Western Springs came from behind to overcome Eastern Suburbs 3-2 after extra time in an absorbing ASB National Women's Knockout Cup quarter-final at Madills Farm on August 2, one which the youngsters were just two minutes away from winning in regulation time. As the scoreline, and the fact it went to extra time, suggests, this was a very close contest every step of the way, one in which both teams enjoyed the upper hand at times without quite being able to be truly dominant, such was the competitive nature of their opponents and their eagerness to wrestle back the advantage. It was the home team who were first to flex their muscles, with decent penalty claims being turned away by referee Johanna O'Connor when Jade Parris went down under the challenge of Rebecca O'Neill. The same players featured again soon afterwards, Parris having been picked out by Grace Jale after she had capitalised on Harriet Steele's untimely slip on a treacherous playing surface. O'Neill's timely tackle denied the striker in the act of shooting, and left the young striker with an ankle injury which required running repairs. When "The Hoops" - playing in an unfamiliar black-coloured change kit - first threatened, it was the pace of Jolene Muir which gave "The Lilywhites" cause for concern. The speedster's pressure on Erinna Wong forced an error which allowed Muir to gain possession, set her sights and let fly. Fortunately for Suburbs, Claudia Bunge bore the brunt of the shot, the ball ricocheting to safety. There was no such fortune for the home team in the 25th minute, as Springs took the lead. The solidly performed Malia Steinmetz directed a pass towards Rebekah Van Dort, but Lauren Mathis anticipated it superbly and nicked the ball away from the defender to allow herself a clear run at goal with just Emily Derlin to beat. The 'keeper stood not a prayer - 1-0 to the visitors, many of whom graced this ground in the home team's colours last season, before the changing of the coaching guard by club management, with Paul Marshall taking the reins, prompted the incumbents to follow outgoing gaffer Richard Wilson and "go west". Marshall, in turn, replaced the wise heads with youthful exuberance aplenty, and has done a solid job growing this team throughout 2015. Yes, there are times when his passion-laden sideline commentary can test your patience and, it could be argued, deny his charges the chance to think for themselves in the heat of battle, but they have come on leaps and bounds under his stewardship, of that there can be no doubt. And they eventually responded well to his repeated promptings - "Keep playing; Keep passing the ball; Keep working hard" - after this setback to work themselves back into the contest prior to drawing level in the shadows of the half-time whistle. They first threatened, in this spell, in the 37th minute. Parris - she had a terrific game - played a corner short to Jacqui Hand, who picked out Bunge with a cross. Ashleigh McNaughton smothered her header, but was looking on with relief soon afterwards as Wong and Parris combined on the right. Steinmetz was the beneficiary of their work, and powered past two opponents in the penalty area before sending a cross zooming across the face of a target which had its side-netting rattled by a thumping drive from Jale in the 42nd minute, after Deven Jackson's driving run from deep had unhinged Springs' midfield. In the 44th minute, referee O'Connor made a controversial but correct call. Hand burst into the penalty area through the inside-left channel, with O'Neill in hot pursuit. Springs' skipper timed her tackle to perfection to nick the ball away from Hand, who went down under the challenge. It was that action which prompted the official to blow her whistle and point to the penalty spot, the angle of O'Neill's tackle - from behind and to the right - being the reason behind the decision, not the fact she won the ball cleanly. Jale confidently rammed home the equaliser from twelve yards, and swiftly regained possession from the kick-off, prompting a surging run down the left before cutting inside and fair battering the ball towards the target. McNaughton pulled off a superb parried save to her left, but the ball bounced high in the goalmouth, directly into the path of the incoming figure of Jackson. She met it with a header which landed on the roof of the net. Early shots from Mathis and Muir put Springs on the front foot early in the second spell, but Suburbs gradually wrestled back the advantage, only to find O'Neill and Jess Verdon in fine form at the heart of the visitors' rearguard - McNaughton had little to do with this pair ahead of her. They also provided the foundation from which Springs pressed again half-way through the second half. Lily-Rose Dyer just failed to get on the end of a Muir cross, while after working a one-two with Steele on the left, Mathis whipped in a cross which freshly introduced substitute Melanie Gooch would doubtless have done better with had she acclimatised to the pace of the game at that point. Muir then unleashed a curling cross-shot which Derlin did well to punch clear, before Mathis pinged a cross to the far post which Muir met on the volley. The ball ricocheted off Wong and needed to be turned round the post by Derlin to prevent it from entering the net - how a goal-kick was signalled as a result only the young referee's assistant will know!

Springs continued to press, Cooper unleashing a twenty-yarder which Derlin smothered in the 71st minute. The 'keeper then sparked a counter-attack, led purposefully by Jale. The resulting cross from Wong wasn't gathered cleanly by McNaughton, and her punch under pressure landed invitingly at the feet of Jale, whose volley careered over the crossbar. That was a let-off for the visitors, who were relieved to see Parris send a shot sizzling over the goal frame moments later. But with nine minutes remaining, Suburbs took the lead for the first time in the contest, and an upset was well and truly on the cards. Parris was the one player in white on the park who displayed the ability, vision and self-confidence to march to her own beat in this match, and it was her awareness, via another short corner, which unhinged Springs on this occasion. As the throngs gathered in the goalmouth, Parris called Hand to come short for the set-piece, and the speedster found herself with time and space to deliver a quality cross into the danger zone. It was cleared just beyond the penalty area, where Jackson was lurking with menace aplenty. An unerring low drive arrowed through a forest of legs and flew past the diving figure of McNaughton into the bottom left-hand corner of her net - 2-1 Suburbs, whose task now was to see out the contest. Straight from the kick-off, "The Hoops" rampaged downfield, with Dayna Manak catching substitute Nicole Mettam in possession. The ball-winning midfielder promptly played Mathis through, but with just Derlin to beat, she shot straight at the 'keeper - a glorious chance to level straight away spurned. Thankfully for the visitors, it wasn't to prove costly. The game was in the ninetieth minute when a free-kick was awarded some twenty-five yards out from goal. Cooper delivered the set-piece into the danger zone, and Suburbs could only clear it as far as Verdon. She promptly headed the sphere back into the goalmouth, where O'Neill was lurking with intent. Swivelling, she slammed the ball into the net from four yards to draw Springs level and force extra time - 2-2. Five minutes into the additional half-hour of play, referee O'Connor was pointing to the penalty spot once again, this time for Springs' benefit. Mathis had got the better of Van Dort in a race for the ball, and the defender had sent the striker sprawling as they reached the penalty area, a challenge for which she was fortunate not to be at least booked. The striker landed inside the box, prompting the penalty decision, and O'Neill - in the absence of regular taker Rebecca Tegg - smacked the ball home from twelve yards to fire "The Hoops" in front for the second time in this enthralling tussle. Suburbs came storming back, Jackson rattling the side-netting from twenty-five yards within sixty seconds of the resumption of play. Two minutes later, Jale misjudged the rebound after Springs failed to clear a cross from substitute Nicole Mettam, much to the relief of McNaughton. Four minutes before half-time, Mathis could have sealed the deal for the visitors, a poor clearance by Derlin having put Van Dort in all sorts of problems, with Muir bearing down on her. The striker won that battle and played in Mathis with just the 'keeper to beat. But Mathis had failed to learn from her earlier miss in similar circumstances, shooting straight at Derlin once more instead of targeting the 'postage stamps' of the goal - a great chance spurned! Into the second half of extra time, Suburbs were chasing the game, but it was Springs who were carving out the chances. Derlin grabbed a cross-shot from Cooper after her corner had been cleared back to the midfielder, while Mathis sent one flying past the post from twenty-five yards after pouncing on a Van Dort error five minutes from time. Derlin slipped when taking the resulting goal-kick, and Milly Hawkins was unable to retrieve the situation before Mathis appeared on the scene once again. She fed Hannah Kraakman - an eye-catching cameo off the bench - who surged past two opponents before whipping in a cross. This was cleared to Muir, who thundered a twenty-yarder against the bar. Suburbs scrambled the ball to safety, and in the final minute, hit the woodwork themselves, Hand the player denied after being picked out on the far post by Parris' precise cross. Now it was Springs' turn to man the lifeboats, but time, and the advantage of that extra-time penalty, were on their side, and when referee O'Connor blew the final whistle, it was relieved visitors who were celebrating victory over opponents who, if they find themselves in a similar situation in a year's time, will have the wherewithal to progress beyond this stage, in part through this experience. Springs' reward for winning is a semi-final tussle with Cup holders Glenfield Rovers, which will take place at McFetridge Park on Saturday, August 22, from 2pm. This is to avoid the tie providing a distraction from the final round of Lotto Northern Premier Women's League action twenty-four hours later. Suburbs:     Derlin; Wong (N. Mettam, 76), Bunge, Van Dort, L. Mettam; Hand, Hawkins, Steinmetz; Jackson (Dewell, 111), Jale, Parris Springs:     McNaughton; Wood, O'Neill, Verdon, Steele (Oldfield, 112); Cooper, Manak (Kraakman, 85), Millynn; Dyer (Gooch, 66), Mathis, Muir Referee:     Johanna O'Connor