It is tight at the top of the National Women’s League table after match week four was completed in fine conditions in Auckland this afternoon.

With frontrunners the Canterbury United Pride, who have won all three of their games with an incredible goal difference of 17, having the bye, the chance was there for the other leading contenders to make up ground.

The Northern Lights and Southern United did exactly that with comfortable wins over Central and WaiBOP respectively, while defending champions Auckland scored late to earn a 1-1 draw with Capital at home.

The action began with WaiBOP ‘hosting’ Southern United at McLennan Park in Papakura and the southerners bounced back from their loss to Auckland with a 6-3 win.

The match was evenly poised with Southern United leading 2-1 at half-time, before the Ignacia Sande-coached side found another gear in the second half. Mikayla Gray and Kirsty Hayr found the back of the net soon after the break and Ruby Anderson came off the bench to notch a quick-fire brace to see Southern home. They sit third on the table, with two wins, a draw with the Northern Lights and a loss to Auckland. Unlike Canterbury, Northern and Auckland, Southern are yet to have the bye. 

Across town, the Northern Lights were too good for Central as they recorded their second straight win with a 7-0 victory at McFetridge Park on Auckland’s North Shore.

The Gemma Lewis-coached team, who beat Capital 4-1 last week, opened the scoring in the 18^th minute when New Zealand U-20 rep Samantha Tawharu converted from a Helen Kelderman cross and from there the home team never looked back.

They had six different goal scorers on the score-sheet, with Maggie Jenkins bagging a brace in eight minutes in the first half, in a dominant display. They climb to second on the table, two points back from the Pride and will host them in match week five which will be the match of the round.

Lewis was pleased to see her team getting better each week.

“The girls upped it today on the scoring front,” Lewis said. “There were still a few chances that went missing for us, so we still need to work on being more clinical going forward, but today was definitely a step in the right direction.”

The match also provided a welcome return for New Zealand age-group internationals Saskia Vosper and Aneka Mittendorff who had been side-lined with injury.

“The team were so happy to have them back, it’s great to have them back on the field.” Lewis said. “Aneka provided a goal for us as well so it is great to have them back in the team, they are such good team mates and supporters and they are always here even when they are injured.”

The game of the round was Auckland taking on Capital at McLennan Park in Papakura.

The Tracy Wrigley-coached team, who delivered a fine 2-1 over Southern United in Dunedin last weekend, were looking to continue their momentum at home but met a highly-motivated Capital side.

Emma Evans’ team, who were without their skipper and inspirational forward Sarah Gregorius, were looking to upset the defending champions and took the lead on the stroke of half-time.

A well-placed cross into Auckland’s box was headed down for Charlotte Wilford-Carroll who finished well to ensure Capital were celebrating heading to the sheds.

Capital put further pressure on Auckland and could have had a second, but could not find the back of the net. Auckland rallied and found the equaliser. In the 73rd minute, Sam Muirhead’s whipped in a dangerous corner to the near post and centre-back Rebekah Van Dort made her presence felt only for Meisha Boone to head home for an own goal.

The result sees Auckland in third on the National Women’s League ladder, while Capital picked up a valuable point away from home and sit in fifth place on four points.

Auckland coach Tracy Wrigley felt Capital had shown what they are capable of in the National Women’s League.

“At the end of the day, it was a fair result, Capital showed with their work rate and their intent that they really did deserve a goal,” said Wrigley.

“But the way that we came back and started to find some football answers showed that we deserved to grab one too, 1-1 is probably fair enough.”

National Women’s League Match Week Four Results

WaiBOP Football 3 (Shae Brady 45’, Ella Golding 61’, Grace Wisnewski 73’)
Southern United 6 (Emily Morison 37’, Lara Wall 45’, Mikayla Gray 54’, Kirsty Hayr 60’, Ruby Anderson 67’, 79’)
HT: 1-2

Northern Lights 7 (Samantha Tawharu 18’, Maggie Jenkins 32’, 40’, Malia Steinmetz 57’, Dayna Stevens 63’, Aneka Mittendorff 65’, Helena Kelderman 73’)
Central Football 0
HT: 3-0

Auckland Football 1 (Own goal 73’)
Capital Football 1 (Charlotte Wilford-Carroll 45’)
HT: 0-1

Article added: Sunday 07 October 2018