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27/4/14
Outstanding Display Keeps "Mauro's Marvels" Top
by Jeremy Ruane
On paper, it should have been a closely fought affair, just what one would expect between the first- and third-placed teams in the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League.
The reality was anything but, as the Mauro Donoso-coached Forrest Hill-Milford United team produced an outstanding display of free-flowing football to dismantle Three Kings United 4-0 at Becroft Park, where the visitors could easily have conceded double-figures.
"Mauro's Marvels" were in rampant form from the outset, Emily Jensen igniting a sixth minute move with a delightfully weighted and angled cross-field ball which cleared the head of Hannah Robert and allowed Tayla O'Brien to buccaneer into the space behind the fullback and whip in a cross intended for Briar Palmer, arriving on the far post.
Ahead of the winger was Three Kings fullback Shivi Anthony, who, despite facing her own goal, produced a splendid headed clearance to frustrate "The Swans", who were thwarted by the crossbar two minutes later, Kate Seatter the frustrated player after she had swooped on a stray pass from Robert and let rip from twenty-five yards.
After Catherine Bott had forced a smothering save from Rebecca Rolls - but for her efforts, this would have been a rout! - Palmer produced some classic wing-work on the quarter hour to weave around both Anthony and Tina Kolose.
Unfortunately, all this good work was swiftly undone by a wayward cross-shot - not the first such effort by Forrest Hill-Milford players in this match, and by no means the last.
At times, they were delivering lofted crosses seemingly for the sake of doing so, rather than delivering quality ball into the danger zone which was more suited to the strengths of the likes of Casey Ridsdale.
When the latter occurred, and it was particularly evident when O'Brien was whipping in corners beyond the far post for incoming team-mates to run onto, Three Kings were found wanting.
An eighteenth minute delivery found Bott steaming in to meet the ball, and she drove it towards the opposite upright, only for Rolls to fingertip the sphere to safety, in tandem with Robert's clearance.
Three minutes later, another O'Brien corner to the far post found Bott flying in again. This time, the versatile midfielder met the ball with a header which soared over all-comers before crashing into the top far corner of the net - 1-0 to the home team, a lead they richly deserved.
Three Kings, to this point, had looked to produce a few tidy moves of their own, with Martine Puketapu and Jessie Mathews particularly prominent, but they made little head-way against a Forrest Hill-Milford defence which contained Belinda Van Noorden extremely well, to such an extent that she barely featured as an attacking threat throughout proceedings.
The same could not be said of Forrest Hill-Milford, however. They were attacking from all angles, occasionally with the aid of a Three Kings error. One, a stray pass in the 22nd minute, was pounced on by Seatter, who swiftly sent Palmer powering through the inside-left channel on a run which culminated in her shot being tipped round the near post at full stretch by Rolls.
An almighty scramble ensued thanks to O'Brien's resulting corner, during which Ridsdale unleashed a low ten yard drive which Rolls somehow blocked low to her left - it was a terrific reaction save.
Bott sent one sizzling past the post soon after, before Ridsdale came up with a sure-fire contender for miss of the season in the 26th minute. Nicole Stratford ignited a move which culminated in O'Brien clipping in a delightfully weighted cross which simply sat up and begged to be put away from four yards out.
Arriving on cue was Ridsdale - 2-0, surely. How could she possibly miss? Somehow, she did, skying it over the bar when scoring appeared a far easier option … even while writing this, my head is still shaking in disbelief!
After O'Brien had clipped the crossbar with an inswinging corner in the 31st minute, Three Kings contrived their first attack of note in the match, with Robert's free-kick to the far post being headed wide by Puketapu.
Back came "The Swans", Chloe Knott's driving run and shot forcing a fine parried save to her left by Rolls. The ball rolled loose in the goalmouth, with Kristen Molloy confidently holding off Ridsdale before clearing it as far as Bott, whose stinging twenty-five yarder prompted another save from Rolls.
Ten minutes before half-time, Palmer was up to her tricks again on the left, but this time her cross struck referee Tom Woo. First to react to the situation was Dallas Olsen, who latched onto the rebound before unleashing a thunderous twenty yarder which deserved better fate than to crash back into play off a post.
Despite all their dominance, Forrest Hill-Milford had just the one goal to show for their efforts, and six minutes before half-time they nearly found themselves on level terms.
The visitors produced their best move of the match thus far, with Kolose, Anthony, Malia Steinmetz and Mathews linking with Van Noorden, who brought the overlapping figure of Robert into play. Her cross, intended for Puketapu, was headed out by Jensen straight back to the fullback, who thrashed a thirty-yarder into the gloves of the hitherto unoccupied Elise Donovan.
On the stroke of half-time, Seatter stung the gloves
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of Rolls from twenty-five yards, while six minutes after play resumed in the second spell, the introduction of Emma Rolston, in place of Ridsdale, offered "Mauro's Marvels" another dimension in attack, one which was very quickly brought into play by the home team.
But not before Palmer produced a peach of a corner to the far post in the 55th minute which had the visitors' rearguard in all sorts of bother. Rolls had to tip the ball to safety, prompting another corner, this time by O'Brien from the opposite side of the field.
Her delivery was punched out by Rolls to Rolston, whose clever reverse-pass, combined with O'Brien's speed of thought in staying onside, opened up Three Kings' entire right flank.
O'Brien clipped a cross into the near post where Rolston darted in to meet it ahead of Van Noorden and send a header crashing into the back of the net - 2-0, a goal the home team's play greatly merited.
There was no way back for the visitors after this, the odd foray from half-time substitute Claudia Crasborn notwithstanding. Instead, the final half-hour swiftly became a showcase of Rebecca Rolls' goalkeeping prowess, as the Football Ferns custodian almost single-handedly kept the rampant Forrest Hill-Milford attack at bay.
She turned a teasing cross-shot from O'Brien over the bar in the 59th minute, then thwarted Daisy Cleverley at close quarters two minutes later after the substitute had worked a one-two with Palmer.
Knott - she had a terrific game as the creative heartbeat of "The Swans" - outmuscled Mathews in the 63rd minute and picked out O'Brien, another to shine in white and black in this match.
Rolls swatted her shot around the post for a corner, which Palmer delivered into the danger zone. Cleverley's well-struck through a crowded goalmouth was blocked to safety, and Three Kings promptly launched a counter-attack.
Steinmetz led it, and burst into the penalty area before going down under Jensen's challenge. All eyes turned to referee Tom Woo, who waved play on, just as he did at the opposite end of the park in the 72nd minute, when O'Brien went to ground in the area following a challenge from behind by Robert.
In between these decent penalty claims, Rolston and Crasborn exchanged shots on goal - the former Junior Fern's effort was the only one of the three which required saving - while Cleverley sent a shot fizzing across the face of goal after a superb "Swans" raid which deserved better fate.
Rolston picked out Knott, who held play up well before slipping the ball into Bott's stride. She whipped in a cross to the far post where Palmer was arriving on cue. She met the ball flush on the volley, forcing a parried save from Rolls.
The 'keeper saved again from Rolston in the 73rd minute, but from the resulting corner, "The Swans" increased their lead. Palmer's delivery to the near post was turned into her own net by a Three Kings defender - 3-0.
Cue an onslaught by the home team, with Rolls requiring two attempts to keep out an O'Brien drive after a fine move featuring Knott, Bott and Rolston. Palmer then set up Rolston to unleash a twenty-five yarder which fizzed narrowly past Rolls' right-hand post.
In the 78th minute, "Mauro's Marvels" contrived a quite gorgeous one-touch move involving seven players. Jensen, Olsen, Knott, Cleverley, Rolston and Bott all contributed to a move which culminated in O'Brien's drive being tipped round the post by Rolls.
Crasborn led Three Kings' response, forcing Donovan to smother one shot before rattling the side-netting with another, after Van Noorden caught Jensen in possession - the defender received a gentle reminder from her goalkeeper about her responsibilities in the aftermath of this attack.
Forrest Hill-Milford delivered the best possible retort in the 82nd minute - a fourth goal. O'Brien worked a one-two with Palmer before powering into the penalty area and letting fly.
The post came to Three Kings' aid, but Palmer latched onto the rebound and let fly. Rolls got her hands to it, but the spin on the shot took it one bounce over the line - 4-0.
The remaining minutes saw the home team striving for a fifth goal, only to come up against Rolls in irresistible form. She grabbed a rasping drive from Palmer, then saved at the feet of the same player on the edge of the area before frustrating Rolston in like manner five minutes from time.
Rolston tried again in stoppage time, Knott and O'Brien combining to pick her out. Rolls tipped this effort over the top, before saving her best for last, a quite stunning save to her left from a near-prone position denying Chloe Wilson's drive after O'Brien's corner had seen Knott go close with an attempted overhead kick prior to the substitute's shot.
4-0 to the co-leaders, then, over the third-placed team. But it's not so much the result as the quality of Forrest Hill-Milford's performance for which this match is most memorable - outstanding stuff. A pleasure to watch.
FHMU: Donovan; Stratford, Windsor (Cleverley, 59), Jensen, Olsen; Bott, Seatter, Knott; O'Brien, Ridsdale (Rolston, 51), Palmer (Wilson, 84)
Three Kings: Rolls; Anthony, Molloy, Pritchard (Crasborn, 46), Robert; Mathews, Kolose (Kaur, 78), Steinmetz; Noble, Van Noorden, Puketapu (Pereira, 57)
Referee: Tom Woo
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