Mainland Pride scored their first ASB National Women's League title in the competition's twelve-season history on North Harbour Stadium's outer oval on 8 December, coming from behind to down two-time defending title-holders Northern Football 4-2 in the final women's football game of 2013. The visitors, who earned their spot in the final by downing Capital Football 2-0 in Wellington a week ago, took time to find their feet initially, this being just the second game they've played on natural grass in their W-League campaign. Needless to say, Northern were nowhere near as hesitant, and crowned their stronger start by deservedly taking the lead in the ninth minute. Estelle Harrison floated a delightfully weighted free-kick into the danger zone which Nicole Stratford gleefully headed home unchallenged - 1-0, to the delight of the plentiful numbers of Northern fans in attendance. Mainland gradually began to get their act together, forcing a twelfth minute corner which Laura Merrin whipped into the goalmouth. Aimee Phillips was somehow denied at close quarters by Pam Yates, who, two minutes later, raced out to save at the feet of the charging striker, after Emily Jensen and Lauren Dabner - a terrific game - combined to good effect. Merrin's foul on Tayla O'Brien on the edge of Mainland's penalty area presented Northern with a glorious chance to double their lead in the eighteenth minute. Harrison squandered the initial opportunity by blasting her free-kick into the wall, but was very soon in possession of the ball again, thanks to the rebound. This time, the fullback delivered a low ball into the stride of Katie Rood, who wriggled her way through a couple of challenges in the penalty area, only to come to grief as Geena Gross' timely challenge put paid to her progress. Lily Alfeld smothered the ball to snuff out this threat, and two minutes later plucked Harrison's inswinging corner off the head of Tiffany Paterson, as Northern piled on the pressure in pursuit of a second goal. Jensen took one for the team in the 21st minute, the defender blocking a Chloe Knott drive before slumping to the ground in immense pain after landing awkwardly on her ankle. She was off the park for seven minutes receiving treatment, during which time Northern moved in for the kill. Harrison unleashed a thunderous twenty-yarder which fizzed over the bar in the 25th minute, while Alfeld's wayward clearance soon afterwards presented O'Brien with a pot-shot at an untended net from twenty-five yards out on the angle. Meikayla Moore came to her team-mate's aid with a goal-line clearance on this occasion, while the post was Alfeld's friend in the 28th minute as she dived to her left to keep out a driven curler from Rood. The post denied the striker, who appealed for a corner without success, Alfeld appearing to have tipped the shot onto the upright with her fingertips. With the statuesque figure of Jensen returning to the fray following this raid, Mainland were back at full strength, and within four minutes had turned the game on its head big-time! On the half-hour, Merrin picked out Dabner, who drifted past a couple of opponents before slipping a peach of a slide-rule pass into the stride of Belinda Van Noorden, as she charged through the inside left channel. The tall striker picked her spot beyond Yates - 1-1, game on! Very much so just ninety seconds later, as Mainland took the lead. Northern failed to clear Merrin's corner, and from the resulting melee, Phillips emerged triumphantly - hers was the decisive touch which put her team 2-1 up. This certainly wasn't in Northern's script, and they wasted little time in endeavouring to regain the upper hand. Jensen took another one for the team when blocking a Paterson piledriver ten minutes before half-time, while seconds later, a Harrison free-kick ricocheted goalwards off Rood, only for Alfeld to smother the danger. But they were getting a bit frustrated, as O'Brien's callous trip of Merrin indicated, an offence which referee Anna-Marie Keighley didn't hesitate to punish with the yellow card. Before half-time, the combination which opened the scoring came close to contriving an equaliser. It was a corner from Harrison this time, but the recipient was Stratford, who soared high on the far post but directed her header just past it. Mainland hadn't played as well as they could in the first spell, but come the second forty-five minutes, there was only one team in the contest football-wise, and Northern simply had no answers to the passing game the visitors employed, with Annalie Longo  a particularly prominent figure as the half wore on. Just four minutes into the half, the Football Ferns star started going through the gears, linking with Phillips to play Van Noorden in on the right. Her cross for the charging figure of Phillips fell a touch behind her fellow front-runner, but racing up in support was Emma Proctor, who unleashed a furious drive straight at Yates. The 'keeper parried the shot, and regathered it as the midfielder followed her effort in, but Yates was less certain in her touch four minutes later, gifting Mainland a corner after letting a pass-back get the better of her. Merrin's delivery found Jensen soaring above all-comers on the far post, only to head the ball a foot over the bar. Seconds later, a jinking run from Longo saw her combine with Van Noorden to present Proctor with another chance. This time, Liz Milne got in a vital tackle, her last

notable contribution to the match as she was soon to depart on a stretcher. While she made a brief return to the fray, I'm fearful that most dreaded of injuries has struck down another undeserving victim. As Milne lay on the sideline receiving treatment, Mainland exploited their numerical advantage to the fullest by increasing their lead in the 62nd minute. At the heart of the move was Longo, who, six minutes earlier, had sent a twenty yarder sizzling past Yates' left-hand post after working an opening with Van Noorden. This time, Longo linked with Merrin, Proctor and Van Noorden down the left, the last-mentioned working her way into the penalty area before slipping the ball inside to present Phillips with a shooting chance. She duly beat Yates at her near post but hit the upright, the ball ricocheting across the face of goal towards the far post. Racing in to meet it was Longo, and she fair slammed the ball into the back of the net to give Mainland a 3-1 lead which looked unassailable at this stage of the game, so dominant were they at this point. That dominance continued five minutes later, Van Noorden and Dabner combining for Phillips' benefit. Her low shot was cleared to safety by Stratford, three minutes before Dabner took charge of proceedings in midfield and engineered two openings in as many minutes. The first saw Van Noorden dashing through the inside right channel, the striker rounding Dallas Olsen en route to the byline, from where she picked out Phillips at the near post. Her stabbed ten yard effort was parried then gathered by Yates, who dived to her right to deny Longo seconds later, Dabner having evaded a couple of challenges before slipping her fellow midfield marauder through Northern's stretched rearguard. Only a timely tackle from Olsen denied Van Noorden in the 72nd minute, after Merrin had skipped past a couple of opponents before playing in her tall team-mate, after which the local supporters were afforded a bit of encouragement by the sight of a by now rare Northern raid, which culminated in O'Brien picking out the diving figure of Rood with a cross. The striker's header was tipped round the post by Alfeld, who had largely been a spectator throughout the second spell, so impotent had Northern been in the face of Mainland's dominance. But the title-holders weren't beaten yet, and in the 82nd minute dragged themselves back into the match in unlikely fashion. Brittany Coleman, Milne's replacement, lobbed the ball forward in Rood's direction, prompting the striker to execute a looping header. It proved too good for Alfeld, arcing over her and under the bar - 3-2, and a grandstand finish on the cards. For all of two minutes. Northern were piling on the pressure when substitute Briar McNamara was impeded on the left, an incident which referee Keighley deemed not worthy of a free-kick. Northern's supporters in the immediate vicinity went nuts in response, but while they were letting their emotions explode, Longo played to the whistle, latched onto the ball and promptly sent Van Noorden powering away down the right once more. Upon reaching a point some twenty-five yards out on the angle, she let fly, the ball soaring over the stunned figure of Yates, who could only look on in despair as it crashed into the top far corner of the net, restoring Mainland's two-goal advantage. That goal broke Northern's spirit, and a fifth Mainland goal was on the cards three minutes later, as Longo and Merrin worked a short corner. The fullback's cross to the far post found Jensen scoring skywards once more, but her bullet header careered across the face of goal. 4-2 the score remained, and after the bizarre sight of Mainland substitute Maia Vink being denied the chance to take the field in stoppage time - whoever filled out the team-sheet erred where her shirt number was concerned - the final whistle sounded to the delight of the Mainlanders, who celebrated their maiden triumph at this level with undisguised glee. How starkly their joy contrasted with Northern's "fans", the vast majority of whom stormed out of the ground after the final whistle and before the presentations, their lack of dignity in defeat disappointing to see, particularly for those players who had been part of Northern's successful campaigns in the past two seasons, when many of these same "fans" had been only too keen to bask in the reflected glory. The boisterous band of Mainland supporters who made the trip north did their team proud, and delighted in seeing the ASB Women's League trophy being added to the ASB Chatham and ASB National Women's Knockout Cups, which were won by Christchurch clubs in September's finals. At a time when their city is still in recovery mode from the earthquakes which have affected us all in some way, shape or form, the successes of Mainland's football teams in rising above the challenges they've faced to ultimately provide their city and region with something to shout about is well worthy of the applause and acknowledgement of all NZ football folk. Their latest triumph was well earned and well deserved. Northern:     Yates; Olsen, Stratford, Milne (Coleman, 68), Harrison; Knott (booked, 77), Seatter, Hoeksema (McNamara, 64); O'Brien (booked, 44) (Ridsdale, 76), Rood, Paterson Mainland:     Alfeld; Gross, Jensen, Moore, Merrin; Longo, Hepburn, Proctor (Lewis, 90), Dabner (Webster, 88); Phillips, Van Noorden Referee:     Anna-Marie Keighley