New Zealand all but booked their place at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Japan later this year with a 10-1 victory over New Caledonia in their OFC U-20 Women's Championship encounter at Mangere Centre Park on April 12. But the scoreline in this match hides an undeniable fact about the performance which produced it - the Junior Ferns let themselves down with a sub-standard display, and if they're honest with themselves, the squad knows that very few of them walked off the pitch in this match having truly done justice to the shirt they are privileged to wear. Make no mistake, this was not a performance the Junior Ferns should be proud of. It was largely error-strewn, particularly in the second spell, with only Katie Rood and the relatively untroubled Erin Nayler earning pass-marks from a writer who has seen every one of these players in action often enough in recent years to know that they are capable of far better, both individually and collectively, than was seen in this match. All appeared in order early doors, with the offside flag denying Hannah Wilkinson the game's opening goal just one hundred seconds into the contest. The striker sent a header bulleting past the post five minutes later, after Rachel Head, Rosie White and Steph Skilton had combined to good effect down the left. Two goals in sixty seconds, in the eleventh and twelfth minutes, confirmed the Junior Ferns' supremacy on the scoreboard. Kate Loye's free-kick was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, where Rood was lurking, and she promptly unleashed a rasping drive which took a deflection en route to the bottom far corner of the net. 1-0 swiftly became 2-0 straight from the kick-off. Katie Bowen quickly gained possession and sent Holly Patterson careering away down the right. Her cross found Wilkinson arriving at the near post, where she swivelled to shoot, only to do so tamely. Much to the despair of diving New Caledonian custodian Aurore Hnawia, the shot had just enough on it to creep past her into the opposite corner of the net. A poor sixteenth minute clearance landed at the feet of Rood, who wasted little time in firing it goalwards. Hnawia parried her shot, and New Caledonian captain Claire Kaemo reacted a split-second quicker than Wilkinson to ensure the rebound wouldn't be converted. Two minutes later, Patterson and Rood combined on the right to set up Wilkinson for a ten-yard drive which Hnawia parried, then regathered before Loye could swoop on the rebound. Loye then invited Skilton to whip in a cross four minutes later. It wasn't her most accurate delivery by any means, but Rood's willingness to pursue lost causes ensured it didn't go to waste, the speedster leaping skywards to head the ball over the stunned figure of Hnawia and across the face of goal. Kaemo nipped in ahead of Wilkinson to maintain the 2-0 scoreline. Hnawia very swiftly became the busiest player on the park. Rood and Patterson combined to create a headed chance for Wilkinson which the 'keeper grabbed greedily, then a Nadia Pearl corner to the far post was headed down by Tessa Berger - her first international appearance finally coming after so many injury setbacks - to Skilton, who saw Hnawia smother her shot. After Skilton had lashed another shot narrowly past the post, following good work by Rood, the Junior Ferns increased their lead in the 25th minute. A poor goal-kick was pounced on by White, who glided past a couple of opponents before picking out the top far corner of the net from twenty-five yards on the angle. That made the scoreline 3-0, but when it next altered, three minutes later, it was much to the delight of the New Caledonians. Their opponents had already been guilty of a few close calls when passing the ball around in their defensive third, and on this occasion, their luck ran out. Bowen was the guilty party, and looked for all the world, once the ball had entered the net, as if she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She got caught in possession just outside the penalty area, into which Marie Heutro duly charged before letting fly. Nayler, who was off her line in a flash in anticipation of the pending threat as soon as Bowen blundered, spread herself well and partially blocked the shot. But the ball had just enough on it to

slowly bounce into the net by the left-hand post - 3-1. The Junior Ferns took a few minutes to rediscover their mojo after this setback, but after Pearl's angled 35th minute cross had somehow careered through a crowded goalmouth without a single black-clad player getting a touch on it, normal service in the attacking third of the pitch swiftly resumed. Inside the next ninety seconds, both White and Wilkinson shot inches past the same post, while in the 38th minute Loye beat Hnawia all ends up with a gorgeous twenty-five yard chip to restore New Zealand's three-goal advantage. The scorer then turned provider for White, whose rasping eighteen-yarder was tipped over the bar by New Caledonia's 'keeper. But White was to gain ample revenge seconds later. Pearl's corner wasn't cleared, and after seeing her first shot blocked, the former OFC Women's Player of the Year calmly steered the rebound into the opposite side of the goal to make it 5-1 with her second goal of the game. That tally increased still further three minutes before half-time, when a deflected Loye strike left Hnawia stranded as the ball ricocheted into the opposite side of the net to that she was covering. The 'keeper's luck changed in first half stoppage time. A fierce Rood drive was stopped at point-blank range by Kaemo with her hands, giving referee Averii Jacques little option but to point to the penalty spot. Up stepped White, her fifth international hat-trick beckoning. But she drilled her spot-kick straight at Hnawia, who tipped the shot up onto the bar and was able to catch the rebound before New Zealand's captain could make amends for her miss. Skilton was twice denied by Hnawia in the opening stages of the second half before Rood steered home New Zealand's seventh goal through a crowded goalmouth in the 54th minute, after Wilkinson's low cross, intended for Skilton, had been dealth with inadequately by New Caledonia's defence. Four minutes later, early second half substitute Kate Carlton teamed up with Pearl and Loye, who worked a one-two with the overlapping figure of Head before picking out Rood with a cross which the striker headed goalwards. Hnawia grabbed this effort, then did well to plunge to her right in order to keep out another effort from the striker, who made way for Georgia Brown soon after - a good hour's work from Rood, who deserves an injury-free run after having endured more than her fair share of such setbacks over the past eighteen months. Her replacement was swiftly into the thick of the action, Wilkinson and Bowen combining to release Brown down the right. Her cross to the far post found Skilton and Wilkinson converging on the ball, and as both got in each other's way, the chance was spurned. The latter made amends mere seconds later, Wilkinson powering past two opponents before slamming the Junior Ferns' eighth goal into the roof of the net in the 65th minute. Four minutes later, their ninth goal materialised, White playing in Brown off the right flank. She sprinted through before despatching her first international goal into the top near corner of the net - 9-1. It was White's turn to bear down on goal eighteen minutes from time, Loye supplying the pass which culminated in the striker's shot being tipped round the post by Hnawia. Three minutes later, the roles were reversed, White's angled pull-back inviting Loye to let fly. Her shot deflected inches past the post. In between times came an incident which was symptomatic of New Zealand's overall second half display, one riddled with stray passes and numerous breakdowns in play one wouldn't expect so many members of a combination as talented as this Junior Ferns squad is to collectively make during the course of a single match. In truth, just about every outfield player did what follows at some stage of the contest, but in this case, Pearl was the individual responsible - a lax pass which gifted the ball to, on this occasion, Audrey Sinem. She promptly sent Aurelie Lalie spearing through the inside right channel, but one of Berger's

trademark recovering tackles spared the Young Ferns' blushes this time round. Perhaps it's because their collective talent is so superior to that of their opponents at this tournament that the Junior Ferns struggle to maintain the standards they aspire to in such matches - the challenge to do so simply isn't there for them. Pardon me for saying this, and it pains to have to spell it out so bluntly for the benefit of such a talented group of players, but that challenge is there, no matter the opponents' calibre. It's there every time a shirt sporting a silver fern above "New Zealand Football" is donned by a footballer chosen to represent this country. And it's there every time a Kiwi sports team takes to a pitch at home or abroad, because New Zealand's sports fans expect those charged with representing them to do justice to the shirt in every match without fail, particularly on those occasions when said fans get to see the game's elite in action on home turf. Very few Junior Ferns can, hand on heart, say they satisfied that basic expectation to the best of their ability in this encounter. They owe their home fans a full-on ninety-minute performance, make no mistake! Skilton and Brown were both denied inside the final fifteen minutes by Hnawia - the latter was thwarted in a one-on-one situation - but Arrowtown School's most famous ex-pupil made amends in the 81st minute. White saw another effort parried by New Caledonia's 'keeper, and, after being picked out by Loye seconds later, yet another. On this occasion, Hnawia's parry fell invitingly into the stride of the incoming figure of Brown ... 10-1, with the scorer becoming the fifth player in the match to record at least a brace of goals - a rare feat, this being just the third time it has been realised by a NZ women's team. Brown was denied her hat-trick by the offside flag in stoppage time, seconds after Hnawia had foiled Skilton yet again, but while the sound of the final whistle soon after confirmed the Junior Ferns as 10-1 victors, the overall quality of their performance in winning this match was not what one has come to expect of these players and this team. Junior Ferns:          Nayler; Patterson (Carlton, 50), Bowen, Berger, Head; White, Pearl, Loye; Rood (Brown, 63), Wilkinson (Millynn, 70), Skilton New Caledonia:     Hnawia; Bafue, Kamadrane, Kaemo, Haluatr; Lalie (Tidjine, 87), Sinem, Haocas, Pelletier (Vandegou, 55), Heutro (Frank, 71); Maguire Referee:          Averii Jacques (Tahiti) In the day's other encounter, Papua New Guinea and Samoa fought out an entertaining 1-1 draw, rife with near misses, glaring misses and some eye-catching displays, most notably by Samoan 'keeper Vaelua Fautua and defensive lynchpin Tanya Bryce. After PNG's Meagan Gunemba had a goal disallowed for offside early in the second spell, Samoa opened the scoring in the 68th minute through Lanuola Mulipola, who took advantage of a defensive blunder to roll the ball into an empty net. Straight from the kick-off, Gunemba and Sandra Birum stormed downfield, with the latter levelling the scores within sixty seconds of the Papuans going behind on the scoreboard. It was the Papuans who should have gone on to win the match, too, with Gunemba twice hitting the crossbar - her first effort was tipped onto the woodwork by Fautua - while Birum missed an absolute sitter in stoppage time when directing the ball straight at Fautua just two yards out and with the goal at her mercy. Matchday Three action at the OFC U-20 Women's Championship takes place on Saturday, but before then, final round action at the U-17 tournament takes place on Friday, with the Cook Islands taking on New Caledonia at 1pm, followed by the clash of Papua New Guinea and the Young Ferns, the winner of which qualifies for Azerbaijan. Matchday Two details: New Zealand 10 (K. Rood (11, 54), H. Wilkinson (12, 65), R. White (25, 39), K. Loye (38, 42), Brown (69, 81)), New Caledonia 1 (M. Heutro (28))  HT 6-1 Papua New Guinea 1 (S. Birum (69)), Samoa 1 (L. Mulipola (68))  HT 0-0