The Northern Premier Women's League is shaping up to be a wide-open affair after the completion of its first two rounds of action, with Glenfield Rovers the only team boasting maximum points. This is a result of an intriguing goalless draw between last season's SWANZ Knockout Cup finalists, Western Springs and Lynn-Avon United, at Seddon Fields on Anzac Day. The visitors should have had the game wrapped up by the interval, such was their first half dominance, but a doggedly determined Springs combination frustrated their rivals at every turn, and will be the happier of the sides after this contest. This is partly due to Lynn-Avon losing both Hayley Moorwood and Kirsty Yallop to injury in the later stages of the second half, joining ACL victim Melissa Ray - who is out for the season - on the sidelines. The sight of three of this country's most exciting footballing talents looking rather glum as they sat together late in the match, nursing knee injuries of varying degrees of severity, and two others - Springs' Maia Jackman and Abby Erceg - playing with heavily strapped knee joints, served to emphasise just how demanding this year and next are going to be for our leading female exponents of the beautiful game. Prior to their premature withdrawal, Lynn-Avon's “twin terrors” had played their part in an dominant performance by the visitors, who got on top of their rivals early and kept the pedal to the metal right throughout the first half. In the ninth minute, Petria Rennie's ball in was headed out by Jackman to Sarah Gregorius, whose twenty-five yard volleyed lob arced narrowly past the far post. Four minutes later, Stephanie Puckrin, after grabbing a twenty-five yard grasscutter from Jackman, launched a counter-attack which saw Katie Hoyle and Gregorius combine to send Ria Percival galloping through the inside right channel, in behind Springs' defence. With over half the goal to aim at as she bore down on the target, the speedster should have done better than to shoot straight at Yates. Twenty minutes into the match, Lynn-Avon squandered a glorious opportunity to open the scoring. A superbly flighted Dana Humby free-kick wasn't cleared, allowing Yallop to steal into the six-yard box. Yates parried her close-range effort, then blocked the follow-up from Gregorius, who prodded the rebound from this denial goalwards. With the ball literally on the line and rolling in, Annabelle Bramwell produced an audacious drag-back and turn to clear the danger. The whistle of referee Kahn Johnston sounded, and Lynn-Avon began celebrating what they thought was a goal. Somewhere in the midst of the chaotic scene which was Springs's six-yard box, the official and his assistant had spotted an infringement - presumably a foul on Yates, as all else appeared legal and above board. To say the visitors weren't best pleased is something of an understatement!! While they were regathering their poise, Western Springs sprung a slick counter-attack from the resulting free-kick. Nadia Pearl played Helen Collins in behind Terry McCahill, leaving the striker with just Puckrin to beat. The `keeper's awareness saw her block well at Collins' feet - a top piece of goalkeeping. After Yallop had lashed a twenty-five yarder wide, another obscure example of officiating by referee Johnston resulted in Collins taking a free-kick for her foul on Hoyle … go figure! Jenny Carlisle headed her delivery away from goal, but straight down Jackman's throat. She lobbed the ball back into the danger zone, but the massed ranks of Lynn-Avon's rearguard stood firm and averted the threat. The SWANZ Cup holders produced a lovely move in the 32nd minute, with Gregorius releasing Percival on the right. She took on two opponents but was eventually forced to back-track, the sight of Rennie in support behind her a welcome one for Percival, who took up another angle in anticipation of a return pass which duly arrived. Percival whipped in a peach of a cross which Gregorius flicked on for Moorwood, who was racing through from midfield in support. She took the ball in her stride and unleashed a shot on the turn. Yates' positioning was perfect. This effort fell in between long-range shots from Hoyle which fizzed the wrong side of the posts on both occasions, at least as far as Lynn-Avon was concerned. Both teams, by now, had reservations about the referee's suitability for a fixture of this magnitude, a series of weird and not-so-wonderful decisions raising the ire of the respective benches. There were definitely moments when Johnston appeared out of his depth in this match - he is new to the Premier Women's League scene, and one wonders why an appointment boasting greater experience wasn't made, given these teams will almost certainly be thereabouts when the silverware comes into view later in the campaign. The players, to their credit, got on with the job, and in Lynn-Avon's case, that meant pounding away in search of a goal. Eight minutes before the interval, Yallop picked out Kete with a pass.

Ria Percival (LAU) cops a wee back-hander from Poppy Binning (Springs) as they dispute possession Sarah Gregorius (LAU) shadowed every step of the way by Abby Erceg (Springs) Sarah Nelson (Springs) and Emma Kete (LAU) battle for the ball Maia Jackman (Springs) heads clear Katie Hoyle (LAU) lays the ball off as Annabelle Bramwell (Springs) closes Hayley Moorwood (LAU) wins an aerial duel with Priscilla Duncan (Springs)

The striker played a neat one-two with Gregorius - a super return ball - before Kete crossed from the left. Arriving on cue was Yallop, who evaded a challenge before letting fly with a twenty-five yarder which Yates saved at the second attempt. Two minutes later, they raided again, Rennie and Percival linking down the right this time. The latter's turn completely outfoxed Poppy Binning, while her subsequent cross picked out Yallop. Jackman thwarted her New Zealand team-mate on this occasion. Three minutes before half-time, Lynn-Avon won a corner, which Percival drilled into the goalmouth. Yates pawed it away, but only to Hoyle, who was lurking beyond the back post. Pearl blocked and cleared her effort, ensuring the teams turned around with all to play for in the second half, one in which Springs hoped to make more of an impact than they had for all but the last five minutes of the first spell, throughout which they largely fed on scraps of possession. The home team did improve, proving far more difficult for Lynn-Avon to break down in the second half, although the visitors continued to penetrate far more often than their hosts. In the 49th minute, Moorwood swooped on a Yates goal-kick and played Kete in. She held the ball up before linking with Moorwood to create a chance for Percival. Yates atoned for her wayward clearance by saving. Six minutes later, the goalkeeper gratefully watched the ball flying past her post once more after another Lynn-Avon raid. Hoyle picked out Percival with a peach of a pass which put her in on goal with just Yates to beat. For some reason, this was a match in which Percival seemed to have something of a crisis of confidence when it came to letting fly. On this occasion, she crossed instead, waywardly as it turned out, given Gregorius wasn't anticipating her team-mate to turn down such a gilt-edged chance, understandably so. The striker tracked back and recovered the ball before setting up Hoyle, whose twenty-five yarder blazed wide. Hoyle then set up Yallop for a volley on the turn two minutes later which zoomed a yard over the bar. The shooter turned provider on the hour, Gregorius the beneficiary of the through ball, only for Yates to paw her cross-shot to safety. Five minutes later, Humby launched an attack which featured Gregorius and Kete. The duo found Jackman, Sarah Nelson and Erceg in defiant form, however, and suddenly needed an outlet. Into the picture stormed Humby, who let fly with an effort Yates gloved comfortably. In the 72nd minute, the momentum of the game changed completely when Yallop went in for a challenge, then squealed in anguish before lying motionless. Jackman, who had used her physio talents to aid Gregorius' recovery from cramp earlier in the half, found herself employed in a diagnostic role once more, but it was clear Yallop's day was done. So, too, was Moorwood's mere minutes later, her attempts to run off a knee problem proving fruitless. Lynn-Avon are a completely different animal without this pair, and Springs wasted little time in looking to take advantage, introducing the pace of Jessica Rollings and Leah Tagaloa during the injury break. As soon as play resumed, the newcomers were into the action, Rollings breaking down the right before whipping in a cross which arced over both Tagaloa and Puckrin. Seconds later, Jackman whipped in a cross to the far post area which Tagaloa failed to control. Lynn-Avon responded in the 78th minute, Yates saving from Gregorius. The `keeper launched a counter-attack, which appeared to peter out tamely. Rollings kept chasing, however, and her persistence gained reward when Puckrin drove her clearance against the substitute, who looked up to find just the ball between herself and an open net. Before she had the chance to pull the trigger, however, Jenny Carlisle appeared on the scene and arrested the danger in typical no-nonsense fashion. Five minutes later, the defender joined a Lynn-Avon raid, and curled an effort past the far post in a match which saw a staggering eight minutes of stoppage time added. It was in these additional minutes that Lynn-Avon had three opportunities to take home all three points. Yates produced a superb save to thwart Kete, plucking the ball off her toes after Gregorius had powered down the right. Humby then sent a thumping header, from a Percival corner, past the post, while with the last attack of the match, Gregorius, raiding again, picked out Kete. Her shot deflected off Jackman into the grateful gloves of Yates to ensure that both teams would have a point to show for their respective efforts in a lively affair, one which Lynn-Avon will look back on as two points dropped. Springs:     Yates; Binning, Jackman, Nelson, Erceg; Pearl (Jones, 46), Wood, Duncan, Bramwell; Collins (Tagaloa, 73), White (Rollings, 73) Lynn-Avon:     Puckrin; Rennie, Humby, McCahill, Carlisle; Percival, Yallop (Selwyn, 76), Hoyle, Moorwood (Rainbow, 80); Gregorius, Kete (booked, 58) Referee:     Kahn Johnston