occasionally they’d get the mix right, however, such as in the 34th minute, when White latched onto the ball on the right and got to the by-line before pulling the ball back to Pearl. Nicole Stratford blocked her shot, then was guilty of a crude challenge on Hannah Carlsen six minutes later which earned Wai-BOP’s captain the game’s first booking. The offended player immediately looked to take revenge in the best manner possible, Carlsen receiving a pass from Burrows which allowed her to unleash a twenty-five yarder at the target. Carter claimed it confidently. A stray Auckland pass was the source of the game’s third goal, two minutes before half-time. McLaughlin swooped on the ball, swiftly assessed her options and pinged a peach of a pass through the heart of Auckland’s rearguard for Loye to latch onto. Loye’s run from deep hadn’t been picked up by anyone in a white shirt, and while Maia Jackman was able to race back to challenge the midfielder, she wrong-footed her retreating opponent before lashing the ball beyond the bewildered figure of Reddaway, a strike which prompted Auckland coach Temple to storm off towards the dressing room - he was not best pleased, and with justification aplenty. Whatever was said in the Auckland dressing room at half-time made little difference to their display - if anything, it worsened. For the bulk of the second spell, there was only one team in the contest, and they proceeded to give their hosts a footballing lesson, aided by their opponent’s mistakes. Seven minutes in, McLaughlin and Sara Merritt

Olivia Chance (WBOP) challenged by Hannah Carlsen (Auck) Chelsey Wood (Auck) and Sara Merritt (WBOP) tangle Kate Loye (WBOP) passes the ball, watched by Jolene Muir (14, Auck) Sarah McLaughlin (WBOP) holds off Briony Fisher (Auck) Kylie Jens (WBOP) chased by Becky Burrows (Auck) Steph Skilton (Auck), Holly Patterson (7, WBOP) and Sara Merritt (WBOP) eye up the ball

teamed up to play in Patterson, who tore past Rachel Head before pulling the ball back for McLaughlin. Crasborn stepped in to avert the danger on this occasion, while Jackman outpaced the Wai-BOP maestro four minutes later to recover another threatening raid by the visitors. On the hour, they introduced Helen Collins to the fray. The former Junior Fern has been scoring goals for fun while studying at Tennessee Wesleyan College over the last couple of years,  to the extent that she now holds virtually every individual attack-related record in the college’s history. In other words, not a bad option to have coming off the bench with half-an-hour to go and demoralised opponents at your mercy. Collins wasted little time in getting in on the act - six minutes, in fact. Loye intercepted a pass half-way inside Auckland’s half, spread play wide to Chance, whose slide-rule put the newcomer in one-on-one with Reddaway - 4-0. After Stratford had sent a header flashing narrowly past the post on receipt of a Loye free-kick, Chance played a gorgeous diagonal ball in behind the Auckland defence for Collins to stride onto and bury beyond Reddaway - 5-0, with sixteen minutes left to play. Straight from the kick-off, Patterson pounced on a Pearl pass and powered through before pinging a shot past Reddaway, who was relieved to see it hit the far post. Auckland scrambled the rebound to safety and sparked a counter-attack which saw the three substitutes, Jolene Muir, Daisy Cleverley and Martine Puketapu, combining to reduce the deficit. Puketapu’s composed 76th minute finish to beat Carter all ends up contrasted starkly with her team’s lack of composure in their play, which was in evidence again almost immediately. Wai-BOP forced a goal kick which Reddaway directed straight to Collins. She hammered home her hat-trick goal via the underside of the crossbar - 6-1 in the 77th minute, and the match-ball for the substitute twelve minutes after netting the first of her treble. It was almost shooting practice for Wai-BOP now. McLaughlin played in Patterson on the right, and she was only inches away with her shot on the run, while nine minutes from time, Chance tore through the inside left channel, only to see Reddaway turn her attempt round the post. Either side of the latter effort, Auckland went close on a couple of occasions. A Pearl-inspired raid culminated in Burrows setting up Cleverley, whose curling twenty-yarder crept past the far post, while five minutes from time a powerful Puketapu run down the left saw her cut inside past two opponents before unleashing a shot which Carter parried, then gathered before Muir could pounce on the rebound. Back came Waikato, Collins catching Sivitha Boyce in possession before letting fly. Reddaway saved this well to her left, then was guilty of another wayward clearance while way out of her goal. McLaughlin is the worst possible opponent you can pick out in those situations, so no prizes for guessing at whose feet Reddaway’s clearance landed … the ‘keeper was relieved to discover the some-time Football Fern’s radar was switched off on this occasion. That of Collins wasn’t however, and in the 89th minute, she made it 7-1. Again, it was a goal virtually gifted to the striker after yet another wayward pass by an Auckland defender, but the opportunity still required a composed finish. Reddaway was afforded no chance by Collins, who could very easily have finished with five goals to her name after substitute Tessa Leong intercepted a pass in stoppage time. The fourteen-year-old’s shot was parried by Reddaway, who recovered before the incoming goalmouth predator could inflict further damage on the scoreboard. It really was a text-book display by Waikato-Bay of Plenty, whose 7-1 triumph was richly deserved. With one exception, their starting line-up was that which saw Claudelands Rovers claim their maiden National Women’s Knockout Cup victory last September, and that cohesion and understanding in their play was oh so evident in this encounter. By comparison, Auckland looked disjointed, cumbersome, and woefully inept. It’s unusual to see so many quality players having a collective off-day at the office - let it not be overlooked that ten of the starting line-up have represented New Zealand in FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals during the past four years. Even had Longo, the effervescent but absent Hannah Wall and Pearl been on the park from the start, it’s unlikely they would have made much impact in stemming the tide. Waikato-BOP took full advantage of their opponents’ collective failings, and mercilessly dished out the hiding such poor play at this level thoroughly merits. Auck. U-20s:     Reddaway; Verdon (Pearl, 30), Fisher (booked, 66) (Cleverley, 67), Jackman, Head (booked, 72); Burrows, Wood (Puketapu, 61), Carlsen; Crasborn (Boyce, 61), White, Skilton (Muir, 61) Waikato-BOP:     Carter; Stratford (booked, 40) (Bennett, 78), Carlton, Shadbolt (Porteous, 90), Jens (Robinson, 78); Nixon (Collins, 59), Merritt (Leong, 86), Loye, Chance; Patterson, McLaughlin Referee:     Chris Wolken