The top three teams in the Lotto Northern Women's Championship all recorded wins on 28 July, meaning FC Tauranga Moana retain their six-point advantage with six rounds still to play this season. Birkenhead United were their latest victims, but the visitors made Tauranga work hard for their 4-0 win at Links Avenue, with Sinead Doherty only breaking the deadlock in the shadows of the half-time whistle. Briana Osborne doubled the home team's lead just after the hour mark, with substitute Ruby Holland and captain Ella Golding scoring in the final twenty minutes to bolster Tauranga's goal difference to forty - the best in the division, and effectively worth a further point to them in the unlikely event that they be caught by either of their pursuers. Onehunga Sports lead that particular race, but were made to work hard for their 2-1 win at Kiwitea Street over a Central United side which has lost all three Central Auckland derbies to "The Green Machine" by the odd goal, 1-0 and 4-3 the other scorelines between them this season. Robyn Fisher gave Sports the ideal start in this encounter, scoring just three minutes into the contest. Hayley Bilk notched their second just before half-time, but Central dragged themselves back into the contest through Emily Lit soon after play had resumed. Alas for the home team, no more goals were forthcoming, although they were able to call on one of their star turns, Nicole Loader, in the second spell as she made her return to action following a lengthy absence. Third-placed Franklin United scored the biggest win of the day as they humbled Manukau United 8-1 at the Drury Sports Complex, where Briar Leith scored the visitors' lone goal five minutes before half-time in a match which saw Manukau fielding the bare eleven - they had no substitutes to call upon. Franklin were already five goals to the good when Leith struck, Britney Cunningham-Lee netting a

seventeen-minute hat-trick while Chloe Marthe scored twice, all these goals coming inside the opening half-hour of play. After the interval, substitute Ashleigh Downs, Renin Yousif and Sarah Carpenter also found the net for the home team, who were hoping the ageless Marlies James would get on the scoresheet twenty-four hours before the former Football Fern scoffed another slice or three of birthday cake. The round's most notable scoreline was recorded at Gower Park, where Melville United mauled Northern Rovers 5-1 to leapfrog the beaten team into fourth place on the table, Stevie-Lee Tiller the star turn with a brace of goals for the home team, one in each half. Half-time substitute Laura Bennett doubled Melville's lead early in the second spell, with Lola Williams chiming in before Jess Stevens put through her own net late in the contest to give United a nap hand. Lisa Witberg scored a late consolation goal for Rovers, whose coach, the usually mild-mannered Chris Milicich, earned a yellow card for dissent - well out of character for him! Melville will look to put a spanner in Tauranga's works at Links Avenue this Sunday, while "The Green Machine" heads to Birkenhead's Shepherds Park home on a day Franklin make the trip across the car-strangled spanner to Northern's McFetridge Park. Meanwhile, Central will look to add more misery to Manukau's season at Walter Massey Park. Details: Central United 1 (E. Lit (53)), Onehunga Sports 2 (R. Fisher (3), H. Bilk (44))  HT 0-2 FC Tauranga Moana 4 (S. Doherty (45), B. Osborne (63), R. Holland (73), E. Golding (90)), Birkenhead United 0  HT 1-0 Franklin United 8 (B. Cunningham-Lee (6, 16, 23), C. Marthe (8, 29), A. Downs (66), R. Yousif (70), S. Carpenter (82)), Manukau United 1 (B. Leith (40))  HT 5-1 Melville United 5 (S. Tiller (6, 75), L. Bennett (48), L. Williams (59), "oggie" (83)), Northern Rovers 1 (K. Witberg (88))  HT 1-0