Glenfield Rovers reached their maiden NZ Football Women's Knockout Cup Final in emphatic fashion at McFetridge Park on August 12, a Caitlin Campbell hat-trick inspiring a 6-0 hammering of Canterbury's foremost women's club side, Western. The final scoreline suggests a very one-sided semi-final, but all the goals came in the last twenty-three minutes as a combination of Rovers' superior fitness and Western's lack of exposure to regular fixtures of this intensity put paid to the visitors' resistance. Until that point, Western had been right in the contest, although it was Glenfield who always held the upper hand, the fearless defending of Rebecca Simpson and Michele Hogg combining to stifle the vast majority of Western's attacks. The first threat on goal came in the tenth minute, when Campbell's corner picked out Anna Barlow, rising beyond the far post. Her header bulleted goalwards, but Megan Andrew grabbed it at the second attempt, only to produce a horror clearance. Cath Porteous pounced on the ball and played Campbell in down the right. Andrew missed her vicious cross, which found Lisa Kemp homing in on goal. Sharon Marshall saved Western's bacon on this occasion. Three minutes later, a surging up-field run by Simpson took her well into Western's half, at which point she slipped the ball through to leave Alison Wintle one-on-one with Andrew. The 'keeper hurtled out of her area and cleanly tackled the striker outside the box to avert the danger. After player-coach Kelly Jarden had fired Western's first shot in anger - a thirty-five yarder into the gloves of the home-again Ashleigh Cox, the former New Zealand international robbed Porteous in midfield in the eighteenth minute and quickly linked with Vanessa Lord and Dayna Napa, Western's best performer, who shot early and wide from twenty-five yards. The resulting goal kick from Cox barely got beyond her penalty area, but Lord, who couldn't believe her good fortune at the gift, failed to capitalise. It was the closest the visitors came to scoring in the next twenty minutes in a match played on a slushy surface, and which kicked off thirty minutes earlier than the advertised time, to accommodate Western's travel arrangements. The key issue with this was the revised kick-off time wasn't relayed to the key media outlets, and as a result, at least two thirds of the crowd turned up for a 1pm start, only to discover the only game in Auckland on the day was well under way. Campbell was causing all sorts of problems on the right, and Porteous twice released her down that flank just past the half-way point in the first spell. The sixteen-year-old warmed the gloves of Andrew with a low drive, before sending a cross whistling across the bows of the incoming figure of Wintle. Another Campbell-led raid soon afterwards saw Natalie Donze over-stretch her already fragile hamstrings once too often, and she hobbled off to be replaced by the seemingly ageless Gillian Thurlow, who never imagined she'd be playing in a National Knockout Cup semi-final at the age of 41. But play the one-time New Zealand international did - indeed, she could have scored twice within three minutes of her introduction. A raking clearance from Cox saw Thurlow sprint clear, only to fire woefully wide. Seconds later, Campbell played her through with a free-kick, only for Rebecca Banfield to provide Western's defensive cover. Play instantly swung downfield, but petered out, only for another wayward Cox goal-kick to present Napa with a chance. But Simpson stepped in between striker and ball to allow her goalkeeping team-mate to make suitable amends, as she saved at Napa's feet. Glenfield came desperately close to opening the scoring in the 34th minute. Therese Saito's cross was flicked on by Barlow to Thurlow, who instantly brought Kemp into the equation. Her whipped cross was intended for the veteran substitute, but Marshall stepped in, her look of horror quickly turning to one of relief as her clearance fizzed a foot past her own goal post. Rovers were coming at Western from all angles. Barlow tried a nasty cross-shot which just arced past the far post, moments before Kemp scythed in off the left and pulled the ball back for Thurlow, only for Jarden to step in and break up that particular raid. Two minutes before half-time, the visitors' best move of the half saw Rachel Oliver, Leigh Alexander, Jarden and Katrina Jacques combine to scythe open Rovers' left flank, but the last-mentioned's shot on the run flashed past the far post. The half-time whistle sounded soon after Andrew had saved from Wintle at the second attempt. The visitors' 'keeper was in action soon after the resumption, smothering another Campbell effort, seconds prior to the lively youngster lashing another drive past the near post after Saito and Wintle had combined on the right. Western retorted with Jarden's 51st minute through ball, which gave Napa something to chase. Alice Bresnahan appeared quite content to shepherd the ball back to Cox, but Napa had other ideas, and the 'keeper, who was left in a crumpled heap by Oliver in the last act of the match, was forced to block at the speedster's feet. Campbell and Wintle both fired wide soon after this, while on the hour, Thurlow shot straight at

Andrew with just the 'keeper to beat, after Kemp and Campbell had combined once again. The game was beginning to fade in its intensity, and needed some sort of spark to re-ignite it. Come the 67th minute, the goal the game needed materialised, and well worth the wait it was. Cox started the move, picking out Wintle near the right-hand touchline, from where she played the ball back to Saito. The NZ U17 contender instantly pinged the ball down the inside right channel, and onto it raced Campbell, who held off the challenges of Banfield and Rosanne Hinton before firing the ball over the head of Andrew and into the far corner of the net. Rovers were delighted, and within seven minutes, were doubly so. This time, confusion arose as a result of referee Carmen Jones' interpretation of the goings-on as Kemp and Lauren Harkerss squared up to each other. The home team's player appeared to have committed the first offence, but the generally soundly performed Jones thought otherwise, and as Western bayed their disapproval, Campbell took a quick cross-field free-kick which put Wintle in on the right to the by-line. Her cross arced over the head of the leaping figure of Thurlow, but a more than capable alternative was at hand in the form of Barlow, who was coolness personified as she controlled the ball on her chest before steering it unerringly past Andrew to double Rovers' lead. It was the goal which broke Western's resistance, a fact Jarden openly admitted afterwards, and in the minutes which remained, they simply capitulated. Simpson sparked the third goal with a flying volleyed clearance which picked out Campbell on the left. She steered the ball inside to substitute Tracey Carppe, who had been introduced to the fray just seconds earlier. With her first touch, she slipped the ball between the covering figure of Banfield and the advancing Andrew to make it 3-0 in the 81st minute. Two minutes later, it was 4-0, Campbell the architect once more as she scampered down the left. Thurlow was in the middle anticipating a cross, but steaming through from midfield was Porteous. Campbell rolled the ball into her path, and the midfielder gleefully slammed it home via the underside of the crossbar from twenty-five yards. Western were willing the final whistle by this stage, but Rovers weren't yet finished. In the ninetieth minute, Thurlow sparked an attack which saw Kemp over-hit her pass towards Campbell. Andrew came out to gather the ball, but promptly spilled it, and Campbell, who was still hovering lest just such an event happen, swiftly took advantage and steered the ball home into an empty net - 5-0. From the kick-off, Rovers attacked again, Cox sparking this injury time raid with a raking clearance. Campbell latched onto it and set sail for goal, side-stepping Harkerss before curling the ball home beyond Andrew to complete Western's Auckland agony. The Cantabrians' only defeat prior to this in 2007 was an opening day loss to reigning Mainland Premier Women's League champions, New Brighton. Since then, they've won virtually all before them, and are in the box seat to claim the league and Reta Fitzpatrick Cup double, both honours for the first time in the club's history. The treble was a bridge too far, however, as their heaviest defeat of the season coincided with Rovers' biggest victory, and the greatest day in the North Harbour club's history. "It's a great feeling", said coach Peter Buchanan, afterwards. "While we didn't play particularly well in the first half, Rebecca Simpson and Michele Hogg just tied everything up at the back - they were superb. "It's so good for the federation, too. The region needs a team of which it can be proud at club level, especially with so much young talent coming through these days". Glenfield entered the Northern Premier Women's League in 2003, and have never finished higher than fourth place in the five campaigns they've contested. Prior to this year, their best cup runs had ended in the quarter-finals in both 2003 and 2004. Three players in particular - Anna Barlow, Cath Porteous and Rebecca Simpson - have, between them, been the collective heartbeat of North Harbour women's football at senior level since the federation was launched, and the semi-final's goalscoring heroine was quick to pay tribute to her stalwart team-mates. "We needed to do it for them", said Caitlin Campbell after the game. "This is their moment, and Gillian Thurlow's too. She did all my donkey work after she came on. She said to me, 'I don't mind doing the running, you just score the goals'". With three to her name, and a hand in the other three, it's safe to say Campbell followed "GT''s instructions to the letter, much to Glenfield's delight. Glenfield:     Cox; Saito, Hogg, Simpson, Bresnahan; Campbell, Porteous, Barlow, Kemp (Finlay, 90); Donze (Thurlow, 29), Wintle (Carppe, 80) Western:     Andrew; Harkerss, Banfield, Marshall (Hinton, 61), Oliver; Napa, Alexander, Jarden, Jacques; Lord, Lawry Referee:     Carmen Jones