Auckland Football produced one of their most comprehensive National Women's League displays in many a moon at McLennan Park on October 28, dismantling runaway competition leaders Canterbury United Pride 3-1, with the visitors returning home knowing they were fortunate to have only conceded three. This was an Auckland display of which the late Roy Cox, the founding father of women's football in New Zealand, and Auckland women's football in particular, would have been proud. It wasn't just that the reigning champions won. It was how they won; the way they went about winning, with style and flair - those attributes were always very important elements of a winning performance to "Coxy". Auckland had them in spades in this Grand Final re-match. From the very first whistle, they were on the offensive, Grace Jale charging down a United pass to spark a counter-attack, led by Jade Parris, and ultimately culminating in Jale's shot being blocked by the retreating Whitney Hepburn. Four minutes later, Genevieve Ryan picked out Steph Skilton, who linked with Sarah Morton to present Lucy Carter with a shooting chance from thirty yards which wasn't far away from the top far corner of Victoria Esson's net. The resulting goal-kick was played to Chloe Jones, but Parris was on top of her in an instant, and swiftly secured possession, only to see her attempted chip of Esson clear the crossbar. After Corina Brown had grabbed a Monique Barker header following Annalie Longo's eleventh minute cross, Auckland opened the scoring four minutes later. Jale sparked a raid which featured Carter and Paige Satchell, who steamed down the left into the penalty area prior to steering the ball invitingly into Jale's stride. She slid the sphere home from ten yards to the delight of the locals. Canterbury looked to hit back immediately, Brown smothering Longo's twenty-five yard free-kick. But Auckland were relentless, with Parris all over Macey Fraser in the seventeenth minute as she received an Esson goal-kick, only for the striker to blaze the ball over bar with United's 'keeper scrambling. Seconds later, Skilton won the ball and fed Morton on the left, allowing the fullback to hurtle downfield past two opponents before unleashing a cross-shot which hit the top of the crossbar. United's best chance of an equaliser materialised in the 23rd minute. Fraser worked the ball to Tahlia Herman-Watt, who linked with Gabrielle Rennie. Her pass picked out Barker, who swiveled and slammed a shot over the bar from ten yards. Auckland responded to that threat with a tremendous spell of pressure, culminating in Herman-Watt heading a Carter corner off the line. Five minutes later, another Carter corner was met by the flying figure of Rebekah Van Dort, whose header bulleted over the bar seconds after her defensive partner in crime, the imperious Liz Anton, had blocked a Rennie shot following a move featuring Fraser and Longo. After Marisa Van der Meer had stung the gloves of Brown following a Fraser free-kick, Jale sent Satchell scurrying through in the 39th minute. Seeing the danger, Esson raced off her line and collided with the speedster before swiftly recovering to clear the ball to safety. Satchell bounced back from that bone-jarring duel swiftly. Latching onto Brown's throw two minutes later, she set off on a sixty yard run downfield, Van der Meer at her heels every step of the way. The fullback's hasty retreat proved its worth when Satchell was only to direct her shot into the gloves of Esson, the penultimate attempt on goal in an Auckland-dominated half which drew to a close after Fraser lashed a twenty-yarder over the bar, Longo having pounced on a loose ball in midfield to set up the opening. Auckland were right back into their stride at the start of the second spell, and doubled their lead just three minutes into the half. Anton's free-kick was flicked on by Parris into the stride of Satchell, who evaded a challenge before rifling the ball past Esson into the far corner of the net.

The home team was still celebrating when they made the mistake of letting Longo go unchecked, and paid the price for doing so in the 52nd minute. Esson's clearance picked out Fraser, whose angled ball found Longo steaming through the inside left channel. Brown got her hands to the shot, but couldn't prevent the ball from reaching the far corner of the net. Canterbury looked to build on the momentum of that goal soon afterwards, with Barker flicking on an Esson clearance to send Rennie surging past a static Ryan, whose NWL performances so far suggest she isn't yet up to this level of football at this early stage of her career. Brown smothered the striker's shot. Back came Auckland, via another Carter corner in the 58th minute. This one was delivered beyond the far post, from where the ball was hooked back into the goalmouth. From close range, Ryan prodded the sphere past the upright. Seven minutes later, only the brilliance of Esson prevented Jale from putting Auckland out of reach. Catching Jones in possession on the edge of Canterbury's penalty area, Jale unleashed a piledriver which drew a superb reflex save from the 'keeper, who tipped the effort over the bar. The game was up for Canterbury in the 69th minute. Carter picked out Parris in the middle, and the striker outfoxed an opponent before unleashing an unerring twenty yard drive beyond the diving figure of Esson, the ball arrowing into the corner of the net to put Auckland 3-1 up. The visitors didn't give up, though. Annie Gilchrist's ball forward saw Van Dort thwart Cody Taylor, but Jayda Stewart was onto the loose ball, only to drag her shot past the upright, minutes before Fraser chanced her arm from distance - it takes some shot to beat Brown from that range, and this wasn't it. Ten minutes from time, Herman-Watt and Taylor combined with Longo, whose twenty yard drive through a crowded penalty area was well saved low to her right by Brown, her final denial of the match. It was far from the game's last goalscoring opportunity, however. Five minutes from time, Gilchrist blocked a Kathryn-Ann Gow piledriver after substitutes Kim Nottingham and Tessa Leong - great to see her back in action after a lengthy injury break - had linked with Parris on the left. Auckland's lethal number nine was desperately unlucky not to score a second goal as the game entered stoppage time - she actually did, but referee's assistant Heloise Simons was caught out of position by the speed of Auckland's attack. Gow pounced on a defensive error and slipped the ball inside to Parris, who uncorked a gem of a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area which arced over Esson's diving figure, struck the underside of the bar and bounced down, appearing from many angles to have crossed the line before spinning back into the goalmouth. Canterbury dodged a bullet on that occasion, and dodged another soon after, with Leong's glancing header, from a Morton cross, flying inches past the far post. From the resulting goal-kick, Parris was swiftly in possession once more, but Esson proved equal to the last shot of a match which saw the visitors' unbeaten start to the season brought to a spectacular halt by an Auckland team which was unrecognisable from that which had twice played second fiddle to Northern Lights in the past ten days. This combination was bristling with brio as they put the league leaders and last season's runners-up to the sword, finally producing a performance which fulfilled the potential they boast on paper. It was well worth the wait! Auckland:     Brown; Ryan (L. Mettam, 60), Anton, Van Dort, Morton; Carter (Gow, 79), Skilton, Jale (Nottingham, 83), N. Mettam; Satchell (Leong, 79), Parris Canterbury:     Esson; Herman-Watt, Gilchrist, Jones (Lake, 78), Van der Meer (Donald, 88); Stewart (Roberts, 88), Longo, Hepburn, Fraser (Bray, 78); Rennie, Barker (Taylor, 58) Referee:     Nadia Browning