WSW NEW ZEALAND NEWS


	New Zealand Clubs

November 18, 2002

Best display of season by league leading Auckland-Manukau takes New Zealand Under-17 team to the cleaners

by Jeremy Ruane

National League leaders produced their best performance of the season in their final game in the competition at McLennan Park on November 16, as they trounced a highly competitive New Zealand Under-17 Development Squad 7-0 to all but clinch the inaugural League title. Only a thirteen-goal win by Mainland Soccer (Nelson-Canterbury) over Waikato-Bay of Plenty in their final game of the season can prevent Sue Taylor¹s charges from regaining their position as the premier soccer-playing province.

The vivacious Under-17s, many of whom play for clubs in the Auckland region, gave a very good account of themselves against opposition with far greater experience, but today happened to be the day when Auckland-Manukau finally hit their straps, and God help whoever stood in their way!! Their passing and movement off the ball was vibrant, and was best epitomized by Amanda Crawford, who relished the extra space she found in a slightly withdrawn role to wreak havoc in the U-17 team whenever she secured possession. She sparked the first attack of note in the game with her sweeping ninth minute pass releasing Pip Meo down the left. Her cross drifted behind Margot Bowker, but Maia Jackman was following up, only for her goalbound drive to cannon to safety off team-mate Melanie Gooch. After a superbly flighted Crawford corner had screamed across the face of goal with no-one on either side getting a touch on the sphere, the league leaders opened the scoring on the quarter-hour. Terry McCahill and Rachel Doody linked up to spark a forward surge from Melissa Ray. Auckland's Young Player of the Year threaded the ball through for Gooch, who turned her marker before inviting Bowker to shoot. Her effort completely wrong-footed Under-17s goalkeeper Ashleigh Cox, who dived left as the ball rolled into the bottom right-hand corner of her net.

Within seconds, Auckland-Manukau could have doubled their advantage as McCahill's powerful header from a Crawford corner flashed inches over the Crossbar. The senior side went about imposing their will on the match, the collective attitude being "We are not having you young whipper-snappers showing us up!" Occasionally they did. Sara Clapham created the first opportunity for them to upset the apple-cart in the 22nd minute, but her twenty-yard volley was comfortably handled by Yvonne Vale. Auckland-Manukau struck a second goal three minutes later, Kirsty Yallop's first touch to bring a difficult, dropping ball under control was quite superb -it was just her bad luck that her Lynn-Avon United team-mate, Rachel Doody, nipped in to pinch the ball off her before she had a second bite of the cherry. It was a clever piece of work by the promising midfielder, who played the ball forward to Bowker. Her first-time pass sent Gooch spearing between two stunned Under-17 defenders, and from the edge of the penalty area she was given half the goal to aim at by the stupefied figure of Cox, something which the Auckland Sportswoman of the Year gleefully accepted.

Within seconds, it could have been 3-0, Cox redeeming herself somewhat by tipping a Margot Bowker drive into the side netting. Two minutes later, Crawford and Hayley Moorwood combined to present Jackman with a difficult shooting chance, the speedy midfielder¹s volleyed chip with the outside of her right foot not quite having the height to loop over the head of Cox - the technical excellence of the strike deserved better fate.

The best player on the park for the Under-17s was Rebecca Tegg, and in the 32nd minute she left Dana Humby standing as she swept down the left flank. A pass inside to Emily McColl saw the Wellingtonian produce a low drive which Vale smothered solidly. Six minutes later Tegg was in again. This time getting between Vale and the retreating Jackman to latch onto the hard work of Emma Humphries and Yallop, much to the consternation of Auckland-Manukau¹s captain McCahill. The youngster¹s effort drifted narrowly past the far angle of post and crossbar, which prompted a general rallying of the troops by Auckland¹s Player of the Year, who was far from amused at the ball-watching tendenciesof some of her colleagues. Auckland-Manukau responded to this scare by charging upfield once more. Doody, Crawford and Jackman linked to good effect as they raided down the right, the last-mentioned picking out Bowker with a measured cross but the striker¹s header flashed past the upright.

Three minutes before half-time Gooch struck her second goal of the game. Ray brought the ball out of defence and played it into her feet. She turned her marker, Hannah Bromley, and sped past Kimberley Lewis before burying the ball in the bottom left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. The second half saw Auckland-Manukau continue their hunt for goals, knowing that the more they scored the harder the task would be for Mainland Soccer to match their tally. In the fiftieth minute. Crawford and Jackman engineered an opening on the right, and from twenty-five yards, Doody chipped home over the stranded Cox to make it 4-0. The Under-17s promptly forced a corner at the other end of the park. Humphries¹s delivery was headed out by McCahill to Tegg, whose on-target drive cannoned to safety off team-mate Yallop. Bowker squandered a glorious chance to add further to score in the 54th minute, firing wide on receipt of a quickly-taken Dana Humby free-kick. But seven minutes later her perfectly weighted pass gave Meo the room on the left from which she picked out Crawford with a cross. The ball was touched onto Moorwood, who coolly picked her spot from ten yards - bottom far corner, 5-0.

How Lily Somerfield contrived to head another pinpoint-accurate corner from Crawford over the crossbar from virtually underneath it eleven minutes from time defies belief, but it stung the Under-17s into another brief but threatening flurry of activity, with Yallop and Emma Boyack teaming up to prise open their opponents defense. Auckland-Manukau¹s late rallies in matches this season have invariably produced goals, and two goals in the last two minutes brought about the final 7-0 tally.