Claudelands Rovers swept to the outright lead of the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League in emphatic fashion on May 6, crushing reigning champions Glenfield Rovers 4-2 at McFetridge Park, a scoreline which flattered the home team. They mounted a late rally to halve the deficit, but Glenfield owe a debt to goalkeeper Pam Yates for enabling them to finish as close as they did, for Claudelands could well have clocked up another double-figure victory but for the sterling efforts of the three-times-capped New Zealand international. The visitors tore into their task from the outset, first threatening in the fifth minute. Sarah McLaughlin - she led Caitlin Smallfield a merry dance all game long - linked with Helen Collins to bring Kate Loye into play, and the midfielder spread the ball wide to Olivia Chance. The talented winger whipped in a cross-shot which initially deceived Yates, the 'keeper spilling the sphere onto her shin and towards her own goal. Thankfully, she swiftly recovered her error, but it wasn't long before Yates' goal was under threat again. Two minutes had elapsed when Holly Nixon won an aerial duel in the centre circle. Loye was the beneficiary, and once again she swept the ball wide to Chance, who had the beating of Hannah Bromley throughout the first half, so much so that the fullback was withdrawn before the interval. This time, Chance clipped a cross towards the near post where Collins, the league's leading markswoman, was arriving at pace. Her thunderous volley flashed high and narrowly past the upright - had it been on target, Yates wouldn't have stood a prayer. The save she made in the eighth minute more than made up for it. Patterson burst between two challengers before linking with Chance, who slipped McLaughlin through with just Yates to beat. The 'keeper stood her ground well, then plunged to her right to keep out the playmaker's drive - a great chance well thwarted. It came at the expense of a corner, which Alex Shadbolt whipped into the goalmouth. Yates punched the ball off Collins' head, and it fell at the feet of Patterson, whose volley ricocheted off a defender to safety. On the quarter hour, Claudelands took a deserved lead. McLaughlin powered to the by-line on the right, from where she fired over a cross. Glenfield failed to clear it, and Chance and Loye were onto the opening in  an instant. The latter slipped the former into the box, Chance darting in between two players before sweeping past Bromley to the by-line, along which she dashed before jinking inside to create the angle for a low drive which she lashed unerringly across Yates and into the far corner of the net - a quality strike. Glenfield hadn't fired a shot in anger to this point, but Bromley's thirty-five yard cross-shot in the eighteenth minute narrowly cleared Naomi-Beth Carter's crossbar, signalling a brief flurry from the champions during which they went desperately close to equalising. Liz Milne - she worked her socks off for the cause in the first half - stripped McLaughlin of the ball in the 21st minute and picked out Katie Bowen on the right. Her cross was hooked out by Shadbolt, but only as far as Briar McNamara, who was denied by Carter at the expense of a corner. Sarah Gibbs' delivery was cleared to around twenty-five yards from goal, where Bowen was lurking with intent. She unleashed a fulminating volley which sizzled through the crowded goalmouth and was destined for the back of the net until it hit the unfortunate McNamara square amidships and ricocheted to safety. How Claudelands capitalised on that let-off! Patterson had Ashleigh Ward going every which way as she took on the fullback in the 26th minute, and eventually got the better of her, only to undo her good work by over-hitting her pass for Chance. The wing wizard had other ideas, however, and hared after the ball, successfully as it turned out. So much so, in fact, that her first instinct, upon reaching it, was to let fly once more, and once more the ball arrowed across Yates into the far corner of the net - 2-0, and how! Glenfield were shell-shocked, but they responded with another brief spell in which they came desperately close to finding the net. Yates' raking clearance was allowed to bounce by Claudelands' defence in the 28th minute, prompting Carter to come out of goal and do just enough to deny McNamara's pursuit of the ball. Four minutes later, Rebecca O'Neill won the ball well inside her own half and fed Milne, who turned the sphere into the stride of Steph Skilton. She shimmied past two rivals before rifling a twenty-yarder goalwards, the ball skimming the bar. The title-holders went desperately close to halving the deficit in the 33rd minute. A Milne cross was cleared to Priscilla Duncan, some twenty-five yards out from goal, and the midfield general promptly unleashed a dipping volley which deserved better fate than to crash into the angle of far post and crossbar - it was a technically excellent strike. Claudelands survived, and did so again four minutes later as Milne, who was gifted the ball by an out-of-sorts Kylie Jens, lashed a thirty-yarder narrowly past the far post. But after a further two minutes had elapsed, it was 3-0. The Loye-Chance ticket unhinged Glenfield once more, the latter jinking inside Bromley before completely miscuing her shot at goal. Ironically, that was enough to prompt O'Neill to mis-time her clearance, and Glenfield's captain looked on in horror as Collins swooped on the loose ball and smashed it

Kate Loye holds off Priscilla Duncan Holly Patterson and Liz Milne in aerial combat Caitlin Smallfield startles Sarah McLaughlin Kate Carlton cleans up Goalmouth action as Claudelands attack Holly Nixon shields from Steph Skilton Sarah Gibbs

into the top corner of the net from eight yards, Yates plunging off her line in a vain attempt to deny the striker. Rovers - the Glenfield variety - were reeling from this latest body-blow, and came close to conceding a fourth goal within ninety seconds. Nixon spread play wide to Chance, whose early cross was angled behind Loye as she dashed through the inside left channel. The midfielder checked her run and managed to gather the ball before, without being challenged by any stripe-shirted players, she smashed the sphere towards the target. Yates brilliantly tipped the ball onto the bar, and much to Glenfield's relief, Collins, for once, wasn't following in to ram home the rebound. It could have been worse for Glenfield, as Chance was denied what would have been her hat-trick strike in the 42nd minute, adjudged offside as she latched onto Collins' pass and lashed it past Yates. The Glenfield dressing room walls, if they could talk, would doubtless confirm the telling of a few home truths during the half-time break. But no amount of harsh words could disguise the story which the half-time scoreboard bore out - to a woman, Claudelands were well up for the challenge, something which could only be said of a couple of their opponents at most. Glenfield visibly raised their game in the second spell - they had to! - but their efforts were largely ineffective against a side well marshalled defensively by Shadbolt and Kate Carlton, despite the best efforts of McNamara, in particular, to make an impact. The visitors suffered an initial scare, with Collins heading a Milne effort off the line following Gibbs' 47th minute corner, but that apart, only one team looked like scoring again over the course of the next half-hour. McLaughlin squandered a glorious chance to net a fourth goal in the 49th minute when through with just Yates to beat. A desire to get the ball onto her preferred right foot allowed Smallfield to swoop and smother the threat her opponent posed. Nine minutes later, it was Chance's turn to take on the advancing figure of Yates, after working an opening on the counter-attack with Patterson. The custodian got her angles spot on, forcing Chance to fire across her once more, but this time wide of the far post. The resulting goal-kick didn't get too far, another Glenfield error inviting McLaughlin to let fly from twenty-five yards. A fine flying save to her right by Yates prevented another certain goal - she almost single-handedly stood between Claudelands and a riotous outcome in this match. She prevailed once again in the 65th minute, Collins the frustrated front-runner this time, after Patterson and Chance had prised open Glenfield's rearguard once more. And it was Collins again who had reason to look to the skies in dismay seven minutes later, as her top-corner-bound thirty-yarder was plucked from its trajectory by Yates with all the confidence of someone picking a plum from a tree. The 'keeper didn't deserve the fate which befell her sixty seconds later, however. McLaughlin held off a couple of challenges in midfield before pinging a pass through for Patterson to pursue. Yates was always the favourite to win the race for the ball, but she inexplicably spilled the sphere, and looked on in despair as Patterson gleefully raced towards the untended net before ramming home goal number four, seventeen minutes from time. Surely there was no way back now for Glenfield, who were understandably starting to let their frustrations get the better of them by this stage. A wrist injury to Chance saw a couple of substitutions made by both teams, the most significant of which was Shadbolt's decision to withdraw herself from the fray at a time when her team was briefly down to ten players - Chance returned to the fray after some sideline strapping. That tactical blunder cost Claudelands a goal, Skilton capitalising on the uncertainty team-mate Lauren Mathis' presence caused in the visitors' temporarily short-handed rearguard to smash home an angled shot beyond Carter. A consolation strike? Don't you believe it! Galvanised by the goal, and Claudelands' sudden hesitance, Glenfield piled on the pressure, with Ward sending a cross-shot zooming across the face of goal before Carter punched a McNamara header over her own crossbar after Mathis and Bowen had combined to good effect on the right. In the 84th minute, referee Andrew Caie didn't hesitate in pointing to the penalty spot, as McNamara came face to face with terra firma via foul means rather than fair. O'Neill wasted little time in slamming home the spot-kick - 4-2. Could they? No, they could not, try though they did. For that was the last chance of note in a match which could well prove pivotal in the destiny of the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League title in this, the competition's fortieth season. The trophy has never been outside Auckland in its history, but after this emphatic 4-2 victory over Glenfield Rovers, allied to a goal difference some thirty-two goals superior to the title-holders - and only realistic rivals - after this thoroughly deserved victory, Claudelands Rovers, the outright leaders, may well be on the verge of changing that fact. Glenfield:     Yates; Bromley (Oosterhof, 42 (Mathis, 77)), O'Neill, Smallfield, Ward; Bowen, Duncan, Milne (Olsen, 77), Gibbs; Skilton, McNamara Claudelands:     Carter; Williams, Carlton, Shadbolt (Porteous, 79), Jens (Hayes, 56); Nixon, McLaughlin, Loye; Patterson, Collins, Chance Referee:     Andrew Caie