Forrest Hill-Milford United's bid to retain their Lotto Northern Premier Women's League title got off to the worst possible start on March 29, as they were thumped 7-1 by a rampant Three Kings United combination at Keith Hay Park. Missing no fewer than ten of the squad which accepted the trophy for the first time last September - due to a combination of transfers, international commitments and injuries - the title-holders were a distinct second-best compared to a Three Kings combination which hit the ground running from the first whistle. Within five minutes, they had taken the lead. Both teams had threatened their opponents' goal in the early stages of the match, but it was Three Kings who made that pressure count when Abby Roper's clearance released Hannah Blake down the right. Her cross arced over all-comers to Jessie Mathews, lurking beyond the far post, from where the home team's captain calmly chipped home over Corina Brown to open the scoring. Stung by that early setback, the title-holders sought a swift riposte, but Tayla O'Brien's indifferent start to the game did not aid their cause as an attacking threat. But in the fourteenth minute, Sam Meyer, Briar Palmer and Kate Seatter combined to present the winger with a chance, only for Roper to race off her line and save at her feet. Roper instantly threw the ball out to Nadia Pearl, who is back in Three Kings' colours after completing her US scholarship at Fresno University. She had a whale of a game, pinging the ball around the park and dictating the play from a deep-lying position, in response to which Forrest Hill-Milford couldn't find an answer - their lack of available personnel hurt them deeply in this regard. Pearl, on this occasion, released Blake down the right with a pass which the speedster took on in her stride before lashing a twenty-yard drive inches over the crossbar. The resulting goal-kick saw the visitors hot on attack once more, although both Aimee Phillips and Saskia Vosper found themselves on the wrong end of some shuddering challenges from Shivi Anthony and Caitlin Pritchard respectively in the build-up of this latest raid. Referee Sarah Williamson - who has taken up the whistle after an enforced early retirement from playing the game - played a great advantage with the second incident, as the ball broke for Casey Ridsdale, who lobbed the ball over Roper, only to see the crossbar intervene. Palmer, racing in to turn home the rebound, was denied that pleasure by Sophie Stewart-Hobbs, who blocked her shot to safety. Palmer, last season's NPWL Young Player of the Year, delivers a wicked corner at the best of times, and the one resulting from her near-miss was from the top-shelf. It found Tessa Berger, who was up against her old club, rising on the far post to head the ball across to Michelle Windsor, who directed her close-range header inches over the bar. Three Kings' response to these close calls saw them double their advantage in the twentieth minute. The fleet-footed figure of Blake met her match in Palmer as she raced into the penalty area, but a mistimed challenge prompted referee Williamson to point to the spot without hesitation. Pritchard made no mistake from twelve yards. 2-0 became 3-0 nine minutes later, but not before O'Brien had gone close with a teasing cross-shot. But a headed clearance of a Meyer free-kick by Three Kings' player-co-coach, Kristy Hill, saw Pearl turn defence into attack with a perfectly weighted pass into the stride of Martine Puketapu. She raced clear of Forrest Hill-Milford's defence and pick her spot beyond Brown, who got her hand to the shot, but couldn't keep it out. Ten minutes later, the visitors were well and truly on the rack. Another sumptuous pass from Pearl saw Blake steaming down the right at a great rate of knots, with Meyer caught in her slipstream. The youngster steered a low cross inside for Puketapu, who, without breaking stride, sent the ball arrowing into the bottom far corner of the net from fifteen yards - a cracking finish to hand Three Kings a 4-0 advantage. Never in a million years would you expect to see the defending league champions on the wrong end of a scoreline of this magnitude in the first half of their first game of the following season! But there it was, and Three Kings had their tails up, no-one more so than Pearl, who was back on her old stamping ground and playing with the confidence, quality and authority befitting someone who has sported the silver fern on twenty-seven occasions in age-grade internationals. Another peach of a pass from the playmaker opened up FHM in the 43rd minute, with Blake once more the beneficiary. Her cross zoomed across the bows of the lunging figure of Puketapu on this occasion, while two efforts from Pearl inside the next ninety seconds warmed the gloves of Brown, as TKU kept the hammer down leading into half-time. The visitors came close to pulling a goal back in the shadows of the interval whistle. Ridsdale led the

raid, and got the better of Roper before picking out Phillips with a cross which the two-time Mainland Premier Women's League Golden Boot winner would have netted on any other occasion. Pritchard had other ideas, however, and cleared the ball across to Stewart-Hobbs, who teamed up with Isabella Richards to release Blake down the right once more. Berger, whose frustration at being on the wrong end of the scoreline against the club she transferred from during the close-season, shaped to execute one of her trademark sliding tackles, but before she could, Blake let fly, straight at Brown. The second half was barely eighty seconds old when Hill met a corner from Hannah Robert with a bullet header which crashed against the near post stanchion. It set the tone for the next fifteen minutes, during which the home team increased their lead twice more. The twenty-times-capped Football Fern sparked the move which saw Three Kings go nap in the 53rd minute. Hill's pass to Mathews allowed the captain to release Blake on the right once more. Her resulting cross gave Robert a tap-in for 5-0. Five minutes later came the move of the match, a scintillating six-woman move which left the title-holders chasing shadows. Anthony, Pearl, Pritchard, Stewart-Hobbs and Blake were all involved before the last-mentioned sent Puketapu racing through the inside-right channel with just Brown to beat, a feat she accomplished in unerring fashion - 6-0. And so nearly a seventh three minutes later. Stewart-Hobbs and Blake combined with Hannah Wall - not a bad option to be able to call upon off the bench when you're six goals to the good, that's for sure! Her first involvement in the match invited Puketapu to turn home her cross, but the hat-trick heroine hammered the hoardings instead. In between these setbacks, Forrest Hill-Milford had improved their cohesion, thanks in part to reverting to four at the back and employing Palmer in a position better suited to her strengths. While Three Kings had repelled their threats thus far, that provided by Palmer in the 64th minute, in pursuit of Seatter's pass, offered the visitors their best hope so far of getting on the scoreboard. Roper raced out of goal to avert the threat, but succeeded only in directing her clearance straight at the fast-retreating figure of Stewart-Hobbs, off whom the ball ricocheted into the penalty area. Before Palmer could pounce, the fullback recovered swiftly to clear her lines - hers was a sound debut for her new club. Phillips, an out-and-out goal-getter who wasn't employed in her best position in this match, was next to threaten, beating three opponents before stinging Roper's gloves with a twenty-yarder. Back came Three Kings, Wall and Mathews combining in the 72nd minute to present Puketapu with another opening. Seatter read the danger well, while Brown raced off her line a minute later to save at the feet of Tessa Leong, after she had been released by fellow substitute - and former Claudelands Rovers team-mate - Rachel Porteous. The duo combined again eight minutes from time, with Porteous this time prompting Brown to save low at her near post. The 'keeper's resulting clearance prompted an error by Anthony from which Forrest Hill-Milford enjoyed their lone moment of joy on a day they'd prefer to forget. Substitute Clara Garcia swooped on the loose ball and sent Phillips powering through the inside-right channel, from where the goal-hungry striker made no mistake with an unerring twenty yard finish. Three Kings' response was to endeavour to restore their six-goal margin before the final whistle, and after Wall and Puketapu had carved out a chance for Leong - Brown smothered low to her left - the home team iced the cake three minutes from time. Seatter's ball out of defence was intercepted by Mathews, and Wall instantly took over, taking the ball on before delivering a buffet ball on a plate for Leong, who found the far corner of the net despite Brown getting a hand to her drive. 7-1! And this with Jasmine Pereira and Rebecca Rolls on Football Ferns duty, and former age-grade international Claudia Crasborn not even stripped to play. Bench strength is often key to a team's title chances in this league, and Three Kings, for the first time in a few years, have it in spades in 2015. Forrest Hill-Milford, meanwhile, sorely missed the likes of Emma Rolston, Catherine Bott, Daisy Cleverley, Hannah Carlsen and Chloe Wilson, all of whom would be well in contention for starting slots if available. But it's the absence of Nicole Stratford, Dallas Olsen, Brittany Coleman, Elise Donovan and Santa Clara University-bound Emily Jensen which hurt them on this occasion, and on the evidence of this display, they will take a fair bit of replacing. Three Kings:     Roper; Stewart-Hobbs, Pritchard, Hill, Anthony; Richards (Wall, 59), Pearl, Mathews; Blake (Leong, 71), Puketapu, Robert (Porteous, 71) FHMU:     Brown; Windsor (Clark, 68), Berger, Meyer; Phillips, Owen, Seatter, Palmer; O'Brien, Ridsdale, Vosper (Garcia, 76) Referee:     Sarah Williamson