Three Kings United dug into their resolves of character for the second week running as they came from behind to oust Fencibles United from the 2010 National Women’s Knockout Cup on 13 June, the Keith Hay Park outfit prevailing 2-1 on home turf in a rip-roaring cup-tie which fully lived up to its ‘tie of the round’ billing. In truth, the victors’ winning margin would have been far greater had Victoria Esson not been on top of her game. Fencibles’ custodian produced at least five world-class saves to keep her team in contention, although her first denial, with her legs after just 85 seconds from Stephanie Skilton after the striker had got the better of Lucy Carter down the left, was somewhat mundane by comparison. The first of Esson’s top shelf stops came in the fifth minute. Anna Green and Annalie Longo combined to send Skilton scurrying down the left once more, and when confronted by Carter, Green was racing up inside Skilton to pierce Fencibles rearguard, the fullback dashing into the penalty area before clipping a cross towards the far post. Its trajectory got the better of Esson, but was perfectly weighted for Claudia Crasborn, a late introduction to the starting line-up after Emma Kete pulled up lame with a hamstring strain. How Esson recovered to prevent Crasborn heading home the opening goal only she will know, but she emerged with the ball in her hands. Three Kings next had reason to rue the brilliance of Esson on the quarter hour. Longo played the ball into the stride of Jessica Rollings, whose performance was such that almost anything of quality which the home team produced bore her stamp of approval - her annus horribilus of 2009 is but a distant memory, if the joie de vivre and vibrancy of the Junior Ferns’ prospect’s play in 2010 is anything to go by. She didn’t crown it with a goal on this occasion, however, although it wasn’t for the want of trying. Rollings let fly with a twenty-yarder to cap off this attack which was arrowing towards the far corner of the net until Esson flung herself to her right and, at full stretch, tipped the shot round the post. Fencibles were first seen as an attacking force of note in the seventeenth minute. Abby Erceg played the ball forward to Tepora Faalogo, whose defence-splitting pass sent Hayley Moorwood haring down the right at breakneck speed, Three Kings’ defenders nowhere within a bull’s roar of the Football Ferns captain. Moorwood rampaged on before battering a ferocious twenty-five yard angled drive towards the target. Aroon Clansey, Three Kings’ goalkeeper, flung herself in vain as the ball careered over her, only for it to cannon off the crossbar and ricochet to safety over the right-hand touchline. Back came the home team, but Erceg mopped up the threat they posed in the 21st minute, only to undo all her hard work by selling Esson short with an under-hit back-pass. The prowling figure of Crasborn was onto it in an instant, and, faced by her shot-stopping Junior Ferns team-mate, sought support. It came in the form of Skilton, who dashed into the penalty area to receive her team-mate’s pass, only to be denied the opening goal by Carter’s splendid blocking challenge, the fullback having tracked her player stride for stride, before timing her intervention to perfection. After Esson had positioned herself perfectly to deny Crasborn’s twenty-yarder, Fencibles were denied a free-kick by referee Len Gattsche in the 25th minute when Moorwood, having latched onto a Maya Edgerton-Bachmann pass down the left, was sent tumbling by Tessa Berger’s challenge. Fencibles’ fans weren’t amused, and were even less so seconds later when Skilton went down under a challenge of similar nature from Carter at the opposite end of the park, and a free-kick was awarded. Justice was served when Esson gobbled up Rollings’ cross from the resulting set-piece, but it wasn’t the only occasion the official’s interpretations weren’t consistently applied. Moorwood earned a booking for a reckless lunge in the 72nd minute, but she shouldn’t have been the game’s only yellow card recipient, as one Three Kings player in particular dished out a few challenges which can most kindly be described as sturdy. Methinks a trip to your local Lotto shop some time this week is in order, Miss Green! On the half-hour, an error by Berger was pounced on by Faalogo, who set up Sarah Williamson for a twenty-five yard drive which Clansey positioned herself perfectly to smother. Her opposite number, Esson, was in brilliant form twice more two minutes later. Skilton and Leah Tagaloa combined to smuggle the ball past both Hannah Valentine and Erceg and set up Rollings, whose shot was somehow flicked to safety by the ‘keeper. As she regained her footing, Crasborn, who had pounced on the rebound, unleashed a deft chip which was destined for the far corner of the net until the back-pedalling Esson leapt skywards and grabbed the ball in spectacular fashion. Down the other end of the park the ball was quickly transferred, and there appeared little danger as Faalogo kept it in near the goal-line. A rash challenge from Libby Williams changed that situation in an instant - referee Gattsche had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Up stepped Moorwood, a goal seemingly certain given her recent rich vein of scoring form. But Clansey had other ideas, and launched herself at full stretch to her left to tip the spot-kick round the post - a terrific save, the equal of any Esson had produced to date. Relieved, Three Kings responded three minutes later with another riveting raid, led by Longo. She played in Crasborn, whose teasing cross arced beyond Esson, Skilton its target. Valentine prevented her from capitalising on it, but the ball fell perfectly for Tagaloa, who wasted little time in lashing the ball towards the target.

Victoria Esson (Fen) punches the ball off the head of Kristy Hill (TKU) Tessa Berger (TKU) chased by Maia Jackman (Fen) Hayley Moorwood (Fen) in mid-turn to foil Chelsey Wood (TKU) Sarah Williamson (Fen) shields from Libby Williams (TKU) Claudia Crasborn (TKU) in aerial battle with an unidentified opponent Jessica Rollings (TKU) chased by Maia Jackman (Fen) Anna Green (TKU) chased by Danielle Hareb (Fen)

It looked a goal for all money until Erceg appeared from nowhere to clear the ball off the line - a vital denial, which was to take on added importance six minutes before half-time, as a lengthy individual goalscoring drought was brought to an end in stunning fashion. Danielle Hareb’s pursuit of a seemingly lost cause proved fruitful in the 39th minute, only for her cross to be cleared by Kristy Hill, seemingly to safety. But a player whose storied career has included four spells in the colours of Three Kings or Eden had other ideas. Maia Jackman was playing for Waitakere City when she last scored a goal, exactly twenty-two months ago to the day. She ended her drought in memorable fashion, unleashing an absolute snorter from twenty-five yards with her left foot which sailed towards the target and dipped into the top left-hand corner of Clansey’s net - 1-0 Fencibles, and how! Jackman punched the air with undisguised delight, her joy contrasting starkly with the disbelief which creased, in particular, Green’s brow. But while the Junior Ferns captain and her team-mates were unable to restore parity before half-time, Three Kings didn’t have long to wait to do just that once the action resumed. The equaliser owed much to the anticipation of Rollings. Longo forced Jackman to turn back towards her own goal half-way inside Fencibles half, and the goalscorer played the ball back towards Erceg. It never reached the defender, for Rollings swooped on the scene from nowhere and promptly made a bee-line for Erceg, unsettling the defender enough to leave her wrong-footed as the playmaker gained a telling yard which enabled Rollings to play the ball into Skilton’s stride. The Young Ferns’ prospect had plenty to do, with Carter on her shoulder, but did it with aplomb, shielding the ball well while holding off the defender, before steering the sphere beyond the despairing dive of Esson - 1-1. Fencibles wasted little time in seeking to restore their lead. Working their way down the left via a series of throw-ins, Alex Eastwood finally played the ball in to Moorwood, whose turn and touch caught Three Kings on  the hop, but not Faalogo. She dashed onto the pass inside the penalty area before curling a shot beyond Clansey but inches past the far post. This warning shot was met with even greater resolve by Three Kings. With Rollings in irresistible form, they rumbled relentlessly on, Green latching onto a pass from her team-mate before picking out Crasborn with a cross which was headed firmly if narrowly past Esson’s right-hand post. That 52nd minute effort was followed five minutes later by a rasping effort from Rollings. Having worked a one-two with Tagaloa, she let rip from twenty-five yards with a shot which had Esson scrambling across her goal to be sure it was missing. Rollings then split Fencibles defence with a gorgeous pass inside Carter on the hour, Skilton striding onto it before cutting inside and lashing a shot past the far post. The home team’s pressure was mounting, and in the 61st minute, they were rewarded once more. Chelsey Wood joined another Rollings-inspired attack on this occasion, and darted through the inside-left channel to the by-line from where she produced a dangerous cross. Erceg cleared it straight to Tagaloa, whose first-time lay-off to Rollings saw her square the ball into the path of the fast-arriving Crasborn, careering in off the right once more. Without breaking stride, she swept the ball beyond Esson in unerring fashion from fifteen yards, and this time it was the Three Kings scorer whose joy was unconfined. The goal left Fencibles reeling, and they struggled to find a way back into the match. With Berger containing Moorwood in fine fashion, the visitors’ attacking options were limited, and if there was going to be another goal in the match, the odds on the home team being the celebrants were shortening by the minute. Indeed, they did get the ball in the net once more, in the 69th minute. But the offside flag came to Fencibles’ rescue, much to Skilton’s despair, the striker having tucked the ball home after another cracker from Crasborn had crashed against the post. Crasborn was a revelation in the second half, storming down the right with power and pace aplenty whenever the opportunity arose. She repeatedly gave both Eastwood and her replacement, Sophie McLachlan, the runaround, and in the 79th minute, her cross on the run picked out Tagaloa, whose swift interchange with Rollings invited Longo to let fly. From thirty yards, the ball arrowed towards the top right-hand corner of Esson’s goal, but true to form, she launched herself to her right to pull off yet another superb full-length fingertip save, the last act of note in an enthralling clash which sees just one of these worthy combatants progress from a tie which would have been worthy of the final itself. Sadly, while the National Women’s Knockout Cup employs its current federation-based format - as opposed to the preferred region-wide basis on which the Chatham Cup is played - the prospect of all-Premier League ties taking place in one region at this early stage of proceedings, while another region’s top-flight team can literally progress by default through no fault of their own, remains. One wonders if that situation is good for the image of the competition, not to mention the women’s game in New Zealand as a whole … Three Kings:     Clansey; Williams, Berger, Hill, Green; Longo (Pearl, 88), Wood (Rishworth, 86), Rollings; Crasborn, Tagaloa (Mathews, 81), Skilton Fencibles:     Esson; Carter, Valentine, Erceg, Eastwood (McLachlan, 67); Hareb (Gottgtroy, 60), Moorwood (booked, 72), Edgerton-Bachmann, Williamson; Faalogo (O’Meara, 76), Jackman Referee:     Len Gattsche