Western Springs' youngsters stunned Eastern Suburbs 3-1 at Cox's Bay Reserve on July 31, producing a most impressive display which effectively signalled their coming of age at Northern Premier Women's League level. One of three newcomers to the competition this year, Springs have been by far the best of the trio, and this match, which saw them convincingly conquer one of the Uncle Toby's Women's Knockout Cup semi-finalists, will be hugely beneficial for their self-belief, while serving as a genuine wake-up call for Suburbs ahead of their forthcoming engagement with Seatoun. After a lively opening ten minutes, in which Springs weathered Suburbs' early pressure and almost caught out their opponents on the counter-attack on a couple of occasions, Bobbie Moore and Tarena O'Neill linked with Grace Vincent for the visitors in the eleventh minute. The talented Auckland representative threaded a peach of a pass through for Rebecca Tegg, only for the Turkey-bound NZ Universities striker to shoot straight at Penny Chapman from close range. Ten minutes later, the striker repeated the feat, this time with half the goal to shoot at after Vincent and Melanie Gooch had teamed up to good effect to prise open Springs' defence. A seventeenth minute hamstring injury suffered by Stacey Fraser unsettled Suburbs however, as did some of the exuberant challenges which Springs were dishing out - a few of them were a little overly robust, it must be said, but generally they were no worse than those seen in your average men's match, and referee Perry Tompsett, to his credit, largely let the players get on with the job, which set up a well-contested affair. Having given the visitors a fright early on, Springs gave them an even greater one in the twentieth minute, with the lively duo of Poppy Binning and Leah Tagaloa showing great enterprise on the left. The former slipped the latter through Suburbs' rearguard, and the Auckland representative striker was only denied by Ginny Tan's save at her feet. “The Hoops” should have opened the scoring in the 28th minute, when Maya Edgerton-Bachmann threaded a ball through for Nicola Kaiwai. But Springs' leading goalscorer opted to pass when shooting appeared the better option. It sparked a Suburbs counter-attack which again featured the lively Vincent, who this time picked out Tegg with her cross. The striker dwelt on the ball, rather than shooting on sight, and waited for Vincent to get within range before laying the ball back to the midfielder. But Binning had been tracking Vincent's run, and got in a vital challenge to thwart the danger. After Tegg and, on two occasions, Tarena O'Neill - the second a free-kick on the edge of the area after Tegg had finally fallen under an avalanche of challenges - had gone close to breaking the deadlock, Springs did so on the stroke of half-time. Tan had saved a shot from Binning in the 41st minute, but when Tagaloa strode through onto Binning's pass three minutes later, the goalkeeper was well beaten by a well-placed shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. The home team could have doubled their advantage before the break, with Kaiwai's crisply struck twenty-five yarder careering narrowly over the crossbar, and could have done so soon after the resumption, as a raid led by Binning, and continued by Tagaloa, culminated in a shot from Kaiwai being grabbed by Tan. Springs kept on coming, with Janet Groves their target. Suburbs' sweeper was frequently given the runaround by the impressively performed Tagaloa, with Groves' attempt to trip the lively striker in the 55th minute only denied the penalty it merited by the fact that Tagaloa strove to retain her balance as she homed in on goal - referee Tompsett made it abundantly clear to Groves seconds afterwards that

Jasmine Wagner Rachel Clark Poppy Binning Sally Bowden Maya Edgerton-Bachmann gives Grace Vincent the slip

she was “very lucky”. Still the plucky youngsters pressed, with Sally Bowden next to skip round Groves and whip in a cross for Tagaloa. Tan intercepted this, and looked on in the next ten minutes as her team-mates caused Springs a few problems. Tegg headed a Flora McLeod corner over the crossbar, while Gooch shot straight at Tan after making a fine off-the-ball run to crown a neat move featuring O'Neill, Sandee Hui and McLeod. Suburbs were in trouble in the 66th minute, however, when Springs' second goal hit the back of the net. It was a gem, too, with Binning running at the defence, and Tagaloa's threatening run drawing defenders towards her. It opened up space on the right for Jasmine Wagner to stride into, and on receipt of Binning's pass, she let fly with a beauty from twenty-five yards which arced over Tan's head and under the bar. It was nearly 3-0 seconds later. Edgerton-Bachmann released Tagaloa, who evaded the challenges of Vicki Chong and Groves, only to see her shot blocked. Sally Bowden blazed the rebound over the bar, moments before linking with Tagaloa once more. Wagner was the recipient of their industry this time, and her angled cross-shot beat Tan all ends up, only to drift past the far post. Since being released to play for Springs, Tagaloa has wasted little time in showing why she's been part of the NZ Elite Squad, and in the 71st minute, she gave Suburbs the runaround once more. Down the left she strode, before cutting inside and flighting a delightful cross into the goalmouth, the sort which any striker would love to be on the end of. Wagner was the recipient, and gleefully steered the ball past Tan - 3-0. Suburbs, for all the experience in their armoury, were being given a bit of a lesson by a strident Springs combination which had the bit between their teeth. But the older heads on the park weren't going to lie down and die quietly - as proven against NZ Universities, when they came back from 3-1 down to win, with experience comes pride, and the Uncle Toby's Cup semi-finalists have it in abundance. They came back strongly, with Chong lashing a twenty-five yarder just wide in between the goals, and efforts from Tegg and O'Neill suffering a similar fate after Springs' third goal. Then, after Moore had thwarted Tagaloa as she looked to get on the end of a Wagner cross, Vincent - now playing in central midfield due to Fraser's injury and far less effective than when she plays wide - teamed up with Tegg and O'Neill to engineer an opening for Gooch. But Hannah Valentine pulled off a superbly timed tackle to force a corner. It delayed the inevitable - Suburbs' goal. Springs failed to clear O'Neill's corner, and Tegg lashed home her seventeenth goal of the season six minutes from time to drag the visitors into the contest. It was too little, too late, however, for either side of watching another long-range effort from O'Neill fly wide, Chapman saved twice more from Tegg. On the second occasion, Springs' goalkeeper sent the ball downfield, with Edgerton-Bachmann controlling it neatly before releasing the well-performed Binning, who, after outpacing Groves once more, was only denied what would have been a goal her performance richly deserved by Tan's solid save at her feet. Springs weren't to be denied this victory, however, one which is undoubtedly the highlight of their maiden Premier Women's League campaign, given it has been achieved against an Eastern Suburbs side which harboured high hopes of winning the championship this season. Springs:     Chapman; Thompson, Bowden, Valentine, Turner; Wagner (Bierman, 81), Edgerton-Bachmann, Clark (Laing, 78), Binning; Tagaloa, Kaiwai (Sami, 81) Suburbs:     Tan; Moore, Groves, Hui; Vincent, O'Neill, Fraser (A. McLeod, 17) (Parker, 85), Chong, F. McLeod (Gerrard, 80); Gooch, Tegg Referee:     Perry Tompsett