New Zealand's Junior Ferns began their quest to win, for a fourth successive time, the OFC U-20 Women's Championship on April 10 by overcoming the stubborn defensive efforts of Papua New Guinea 6-0 at Mangere's Centre Park. The match proved a challenging exercise for the Kiwis, who started off in superb fashion, carving out five chances in the first eight minutes as their ball speed, variety and movement left the Papuans wondering if there were more New Zealand players on the park than the required eleven! Inside the first sixty seconds, the solidly performed Kate Loye saw her fifteen yarder tipped over the bar by Daisy Issac, with the resulting corner worked short by Evie Millynn - a terrific display - to Loye, whose cross was headed narrowly past the far post by the reigning OFC U-20 Golden Boot holder, Rosie White. Loye then played in Ashleigh Ward - an eye-catching first half effort - down the left. Her cross arced just over the head of White, while another delivery from the fullback in the fifth minute was inches too far in front of the Junior Ferns' captain, after Erin Nayler had sparked a move which also featured Nadia Pearl - great to see her back on a NZ football pitch - and Loye. After another tantalising cross from Ward curled across the bows of the incoming figure of White, the Junior Ferns finally got the mix right in the twelfth minute. Millynn and Loye worked another short corner, their double-one-two seeing the latter penetrate deep into the PNG penalty area, before she checked, pivoted and curled a delightful shot away from the stranded figure of Issac and in off the far post. After a brief lull following their bright start, the Junior Ferns doubled their lead in the nineteenth minute. Nayler threw the ball out to Holly Patterson, who brought Katie Rood into play early. The striker's cross ricocheted off a defender into the stride of Millynn, whose finish was clinical - a goal her performance was to richly merit. It was 3-0 after twenty-three minutes, White finding herself in space twenty-five yards out and with the ball at her feet. Only one thing is likely to happen in those circumstances, and sure enough ... in Issac's eyes, the ball was a mere blur as it stormed past her en route to the top left-hand corner of her net. Surely now, the floodgates were open, and goals would come at regular intervals against downhearted opposition. So read the script, but somewhere along the way ... the Junior Ferns spurned a glorious chance to score their fourth goal in the 27th minute, Patterson stabbing the ball at Issac from inside the six-yard box after Millynn, Loye and Pearl had carved open PNG's right flank via another short corner variation. Seconds later, Olivia Chance, who had produced some dazzling close control to dribble through four opponents a few minutes earlier, rattled the crossbar with a rising fifteen yard drive. But all was not as it should have been in the Junior Ferns' camp. A few lapses had begun to creep into their play, with Pearl looking well in need of the run-out, while Patterson's performance had its moments, but nowhere near as many as have come to be expected of the fleet-footed flyer, who has adapted well to the overlapping fullback role in which she is employed in New Zealand teams. It was at the heart of the defence where the biggest concerns emerged, however. Katie Bowen had, by her standards, a game best forgotten, while Caitlin Smallfield's display wasn't overly memorable for all the right reasons either. The latter conceded a free-kick on the half-hour which allowed Gira Chung to test Nayler from twenty-five yards. It was catching practice for the 'keeper, who had to deal with another threat five minutes later as Concintah Lalo lobbed the ball forward from midfield, allowing speed merchant Meagan Gunemba to dash between Bowen and Smallfield and set sail for goal. Her pace, allied to her understanding of her role - her positioning, on the shoulder of the last defender, was exemplary - was a problem for the Junior Ferns while Gunemba enjoyed a supply line of note, but her finishing was less so, the striker shooting straight at Nayler from twenty yards with what was to be the Papuans' last chance of the match. For it was at the other end of the park where they were providing stubborn resistance, with a number of promising Junior Ferns raids thwarted via sheer volume of numbers. And if the hosts found it frustrating going towards the end of the first half, worse was to come. At various stages throughout each game, you will see three blue team buses parked in the carpark. Papua New Guinea found a way of getting a fourth one on the park for the second half, although this one was red in colour, and boasted neither wheels nor seats! It was, to all intents and purposes, a seven-strong human defensive wall, bolstered by the 'keeper behind, two players directly in front and, half a mile downfield, the lone figure of Gunemba, who, at one stage in the second spell, got the ball just inside New Zealand's half, only to find herself swiftly surrounded by six white-shirted opponents, and not a solitary red-shirted team-mate in sight! It took just four minutes for the Junior Ferns to pick the lock. Bowen, Rood and Millynn combined to play in White, whose sharp turn and even sharper finish made it 4-0 to the favourites to represent Oceania at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Japan in August and September. Two minutes later, White's pursuit of the fifth international hat-trick of her career saw her head Patterson's cross narrowly over the bar, having switched the ball wide to the fullback and darted

Kate Loye Evie Millynn Holly Patterson Katie Rood Erin Nayler Lucy Carter Rosie White

forward in anticipation of the inch-perfect delivery which duly arrived. Five minutes later, Millynn's dipping twenty-five yard chip beat Issac all ends up, only to cannon off the crossbar. White, following in like all good strikers should, stabbed the rebound wide, her last chance in this match to add to her 32 goals on the world stage - 37 if you include her NZ Secondary Schoolgirls strikes ... all told, not a bad return for an eighteen-year-old, eh? Chance also departed the fray on the hour, with Steph Skilton and Georgia Brown given the chance to make some headway in the final thirty minutes of the match. The latter was inches away from making an instant impact with a grasscutter from the edge of the area three minutes after coming on, and seconds after Millynn's deflected twenty-five yarder had been grabbed under pressure by Issac. But the departures of both White and Chance saw a great deal of the team's guile and craft leaving the field as well, and it was Millynn and Loye who took charge of the game throughout the final half-hour, their contributions keeping things ticking along until the final whistle, although the Junior Ferns went off the boil long beforehand. A full eleven minutes lapsed between Brown's close call and their next noteworthy effort, Millynn and Patterson combining to set up Rood for a chance which she fired straight at Issac. Eleven minutes from time, Millynn whipped in a gem of a corner which substitute Lucy Carter, who had only entered the fray four minutes earlier, met with a beautifully angled downward header from ten yards out. Issac hadn't a prayer of keeping this one out, and the ball duly crossed the line right by the foot of her left-hand post - 5-0. Millynn went desperately close to netting her second goal of the game four minutes from time. Loye and Brown linked with the lively midfielder, who deftly side-stepped two challenges before unleashing an unerring drive which crashed off the post. Criminally, no-one wearing white was following in ... Unperturbed, the Junior Ferns pressed on, Brown next to take on the defence seconds later. She evaded two challenges before squaring the ball to Rood, whose first shot was blocked. She sent her second attempt sizzling inches over the bar. Carter and Ward linked with Skilton in the 89th minute, the substitute sweeping past two opponents before slipping her shot inches past the post. But in the third minute of stoppage time, the natives' attempts to score a sixth goal finally bore fruit. Loye did well to beat two opponents and hold off a third while playing Patterson into yards of space on the right. Cue a sumptuous cross to the far post, where Rood was lurking unmarked to gleefully guide her header past Issac to bring about the final 6-0 scoreline. It's a win and performance from which the Junior Ferns will doubtless benefit. There is plenty of room for improvement on this effort, and with the strength in depth this squad boasts - the likes of Hannah Wilkinson, Becky Burrows and Tessa Berger have yet to be unleashed on unsuspecting opponents - those improvements will doubtless come. Junior Ferns:          Nayler; Patterson, Bowen, Smallfield, Ward; Millynn, Pearl (Carter, 75), Loye; Rood, White (Brown, 59), Chance (Skilton, 59) Papua New Guinea:     Issac; Simon, Gani (J. Gunemba, 53), Birum, Kenatsi, Louma; Lalo, Chung, Arajo, Ambrias (Danas, 77); M. Gunemba Referee:          Averii Jacques (Tahiti) In the day's earlier encounter, New Caledonia scored their maiden win in international age-grade women's football when trouncing Samoa 5-1, with Kim-E Maguire leading the way. The former Metro starlet, who was the club's leading scorer in the 2010 Lotto Northern Premier Women's League, struck a memorable hat-trick as she carried her country to victory, following up an emphatic twelfth minute twenty yarder by smashing home the rebound from point-blank range three minutes before half-time, having hit the post with her first effort. That goal restored New Caledonia's lead, which had been pegged back by Samoa's Faasega Okceefe in unstoppable fashion three minutes earlier. The Samoans hadn't featured as an attacking force until that goal, but they were a lot more prominent early in the second spell. New Caledonia weathered the storm, and after Alesie Marielle Haocas had gone close, Marie Heutro made it 3-1 in the 69th minute, with Maguire's moment of personal glory arriving three minutes later, the striker deftly dinking the ball over Vaelua Fautua to claim the match ball. The 'keeper gifted Heutro a second goal eight minutes from time to bring about the final 5-1 scoreline, and when the final whistle sounded, there was rejoicing aplenty among the New Caledonian contingent, with both the U-20 and U-17 squads celebrating their country's coming-of-age in a FIFA age-grade Women's World Cup qualifying tournament. Matchday Two action at the OFC U-20 Women's Championship takes place on Thursday, but before then, second round action at the U-17 tournament commences on Wednesday, with the Young Ferns taking on New Caledonia at 1pm, followed by the clash of the Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea. Matchday One details: New Caledonia 5 (K. Maguire (12, 42, 72), M. Heutro (69, 82)), Samoa 1 (F. O'Kceefe (39))  HT 2-1 New Zealand 6 (K. Loye (12), E. Millynn (19), R. White (23, 49), L. Carter (79), K. Rood (90)), Papua New Guinea 0  HT 3-0