Auckland Football reached the National Women's League play-offs for the first time since 2012 at Keith Hay Park on November 26, overcoming arch-rivals Northern Football 3-2 in a barnstorming "Battle of the Bridge" encounter which saw both teams occupying second place on the table during seven nerve-jangling minutes of stoppage time. Auckland went into the match in fourth place on the table, safe in the knowledge that anything other than a win would bring their season to a premature close. For Northern, victory or a draw would suffice as they bid to make amends for missing out on last season's play-offs, when a stoppage time winner earned Waikato-Bay of Plenty a semi-final spot at the then reigning champions' expense. It was hoped to have even further incentive at stake for this, the 21st clash between these cross-town rivals, in the form of The Jeremy Ruane Shield. Getting the approval of the powers-that-be put that prospect on hold for this match, but be assured it will become a feature of this fixture in the months and years to come. As it was, there was enough at stake in this encounter to ensure it would bubble along quite nicely, although it must be said Northern seemed a tad off the boil attack-wise during the first half - it wasn't until well into the second spell that they truly began to hit their straps in this regard. By that time, of course, Auckland were well in command on the scoreboard, first threatening to alter the scoreline in the fifth minute when Georgia Brown lobbed a speculative effort over Emily Couchman which landed on the roof of the net. After Hannah Mackay-Wright had held off a strong charging run from Britney Cunningham-Lee - the game-long battle of the double-barrelled surnames was one of the individual highlights of this contest - Auckland produced a neat thirteenth minute move which opened up Northern's rearguard. Tayla O'Brien, Nicole Mettam and Jacqui Hand worked their way down the right, but appeared to have run up a blind alley until Brown appeared on the scene to revive the raid. The former age-grade international picked out Cunningham-Lee with a cross which the striker turned into the stride of Maisy Dewell, who scooped her shot over the bar. Northern fired their first shot in anger four minutes later, Cat Pretty stinging the gloves of Norwest United club-mate Nadia Olla from thirty yards. This got the visitors' creative juices going, and very quickly Megan Robertson and Ally Toailoa were making vital blocks and interceptions to repel Northern raids, the latter's point-blank range block of a Jane Barnett piledriver in the 21st minute a case in point. Auckland's response to this saw them open the scoring in the 24th minute with a classic counter-attacking strike. Toailoa thwarted another Barnett effort, the ball breaking for Erinna Wong, who swiftly brought O'Brien into play. Downfield she stormed, outpacing two opponents before picking out Hand inside her. Before she got the chance to shoot, Couchman was on top of her, bravely blocking the Junior Ferns starlet before foiling Cunningham-Lee's opportunity to exploit the opening. It was third time lucky for Auckland, however, the ball breaking kindly for O'Brien, who took a touch to create the opening for a shot which she sent crashing into the back of the net from the edge of the penalty area. Northern wasted little time in endeavouring to bring about parity. In the 27th minute, Kate Loye and Sammi Tawharu linked on the left, the latter's low cross looking to pick out Arabella Maynard, arriving in the goalmouth. Olla saved at her feet, then looked on three minutes later as Tawharu sliced her shot wide of the target after Maynard got the better of Wong on Northern's right, an opening which Barnett and Casey Klyn quickly exploited. Nine minutes before half-time, and during a period in which Auckland were down to ten while Wong was receiving treatment for an injury, Bernadette Goulding and Tawharu worked an opening on the left which culminated in the overlapping fullback picking out Barnett with her cross. The covering figure of Brown took one for the team, the ball spinning through to afford Olla an easy save. Five minutes before half-time, Auckland doubled their lead. Mettam delivered a gem of a corner into the danger zone, with Claudia Bunge blocking a Brown shot on the line. The ricochet landed at the feet of Robertson, who prodded the ball home from close range to the undisguised delight of her team-mates - 2-0 the home side. And so very nearly three five minutes later, O'Brien's charging run culminating in Brown checking inside before curling one just over the bar from the edge of the penalty area. Both goals came under threat during three minutes of first half stoppage time. Wong and Toailoa got themselves in a mix-up from which Barnett benefited, but Olla was right behind her thirty yard snapshot, and instantly sparked a counter-attack which allowed Mettam to send Cunningham-Lee dashing through, the striker getting the better of Mackay-Wright in the process. Only Bunge's despairing tackle, perfectly timed as Cunningham-Lee pulled the trigger, prevented the striker from testing Couchman deep in stoppage time, and ensured that the 21st "Battle of the Bridge" would see Auckland head to the dressing rooms two goals to the good at the interval. Both teams made changes at half-time, injury-enforced ones prompting the home team's alterations, the scoreboard the source of the experienced Liz Savage's injection into the fray for the visitors. That nous certainly made a difference for Northern, with the some-time Football Fern stinging the gloves of Olla on the hour at the end

of a mazy run in off the right. Auckland countered straight away, Robertson's ball forward for O'Brien being misjudged by Goulding, allowing the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League's Player of the Year to play in Hand. With just Couchman to beat, she under-hit her shot - a relieved 'keeper was afforded an easy save at a crucial point in the match. At the other end of the park in the 67th minute, Couchman's opposite number literally handed Northern a golden chance to halve the deficit. Olla had been treading a fine line with the amount of time she was holding onto the ball before releasing it, and referee Anna-Marie Keighley's patience finally snapped half-way through the second spell. Cue an indirect free-kick - but no yellow card for time-wasting. Barnett stepped up to the mark, only for Olla to block her drive then smother the rebound. But when the Football Ferns Development Squad member next presided over a set-piece, Northern finally had reason to celebrate. Barnett's 69th minute corner caused pandemonium in Auckland's goalmouth. Twice the ball was cleared off the line as a right royal scramble ensued, but the ball was eventually forced over the paintwork, Maynard the player accredited with the goal, although any one of at least three other players could just as easily have had the honour. What it meant was this was now very much game on, as Northern now had their tails up, given they now trailed 2-1. Six minutes after the goal, Barnett whipped in a free-kick to the far post which saw substitute Cara Lonergan collide in the air with Robertson, just as she directed the ball goalwards. As the pair slumped to the ground having clashed heads, Olla kept her focus on the sphere, and it was just as well that she did, as a late decision to plunge to her left and tip it round the post proved to be decidedly significant in the scheme of things. Nine minutes from time, Loye, Savage and Barnett combined to invite the league's leading markswoman, Dayna Stevens, to finally set her sights on goal. Olla grabbed this attempt, but when Toailoa's attempted headed clearance steepled skywards five minutes later, Robertson and Olla gathered beneath it, the captain taking charge of proceedings, only to volley the ball narrowly past her own post. Robertson's relief at having missed the target was tangible, particularly given mere minutes were now all that stood between Auckland and their play-off ambitions. Seven of them, fourth official Nadia Browning confirmed, as the game entered stoppage time. Northern threw everything at Auckland now. A draw would be enough to see them home, and in the 94th minute, they drew level. Loye played the ball wide to Savage, who held off the dogged challenge of Kathryn Gow - good young prospect, this lass - and scythed inside past two more challenges before letting fly. Olla launched herself to her right, but there was no stopping this shot, the ball arrowing into the top far corner to the accompanying roars of delight from Northern's supporters, as their charges engulfed the goalscorer who had surely saved their season - 2-2. Three minutes remained, however, 180 seconds which represented the choice between semi-final football for one team, the start of a well-earned summer break for the other. Who wanted in more? Kate Carlton sent the ball forward for O'Brien to chase in the 95th minute, but she was all but out on her feet. Somehow the sphere arrived at the feet of Cunningham-Lee, who, too, had run herself into the ground. But it was a pass which was required, and into the stride of the full-of-running 2015 NWL Golden Boot winner the youngster duly rolled the ball. Ninety seconds after a seemingly Savage blow to Auckland's play-off prospects had been struck, Northern's own hopes now rested in the palm of one Hand. Jacqui had timed her run through the offside trap to perfection, and took the ball on in her stride before coolly steering the 75th goal of her career beyond the diving figure of Couchman and into the corner of the net, to the unbridled joy of her team-mates and Auckland's supporters - 3-2. There was still time for yet another twist in this tale, but alas for Northern, not enough of it, the sound of the final whistle soon afterwards prompting all manner of raw emotions to be unleashed by players from both sides. Delight. Despair. Relief. Tears, of joy for some, of heartbreak for others. Club-mates past and present congratulating or commiserating  as appropriate. The true spirit of football on show for all to see. For Northern, this loss in the dying seconds of their final round-robin game for the second successive season will be even harder to take, given the 2015 champions had seemingly staved off defeat with a late equaliser on this occasion. But Auckland somehow found a way to win when the odds were against them, and now, remarkably, represent the hopes of the North Island in the battle for NWL supremacy, with Southern United and, potentially, reigning champions Canterbury United Pride standing between them and a first National Women's League title since the all-conquering "A Team" swept aside all-comers in 2009. Auckland:     Olla; Carlton, Robertson, Toailoa, Wong (Martin, 46 (booked, 82) (Waters, 86)); Brown (Gow, 70), Mettam, Dewell (Taitimu, 46); Cunningham-Lee, Hand, O'Brien Northern:     Couchman; Klyn (Savage, 46), Mackay-Wright, Bunge (Mittendorff, 74), Goulding; Pretty (McWhirter, 74), Barnett, Loye; Maynard, Tawharu (Lonergan, 63), Stevens Referee:     Anna-Marie Keighley