Ellerslie threw a cat amongst the pigeons in the Northern Premier Women’s League title race on June 29, as they scored a richly deserved 3-1 triumph over league leaders and defending champions Lynn-Avon United at Michaels Avenue. Playing as if their season depended on it - and to some extent, it did - the home team tore into their opponents, Rebecca Sowden testing Yvonne Vale from twenty-five yards just three minutes in. Three minutes later, Ellerslie took the lead. Pressure from Sowden forced Sara Clapham to concede possession, the ball being pounced on by Margot Bowker, who threaded a deliciously weighted pass through the heart of Lynn-Avon’s defence. Vale advanced, and Jennifer Carlisle came across to cover, but heading the race for the ball was Priscilla Duncan, playing her last game for Ellerslie before resuming her studies at South-West Baptist University in Missouri. The midfielder slotted the ball between her opponents and inside the post to open the scoring, much to the delight of her team-mates. Due to circumstances beyond their control, this was Lynn-Avon’s first game for three weeks, and it showed - there was none of the usual zip, desire and passion for the contest evident in their play, and save for the urgings of the well-performed duo of Vale and Terry McCahill, they were whisper-quiet. Ellerslie, on the other hand, were fizzing, with the outstanding Duncan driving them on. In the 21st minute, she pounced on a McCahill error to send Zoe Thompson scooting away down the right, the striker going on to evade a challenge before drilling in a shot which Vale parried. The only player homing in on the rebound was Amber Hearn, who cleared the ball to safety. United mustered their first shot in anger ten minutes later, Rebecca Parkinson forcing a smothering save from Stephanie Puckrin, after a Hayley Moorwood-inspired raid which featured a superb lay-off from Clapham. After Vale had thwarted a Thompson effort at close quarters, Maia Jackman pounced on a loose ball in midfield and surged forward past two opponents before inviting Duncan to try her hand from twenty yards. Her curling effort crept narrowly past the post. Lynn-Avon had a grand chance to draw level before the break when Parkinson set sail for goal, with Ellerslie defenders standing off her and Clapham in support but - as was too often the case - in an offside position. Why Parkinson opted to pass to her infringing team-mate only she will know, but it was a perfect summation of the visitors’ first half performance, something which coach Dave Parkinson emphasised with some suitably choice words when the opportunity presented itself. The home truths clearly had the desired effect on the league leaders, who came out all guns blazing at the start of the second spell, and got back on level terms just seven minutes in. Michele Keinzley’s measured through ball rewarded Moorwood’s well-timed run from deep - a feature of her fine performance - and the midfielder outpaced Sowden before producing an accomplished finish beyond Puckrin. The goal was one which, given Ellerslie’s performance to this point, Lynn-Avon scarcely deserved, and the home team rightly refused to take it lying down. Indeed, they struck back with a vengeance, going close to regaining the lead just six minutes later.

Sowden and Vicky Butterworth combined to force an opening for the solidly-performed Bowker, who slipped a shot past the approaching Vale but just past the post. United responded through Dana Heiford, whose dipping twenty-five yarder, from a Clapham lay-off, was just pawed out from under the crossbar by Puckrin. Two goals in three minutes killed off the defending champions’ challenge in this contest, and both were similar in design and execution. The first, in the 63rd minute, saw Jackman split the defence with a through ball which allowed Thompson to outpace Melissa Ray. The striker cut in before, under pressure from the closing figures of Vale and McCahill, ramming home a rasping drive high into the net by the ‘keeper’s near post. 2-1 swiftly became 3-1 three minutes later. Duncan was the source this time, springing the offside trap for Thompson to scamper through and round the luckless Vale before drilling home into the far corner of the net, the despairing retreat of Jennifer Carlisle too late to stave off the inevitable. United’s goalkeeper was livid with what was unfolding before her, and with  justification aplenty. For, with the exception of Moorwood, Vale and McCahill, Lynn-Avon were a distant second to an Ellerslie combination which produced by far their best performance of the season - on this showing, one can only wonder how they have allowed themselves to under-achieve in some of their other games so far this campaign. They certainly didn’t today. Led by Duncan, Bowker, Thompson, Jackman and Dana Humby, the home team went toe-to-toe with their arch-rivals, and won the bulk of the individual battles to set up their solid victory, which should have been by an even greater margin. For, sixteen minutes from time, Humby and Duncan combined to create an opening for Thompson. McCahill’s challenge looked to have staved off the threat, but Ellerslie’s two-goal markswoman was able to squeeze the ball through to Bowker, who found herself one-on-one with Vale. The goalkeeper prevailed on this occasion, but her heart was in her mouth seconds later, as she fumbled a Bowker cross. Fortunately for Vale, the first person to get to the rebound was Ray, with Thompson hard on her heels. Moorwood still had the stomach for the fight in the dying minutes of the match, firing over a cross which was made to measure for Clapham, who was homing in on the far post. But the sound figure of Puckrin pawed the ball to safety, and soon after, Ellerslie were celebrating a win which sees them climb into third place, and close to within three points of the leaders, who remain top due to Takapuna’s scheduled bye coming this weekend. Ellerslie:    Puckrin; Humby, Hill, Albon; Jackman, Rainbow, Duncan, Sowden, Butterworth (Rowney); Bowker (Bullen), Thompson Lynn-Avon:    Vale; Carlisle, McCahill, Ray; Keinzley (Vincent), Heiford, Moorwood, Hearn, Yallop; Clapham, Parkinson (Gilmore) Referee:    Alex Paterson NB  This defeat was the first Lynn-Avon has suffered since the 2001 Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup Final, when Ellerslie were again their nemesis. In between times, they recorded twenty-four wins and four draws in twenty-eight games, scoring 116 goals and conceding a mere twelve, prior to this match.