Goals in the second minute and two minutes from time earned Southern United a 2-1 win over Capital Football at Petone Memorial Park on November 30, as the visiting side deservedly concluded their generally impressive National Women's League campaign on a winning note. They couldn't have got off to a better start in this match, with Shontelle Smith's sumptuous second minute corner deceiving Molly Simons as it arced to the far post, inviting a goalmouth scramble from which former Capital starlet Emily Morison emerged cock-a-hoop after ramming the ball home from point-blank range. Stunned by this early setback, Capital struggled to get to grips with Southern's attack-minded onslaught, and could well have found themselves trailing by two goals in the tenth minute, Renee Bacon shooting straight at Simons when Georgia Brown and Amy Hislop combined to play her in with just the 'keeper to beat. Hislop was proving a real menace to a Capital rearguard which struggled to contain Southern's early fury. Had the striker timed her runs a tad better on a handful of occasions, she would almost certainly found herself bearing down on goal with just Simons to beat, instead of bemoaning the offside flag raised in her honour. But she was proving just as troublesome as a creator of openings, as her angled twelfth minute pass in behind the defence revealed. Morison was only denied a second goal by the bravery of Simons, saving at her feet. By now, the home team had opted to fight fire with fire, with raids down the left culminating in promising crosses from Jemma Catherwood. Jade Middleditch's handling of these deliveries was exemplary, her command of her penalty area assured. But her goal finally came under threat in the 22nd minute when Capital's cutting edge, Emma Rolston, imposed herself on proceedings. Bursting forth from half-way, she worked an opening with Kelsey Wilkinson, the return pass of which played in the five-times-capped Football Fern. Unbeknown to the striker, Smith was beating a hasty retreat on Rolston's blindside, and as the striker fired goalwards, the midfield marauder successfully flung herself in the flight of the ball, diverting it to safety. Five minutes later, Middleditch launched a free-kick from just outside her penalty area downfield, and a touch of air tennis ensued before Hislop darted through. Molly Woodhead initially got back in cover, but the striker fended her off, only to be denied by Simons at close quarters. Rolston talked herself into a booking in the 32nd minute, the only one of a contest in which a handful of fouls merited far more than just the talking-to referee Wendy McNeely directed at the offending player each time. A couple of them were instances where stopping the opponent's progress was the sole intention - the ball was an afterthought. Yet no card was shown … surely offences such as these are every bit as card-worthy as Rolston's offence? On another day, they would be, unquestionably. Little wonder players get peeved when there's so little consistency officiating-wise from match to match, especially at this elite level. Southern pressed again in the 34th minute, with Bacon, Kirsty Hayr and Smith linking with Hislop, who worked a one-two with Mikayla Gray, whose return pass left Hislop looking suspiciously offside. Capital certainly thought so, so it was just as well the striker spurned the opportunity - the natives would have been very restless indeed had Hislop scored! Indeed, that miss spurred Capital on in their pursuit of parity before half-time. Libby Boobyer and Katie Barrott both chanced their arm from distance prior to the interval, but Middleditch dealt capably with their efforts. She was less assured in between times, however, a 39th minute raid involving Woodhead, Nina Kondo and Catherwood seeing Kondo loop around the latter to work a one-two and create the opening for Catherwood to whip in a cross for Jemma Robertson to exploit. Middleditch denied her, however, pawing the ball off the striker's head. Capital threatened again in the 43rd minute, with Rolston sending Wilkinson to the by-line, from where she whipped in a cross to the near post where Boobyer was arriving at a great rate of knots. Middleditch's handling of the threat posed by her powerfully built opponent was far from assured, but she did just enough to concede a corner, which was cleared. Boobyer went closer still in the shadows of

the half-time whistle, heading narrowly wide after Rolston had classily confused two rivals before delivering quality ball to the far post. In the ascendancy going into half-time, Capital maintained their momentum once play resumed, Rolston lashing a twenty-yarder narrowly over the top in the 48th minute after Catherwood and Kondo had once more caused havoc on Southern's right flank. Boobyer then got the better of Georgia Brown - not at her most assured in this encounter - and delivered a cross to the near post for which both Middleditch and captain Mikaela Hunt came, the defender heading the ball out of her 'keeper's hands at the expense of a corner. Kondo's delivery picked out the head of Rolston, who was brilliantly denied by Middleditch's full length dive to her left. But after a couple of Southern raids had seen Simons dash out of her penalty area to play the role of "sweeper-keeper" to expert effect, the Golden Boot co-leader finally found the net for the tenth time this season. Boobyer - a smashing game - played a probing ball forward which lured Middleditch out of goal. She should have reached it first, but one eye was unquestionably upon the approaching yellow-clad blur which was Rolston, and that hesitation proved crucial. For the striker stole the ball off the goalkeeper and, from an acute angle by the edge of the penalty area, and with Middleditch beating a hasty retreat towards goal, Rolston curled home an absolute gem of a striker's goal, Hunt's despairing attempt to head off the line only succeeding in diverting the ball into the roof of the net - a genuine striker's goal. The goal gave Capital the boost they needed, but it also gave Southern a shot in the arm as well. Long gone are the days when they would meekly surrender and capitulate in such circumstances. There's a steely resolve in these Southern belles - they won't go down without one heck of a fight, and in their final game of 2019, they proved it in dramatic fashion. Smith is Southern's shining star, without question. But the lion-hearted Hunt has her team-mate's back, and the inspiration both radiate, combined with Brown's experience and leadership attributes, lifts the likes of Hayr, Hislop, Chelsea Whittaker and Gray to levels they would not otherwise consistently produce. Consequently, a game that the natives thought Rolston, after equalising, would take charge of and lead Capital to victory, became one in which Zoe Barrott's defensive prowess became pivotal to ensuring the home team remained on level terms, such was the response from United to having their lead wiped out. A flurry of substitutions - thankfully only three per side, making it a proper NWL contest rather than the developmental exercise which ill-considered regulations encourage - initially broke up the momentum of the game, but the last twenty minutes was genuine cut-and-thrust, cup-tie-like football, with patrons sensing that the contest was building to a thrilling climax … Four minutes from time, Capital were denied strong penalty claims when Hannah Mackay-Wright's challenge on Wilkinson, seemingly from behind, prevented the striker from breaking the deadlock. And in stoppage time, they were denied again, Wilkinson once more thwarted, this time after dashing through the inside right channel. Middleditch needed two attempts to keep her effort out, but those saves confirmed victory for Southern. For, in the 88th minute, the visitors regained the lead in devastating fashion. Hayr latched onto the ball near the edge of the centre circle in Capital's half and charged through the inside right channel before steering the ball into the stride of Bacon, slicing in off the left. She'll never hit a twenty-yarder more sweetly in her life! The ball fair zoomed off her boot and crashed into the bottom left-hand corner of Simons' net before the 'keeper could even move - 2-1 Southern, worthy winners of a riveting contest which brings their solid season to a close in the way any team likes to end a campaign, celebrating victory. Capital:     Simons; Woodhead, Z. Barrott, Fibbes; Robertson, K. Barrott, Kondo (Wilford-Carroll, 87), Catherwood (Ohlsson, 58); Rolston (booked, 32), Wilkinson, Boobyer (Dugan, 67) Southern:     Middleditch; Brown, Mackay-Wright, Hunt; Gray (Roxburgh, 53), de Ronde, Hayr, Smith, Bacon; Hislop (Anderson, 66), Morison (Whittaker, 70) Referee:     Wendy McNeely