Northern v. Auckland 221120

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Northern To The Four In Battle Of The Bridge

by Jeremy Ruane

Northern Lights lit up the ISPS Handa Women's Premiership on 22 November, coming from behind to thrash Auckland Football 4-1 on North Harbour Stadium's Outer Oval and claim bragging rights in the Queen City's annual footballing "Battle of the Bridge".

In their three matches leading into this clash, Auckland have been tearing opponents apart with an attacking brand of football not unlike the "gegenpressing" approach favoured by Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp. But Northern, who have played a game less than their cross-town rivals, decided that two can play at that game, and the result was a footballing display which found the visitors wanting.

Indeed, Auckland's performance can most kindly be described as error-strewn, and certainly wasn't aided by the absence of injured duo Emma Fletcher and Arisa Takeda, both of whom are critical components of their team's style of play. Far too many players in blue shirts had off-days, with captain Liz Anton, in particular, a shadow of her usually calm and composed self.

Alosi Bloomfield, meanwhile, was afforded no time at all to ignite Auckland attacks, thanks to a commanding performance from Liz Savage, the wily former Football Fern closing down her opponent at every opportunity and often winning possession well up the pitch for the benefit of her team-mates.

Chloe Knott and Malia Steinmetz were particular beneficiaries of Savage's unstinting efforts, their dominance and superiority in midfield prompting the early withdrawal from the fray of Daisy Cleverley four minutes into the second half.

Hers was not the performance of a future Football Fern midfield general, a role which one hopes Knott will eventually get the chance to fulfil. The ongoing aftermath of "Wynnegate" continues to frustrate the Bolton-born former age-grade international, who would undoubtedly provide the vision, dynamism and playmaking qualities which the national team has sorely missed since the retirement of Hayley Bowden.

Those qualities were in evidence inside the first eighty seconds of this encounter, Knott working a short corner with Arabella Maynard before whipping in a near post cross which Nicole Stratford controlled before volleying against the post.

Auckland scrambled the ball out for another corner, which Knott delivered to the far post. Aneka Mittendorff was lurking with intent, and directed a volley on the turn past Lily Alfeld's left-hand post.

The visitors responded to these early scares by opening the scoring in the seventh minute. Cleverley's low corner to the near post was deftly flicked home by Tayla O'Brien, who executed the same set piece in like fashion a week ago at Capital Football's expense - lightning does strike twice, it would seem!

Straight away, Northern rampaged downfield, and had strong claims for a penalty turned down by referee Eric Yu, after Bloomfield appeared to handle the ball in the area following Saskia Vosper's long throw-in.

Collins, as she has done all season, led the line well for Auckland as they looked to employ their usual tactic of closing down opposition defenders in their own half of the pitch. But she lacked support in this match, and an under-hit pass towards the striker in the seventeenth minute proved the catalyst for Northern's equaliser.

Stratford swooped on the sphere and played it forward to Sammi Tawharu, who laid it back to Knott. Without breaking stride, she swept the ball forward into the stride of Ava Pritchard, who worked a slick one-two with Tawharu before taking on a couple of defenders and whipping a cross in towards the edge of the goal area.

Arriving on cue was Maynard, who, nipping in between Anton and Jess Philpot, fair hammered the ball into the top corner of the net, affording Alfeld no chance, much to the delight of the Lights team, who converged upon the goalscorer from all points of the compass.

Auckland never really recovered from conceding that goal, and in the 27th minute fell behind on the scoreboard, Knott converting from the penalty spot having been felled inside the area by Philpot, who picked up the first of Auckland's four yellow cards for her troubles.

Two minutes later, a teasing cross from Vosper was spilled by Alfeld, who recovered well to block at the feet of Savage, a feat she repeated on the stroke of half-time to foil Pritchard as she pursued a through ball from Tawharu.

In between times, the elements of a proper derby had been in evidence, quarter neither given nor taken by teams who enjoy a healthy rivalry, one dominated in its early years by Auckland, but in which Northern has held the upper hand in recent seasons - it's three years since Auckland last tasted victory in this fixture.

As their initial response at the start of the second half suggested, the visitors were clearly given a half-time rocket by coach Aaron McFarland. Just five minutes, O'Brien and Collins combined in attack, the latter eventually outnumbered near the corner flag. But Maynard promptly gave the ball straight to O'Brien, whose tame shot gave Erin Hughes scant cause for concern.

Five minutes later, Auckland were presented with a glorious opportunity to level the scores. Collins latched onto the ball on the edge of the area, turned her marker and surged forward, only to find herself the meat in a Northern sandwich, as Stratford and Lily Jervis combined to curtail the striker's progress.

Referee Yu didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot as Collins went to ground, and she duly took on the task of gaining due reward for the progress she'd made from twelve yards. But she failed to capitalise upon the chance, Hughes plunging to her left to parry the penalty before recovering to thwart Philpot's bid to turn home the rebound.

Had Auckland scored then, this game would well and truly have been in the balance. But one sensed that with the miss went the element of belief from Auckland's play, for they were rarely sighted as a goalscoring threat thereafter.

That was largely testament to Northern's efforts, which were rewarded twenty minutes from time when Savage battered a penalty beyond the despairing dive of Alfeld, after Bloomfield had clattered into Pritchard in the aftermath of another Vosper long throw-in - such a crucial element of Northern's attacking armoury.

The fullback is not just in the side for her prowess with ball in hand - she's a tough-as-teak defender also, and in the 75th minute Vosper all but assured Ben Bate's charges of victory with a superbly timed tackle to thwart Collins as she charged through on goal, Ella Russ and Britney Cunningham-Lee having combined to exploit a by now rare error in Northern's half of the pitch.

Five minutes later, Savage won the ball in Auckland's half of the pitch and fed Pritchard, who brought the overlapping figure of Stratford into play. The fullback duly returned the compliment, directing a pass into the stride of Pritchard, who failed to pull the trigger on a timely basis, and was duly closed down by Anton.

Soon after using all their substitutes, one of those replacements, Rene Wasi, was hit for six when copping the ball flush in the face at point-blank range as Emma Pijnenburg looked to play the ball forward for Auckland.

It meant Northern had to play out the remaining eight or so minutes with just ten players on the park, but they made light of their inferior numbers to finish the game with a flourish two minutes from time.

The home team earned a free kick thirty yards from goal after Anton collided with the rampaging figure of Jess Innes. Mittendorff stood over the sphere, and what happened next will forever feature in the highlights reel of football in New Zealand in this Covid-19-ravaged year.

Because she's part of the Football Ferns Development Programme, Mittendorff and a number of other players - Alfeld and Rose Luxton are other fine examples - are rarely seen by the footballing public on pitches during the course of a season, one of the stipulations of the FFDP set-up being players cannot appear for their clubs.

It's one of the most disappointing attributes of the FFDP programme, as one would think that were they to play for their clubs as well as enjoy the elite training which the FFDP provides, club-mates, opponents and the game as a whole would benefit from seeing and performing alongside these otherwise cocooned starlets of the game on a regular basis.

The FFDP players are allowed to play for their federations come National Women's League time, however, and Mittendorff has clearly been working on the art of free-kick taking while behind closed doors, if what unfolded here is anything to go by.

She stepped up and unleashed an absolute thunderbolt which fair flew beyond the diving figure of Alfeld before crashing into the corner of the net - the stuff dreams are made of, and a fitting note on which to cap off this fine performance by Northern, fully deserving 4-1 victors over Auckland in this latest "Battle of the Bridge", the result of which leaves Northern as the competition's only unbeaten side.

Northern: Hughes; Stratford (Barry, 82), Jervis, Mittendorff, Vosper; Knott, Savage (Luxton, 82), Steinmetz (Innes, 64); Pritchard, Tawharu (Kete, 68), Maynard (Wasi, 76)

Auckland: Alfeld; Strachan, Anton (booked, 87), Philpot (booked, 26), Leaming (Pijnenburg, 64); Cleverley (Dewell, 49), Bloomfield (booked, 69), O'Brien (booked, 28); Cunningham-Lee (Lawson, 83), Collins, Hirano (Russ, 66)

Referee: Eric Yu

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