Lynn-Avon United's greater guile and experience ultimately proved no match for the youthful zest and will-to-win of Western Springs at Seddon Fields on Wednesday evening, as the home team came from behind to prevail 3-1 in this top-of-the-table Lotto Northern Premier Women's League encounter, and set a cat amongst the pigeons in terms of the championship's destiny. At least 250 souls braved the chilly night air to witness the clash of the teams with perfect five from five records heading into this affair, and they were treated to a highly entertaining spectacle which was generally well compered by referee Chris Kerr. The last time the official took charge of a women's match was the card-fest which was the Future Stars tournament's trans-tasman derby in February. Any fears that this match would follow suit were swiftly dispelled, however, both teams making it clear from the outset that they were here to perform to something approaching the standards we have come to expect from them this season. Springs looked to test Lynn-Avon's aerial prowess during the early stages of the game, but it was the visitors who engineered the first opening of the match, in the sixth minute. Kirsty Yallop played the ball wide for Katie Hoyle, who had a particularly lively first half. On this occasion, she whipped in a deep cross beyond the far post, looking to pick out the fast-arriving Sarah Gregorius, who only just failed to make adequate contact with the ball, directing her effort wide of the mark. From Pam Yates' resulting goal-kick, Priscilla Duncan - another sound display in what was a colossal midfield battle - sent the full-of-running Hannah Wall scampering down the left. She skipped round Jenny Carlisle before crossing to the far post, where Sam Selwyn was on hand to clear. But only as far as Grace Vincent, who had been lurking outside the penalty area in anticipation of just such an opportunity. She hit the ball as sweet as a nut, her twenty yard effort seemingly destined for the top left-hand corner of the net until Ashleigh Cox produced a splendid one-handed save to tip the ball over the crossbar. This lively opening boded well for the match as a spectacle, and few would have been disappointed by what ensued from a footballing quality perspective. In the eleventh minute, Hayley Moorwood won the ball in midfield and invited Selwyn to unleash a raking angled pass through the inside left channel for Hoyle to hurtle after. She latched onto it and promptly let fly, sending a twenty-five yarder whizzing across the face of a goal from which Yates launched another goal-kick downfield seconds later. Rebecca O'Neill flicked it on to allow Renee Leota the chance to muscle her way past Selwyn and crack a shot from twenty-five yards which cleared the crossbar. Six minutes later, a quickly taken Yallop free-kick found Gregorius in space near the edge of the penalty area. Deceiving two challenges, she picked out Amber Hearn with her cross, only for the striker to narrowly fail to make clean contact with the ball as she launched herself into a flying header. Springs cleared the danger on this occasion, and caused some of their own in the 21st minute, thanks largely to a foul throw-in. Melissa Ray and Dana Humby got themselves in a right tangle as a result of their distraction at this minor breach of the game's Laws, and Leota wasted little time in swooping on the loose ball. She met her match in Cox, however, the `keeper's reflex save denying the snapshot of her fellow NZ U-20 international in style. Within seconds, the ball was down the other end of the park, Emma Kete having sent it forward with Hearn and Gregorius her targets. Linesman Phillip Lawrence proved too quick on the draw in his eagerness to flag Hearn offside, for the striker wasn't in the active area of play, despite being in an offside position. Gregorius, on the other hand, was very much onside and active upon receipt of Kete's cross, and promptly stung Yates' gloves with a strike from the edge of the penalty area. The `keeper hoisted the ball downfield, with Jessie Verdon the ultimate recipient of her clearance. The overlapping fullback's driven low cross was steered narrowly past her own post by Ray, who was rather relieved to clear the resulting corner from Liz Milne. It gave Kete something to chase, and her persistence paid off for Lynn-Avon in this 24th minute incident. Abby Erceg is invariably calmness personified when on the ball in defence, sometimes to the point of being too laid back.

She was on this occasion, and with the terrier-like Kete snapping at her heels, sold Yates short with a dreadful back-pass which gave United's striker every reason to keep on coming. Yates dived for the ball, but Kete got enough on it to force a rebound off the `keeper which fell to the striker's advantage, and she gleefully turned the ball home to begin celebrating a goal which arose solely from her willingness to chase seemingly lost causes. It also gave Lynn-Avon the upper hand in a match which, to this point, had been very even. Not surprisingly, Springs wasted little time in looking to redress the balance, and on the half-hour mark, their chance to equalise materialised. Annabelle Bramwell swooped on a Selwyn error and promptly picked out Leota, lurking in between defender. Her first-time twenty yard thunderbolt careered a mere foot over the crossbar, if that. Three minutes later, the same player forced Cox into grabbing her looping header, after Wall and Bramwell had combined on the counter-attack. Back came Lynn-Avon, with Yallop, Carlisle and Hearn combining to send Gregorius scooting in behind the defence. Yates was alert to the danger, however, and saved at her feet on this occasion, before grabbing Hearn's twenty-yarder four minutes before the interval, after Kete had flicked on a raking Cox clearance. Yates returned the ball in kind, with Verdon and O'Neill combining to set up Leota in the penalty area. She steered the ball back into Wall's path, and the youngster's shot arrowed through a crowded goalmouth straight into the grateful gloves of Cox. Like Kete, Wall's willingness to chase seemingly lost causes is a feature of her performances. One of the most promising strikers in the game set off after another such half-chance in the 44th minute, and was perfectly placed to pounce as Carlisle and Cox endured a communication-based crisis while the defender shepherded the ball back to her `keeper. Wall swooped on the scene, with Cox forcing her away from the target by diving at her feet. This prompted the striker to attempt to pull the ball back for Leota, only for Yallop to wallop the ball well beyond the by-line for a corner. Milne's delivery wasn't dealt with by Lynn-Avon's rearguard, and found its way to Duncan, beyond the far post. She turned the ball inside for O'Neill, whose close-range header found the net on the stroke of half-time - 1-1. There was still time for Yallop to fire a free-kick in from wide on the right which appeared destined to dip into the top far corner of the net. Yates had other ideas, however, and despite the presence of all-comers around her, plucked the ball from the skies with confidence to bring an enthralling forty-five minutes to a close. United began the second spell in the ascendancy, with Yallop firing wide from twenty yards before flighting a threatening free-kick towards the far post which was well dealt with by Chelsey Wood. And with Yates forced to race off her line to thwart another seemingly vain pursuit by Kete, it appeared the team which had stayed outside for the duration of the half-time break were intent on restoring their hard-earned advantage. All that changed inside a ninety-second spell which saw Lynn-Avon's Football Ferns midfield trio collectively lose their composure, albeit briefly. Moorwood went down under the challenge of O'Neill, but referee Kerr ruled play on. Not best pleased at the decision, Moorwood went in hard on Duncan seconds later, and conceded a free-kick. “But what about the foul on me?” she asked the official. Hoyle was close at hand, and said something a little more forthright to Mr Kerr. Cue the first yellow card of the evening, for dissent. Erceg took the free-kick, and again, Moorwood and Duncan tangled. The ball spilled loose, the whistle sounded, and another free-kick went Springs' way, one which the home team was keen to take quickly. Lynn-Avon, however, weren't having a bar of it, with Yallop racing in from yards away to stand over the ball as tempers briefly flared. Having been warned about her backchat earlier by referee Kerr, the official wasn't going to let her off with an encroachment offence, and out the yellow card came again. What happened next put this ninety-second outburst in perspective, because it ultimately cost Lynn-Avon parity on the scoreboard. Erceg chipped in another free-kick, finding Vincent's head among those looking to make contact with the ball just inside the penalty area. Lynn-Avon failed to deal with her angled header down, and Leota wasted little time in taking full advantage, lashing the ball home into the top corner

of the net from ten yards - 2-1 Springs. The visitors were stunned by this blow, with Bramwell copping more than her fair share of Yallop's ire when United's captain slammed a 55th minute free-kick into the face of the midfielder, pole-axing her. Yallop picked up the rebound and drove the ball into the goalmouth, but Hearn and Kete weren't able to capitalise. It was around this time that the midfield battle - the game within the game - was at its zenith. Duncan, O'Neill and Vincent were matching Hoyle, Moorwood and Yallop stride for stride as each star sought to engineer the breakthrough or thwart the opportunity for same as possession dictated. It was captivating fare - classic thrust and parry action for the connoisseurs to savour as two well-matched units neither gave nor took quarter in the quest to stamp their superiority on proceedings. Ironic, then, that it was a mistake from another quarter which ultimately decided the destiny of the outcome twenty minutes from time. Following her return home, Hearn is still in the process of recapturing the form and touch with which she graced the game here in 2004. Her loss of control on this occasion was pounced on by Leota, who surged over half-way into Lynn-Avon's half before playing the ball forward to Wall. The youngster had plenty to do, with Humby, Carlisle and substitute Terry McCahill more than formidable obstacles at the best of times, as many an opponent can testify. But such is the zest with which Wall approaches the game that reputations matter not - she had the ball at her feet, and one thing only in mind … The sight of said sphere arrowing past Cox's despairing dive and inside her near post mere seconds later sent Western Springs cock-a-hoop - 3-1 up with twenty minutes to go against the one team they had yet to overcome in eight previous attempts since entering the Premier League in 2005. Twenty minutes, however, is a long time in football, and for a Lynn-Avon team chasing the game, a goal any time in that time would set up a grandstand finish. But just four minutes into this period, Yallop was caught in possession on the edge of her penalty area by Vincent, who promptly fed O'Neill the ball. Her audacious twenty-five yard chip had Cox back-pedalling furiously, but dropped just over the bar. Two minutes later, Moorwood sent Gregorius racing down the right with a raking pass, allowing the speedster to get to the by-line and whip in a cross for Hearn. It never reached her, however, as Yates' anticipation was superb. So was her confidence under pressure in dealing with a high ball five minutes later. The Moorwood - Gregorius combination was again the source of Springs' concern, with the latter's cross this time finding Yallop's head. A looping effort saw Yates climb high to pluck the ball off Hoyle's scalp. Given her aerial presence is an aspect of her game in which this writer, amongst others, has seen her often found wanting, Yates answered her critics back in the best possible manner in this match - a performance of which she can be proud. But one in which she still had work to do. Four minutes from time, Lynn-Avon knew the game was up when Humby and Gregorius combined to set up substitute Rebecca Gage. Ten yards out, and completely unmarked, she shot straight at Yates, and promptly buried her head in her hands at having squandered a glorious opening. Gage had another chance to reduce the deficit before the final whistle, but Yates again proved equal to this Kete-created chance, while at the other end, Cox grabbed a Jamie Hackett effort in the last seconds of a tremendous advertisement for the best women's league in the country. Western Springs' come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Lynn-Avon has, at the half-way point in the campaign, set up the very real prospect of the Northern Premier Women's League title gracing a trophy cabinet other than those of “the big two” (Lynn-Avon and Three Kings United) for the first time since 1994, when Te Atatu claimed the crown. The unbeaten table-toppers' title credentials will face another stern test on Sunday, as they visit reigning champions Three Kings. Springs:     Yates; Wood, Erceg, Milne; Bramwell (Fisher, 62), Duncan, O'Neill, Vincent, Verdon; Leota (Hackett, 78), Wall (Tiffen, 87) Lynn-Avon:     Cox; Carlisle (Gage, 78), Humby, Ray, Selwyn (McCahill, 62); Gregorius, Moorwood, Yallop (booked, 53), Hoyle (booked, 52); Hearn, Kete Referee:     Chris Kerr