Southern United bounced back to winning ways in style in the National Women's League on October 7, trouncing Waikato-Bay of Plenty 6-3 at McLennan Park with all nine goals crammed into a 42-minute spell of wild action. For much of the first spell, the game was a bit of a fizzer, in part, no doubt, due to the 11am kick-off at a venue quite some distance away from the geographical area covered by home team WaiBOP. You'll never convince this writer that a federation which embraces areas such as Taupo, Tauranga, Rotorua and Cambridge, to mention four well-resourced footballing facilities besides Hamilton, couldn't come up with an alternative venue to Gower Park for both this match and WaiBOP's Labour weekend encounter with Central Football. Not that this writer was complaining, as it presented the prospect of a women's football double-header, with Auckland Football and Capital Football locking horns later in the day after this attractive entrée. WaiBOP fired the first shot in anger, Chelsea Elliott firing narrowly over from distance inside the first sixty seconds. It was a good half-hour before the home team next let fly, Tiana Hill's controlled volley not far away from giving her side the lead. That the score was still 0-0 at this stage of proceedings was due in no small part to Hill's defiant defensive display, with Mikayla Gray in particular frequently foiled by the WaiBOP captain as she held things together at the back. Hill couldn't be everywhere, however, and Southern weren't without their chances in the first half-hour of play, two of them being thwarted in the shadow of the crossbar WaiBOP were defending. The first such close call came in the fifth minute of play, when Gray and Chelsea Whittaker combined to play in Lara Wall, whose poor first touch enticed Georgia Candy out of goal. Wall thrashed the ball past her, only to see the retreating figure of Kate Williams clear off the line. The resulting corner saw Shontelle Smith's delivery pick out Mikaela Hunt, whose looping header was greedily grabbed under the bar by Candy, who was relieved to see Hill on hand to smother the danger when Southern threatened on the quarter hour. Wall's pressure on Williams forced an error upon which Emily Morison swooped. She looked to set up Gray, but Hill had other ideas, as did Morison herself five minutes later, Smith having sent her through. Candy was in no man's land as the striker sent the ball past her towards the untended goal, but the 'keeper beat a hasty retreat and stopped the sphere on the line - it was desperately close to breaking the deadlock. Unperturbed, Southern kept pressing, a cross-shot from Renee Bacon on the half-hour their next attempt of note. Candy wasn't having a bar of being beaten by this, but she hadn't a prayer when a defensive blunder just outside the area was pounced on by Gray in the 37th minute. Morison was set up for a shot on goal, and she thrashed the ball unerringly into the top corner to open the scoring. From the kick-off, Southern pressed again, forcing a corner which Smith swirled into the goalmouth. Elliott headed clear, but only as far as Bacon, who drilled the ball back into the danger zone. Morison was the recipient, but saw her goalbound shot cannon off Grace Wisnewski. Kelli Brown cleared the danger this time, but Southern now had their tails up, and pressed again five minutes before the interval. Candy parried Wall's shot, with the bounce beating the incoming figure of Gray. Lurking behind her, however, was Whittaker, who volleyed a terrific chance to double United's lead over the bar. That miss nearly proved costly for Southern, as after a swashbuckling run by Brown culminated in the hitherto unoccupied Jordan Woodward turning her shot round the near post, WaiBOP levelled the scores on the stroke of half-time thanks to the undeniable determination of Shae Brady. Wisnewski pounced on a Whittaker error and fed the striker, who muscled her way through a couple of challenges before slotting the ball home beyond Woodward, who got her hands to the sphere but

wasn't able to deny Brady her moment of glory. WaiBOP were still celebrating it when Southern kicked off, and within sixty seconds of Brady's equaliser, Wall restored United's advantage, rampaging down the left before scything inside and battering the ball beyond Candy into the far corner of the net - from 1-0 to 2-1 in less than a minute! Wall's goal was the last kick of the half, and after Smith and Brown had exchanged attempts on goal inside the first five minutes of the second spell, the first of six goals in a remarkable twenty-five minute spell firmly established Southern as the favourites for the points in the 54th minute. Half-time substitute Ruby Anderson linked with Whittaker, who played a sumptuous ball through for Gray to leave her one-on-one with just Candy to beat, a feat she attempted to achieve by lifting the ball over the approaching 'keeper. Much to Gray's dismay, it hit the bar, but she reacted quickest of all to the rebound to head home United's third goal. Candy gained sweet revenge five minutes later when denying Gray with her legs when the speedster was put through again, this time by Wall. But from Smith's resulting corner, Kirsty Hayr hammered the ball into the far corner of the net from fifteen yards - 4-1. WaiBOP had to score next, and did so ninety seconds later. Elliott picked out Ella Golding racing in off the right, from where she thundered the ball unerringly across Woodward and into the far side of the net right by the post. Following a raft of substitutions during the course of the next five minutes, Kelsey Kennard sparked a raid which was simply scintillating - by far the best goal of the game, and one which was simply indefensible. The central defender sent the ball sailing down the left wing, with Wall in hot pursuit. Upon catching up with it, the flying flanker delivered a first-time cross into the near post area, where Anderson was arriving on cue to head home unerringly past Candy - 5-2 in the 66th minute. Back came WaiBOP. Emma Cawte, who had seen Woodward keep out a twenty-five yard free-kick just before she departed the fray, delivered another such set-piece into the danger zone in the 72nd minute, the head of Wisnewski guiding the sphere into the net, using the pace on the delivery to unhinge Southern's rearguard - 5-3. Cue more changes, including a change of goalkeeper for WaiBOP. Unfortunately for Rylee Godbold, her first task was to fish the ball out of her net, Anderson's 79th  minute header bouncing over her after she had been picked out by another pinpoint delivery from Wall. Whittaker's bid to make it 7-3 eight minutes from time foundered on Godbold smothering her twenty-five yarder, while WaiBOP twice went close to making it 6-4 before the final whistle, with Golding and Brown both spurning good chances to do so, the latter on receipt of a clever reverse pass from Cawte, who had quite the battle in midfield with Smith in this match - two numbers 7s blessed with poise aplenty. It was the United playmaker who headed home happier, however, Southern's 6-3 win over opponents who have yet to win a game this season - WaiBOP's prospects of doing so are diminishing by the week - propelling them into a three-way tie for second place, albeit having played a game more than their rivals. Praise, too, for referee Morgan Archer, who controlled the game with just the right mix of seriousness and smiles, but whose handling of the antics of a disruptive spectator with previous - "Umbrella Man" is well known for his unruly ways in the lower North Island - just before half-time was nothing short of exemplary. She doesn't suffer fools, and this one was soon seen heading for the hills, never to return. WaiBOP:     Candy (Godbold, 78); Talbot, Williams, Hill; Neems (Cox, 62), Elliott (Henry, 62), Cawte, Wisnewski (Weld, 77); Golding, Brady, Brown (Hooper, 73) Southern:     Woodward (Middleditch, 67); Bacon (Seath, 67), Hunt, Kennard, Roome (Nicholson, 67); Whittaker, Hayr, Smith; Gray, Morison (Anderson, 46), Wall Referee:     Morgan Archer