Claudelands Rovers produced a superb exhibition of wet-weather football on June 19 as they came from behind to thrash Three Kings United 12-1 at a rain-soaked Keith Hay Park. Only the brave and committed were in attendance throughout proceedings, and they were treated to some delightful one-touch football, laced with one-twos, terrific movement off the ball and some clinical finishing by Claudelands, who used their greater all-round experience to unhinge a Three Kings side boasting just two players - Claudia Crasborn and captain Tessa Berger - from last season's epic National Women's Knockout Cup Final between these clubs. Rovers fired the first strike on goal after just 65 seconds, with Katherine Robinson's rasping twenty-yarder fizzing inches over the crossbar. From the resulting goal-kick, United produced a super move which resulted in the game's opening goal just 110 seconds into the contest. Kirsty Hayr - a youngster with promise aplenty - and Steph Trowill worked a one-two on half-way which saw the former scamper down the left at pace before crossing to the far post for Martine Puketapu. Kylie Jens cleared her lines, but Crasborn soon regained possession and delivered a gorgeous cross which Claudelands' rearguard stood and admired. As it dropped, there was only one player moving in the goalmouth, and to Rovers' dismay, it was Trowill, who gleefully stroked the ball beyond Naomi-Beth Carter - 1-0 to the home team. This stung Rovers into life, with Olivia Chance setting up Kate Loye to drill a shot narrowly past the far post in the fourth minute, while Alice Ireton fired straight at United 'keeper Rivalina Fuimaono three minutes later, after being played in by Loye. In the twelfth minute, Hannah Rishworth neatly controlled a Fuimaono throw before spraying the ball into the stride of Crasborn. The overlapping fullback stormed down the right past two opponents before setting up Trowill, who directed her shot straight at Carter. Three minutes later, Loye picked out Holly Patterson, who led Kristen Molloy a merry dance throughout proceedings. On this occasion, she jinked between the fullback and Michelle Windsor before letting fly from the edge of the penalty area. That shot fizzed narrowly past the post, but over the course of the next fifteen minutes, Rovers turned the game on its head with a four-goal salvo which broke Three Kings' resistance. Patterson wriggled through three challenges in the seventeenth minute before picking out Chance with a pass. The Football Fern evaded Crasborn's lunging challenge before firing an unerring eighteen yarder beyond Fuimaono into the bottom far corner of the net. Six minutes later, it was role reversal time as Rovers took the lead. Chance picked out Patterson with a super switch of play, and the wing wizard walloped the ball first time beyond Fuimaono into the bottom far corner - a fine finish which rewarded excellent technique. 2-1 became 3-1 in the 26th minute, a goal for which Fuimaono had only herself to blame. She threw the ball out towards Berger, who was in no position to receive the ball, and certainly wasn't expecting. Chance said "Muchas gracias, senorita", and set up Loye for a crisp twenty yard finish inside Fuimaono's near post, the 'keeper diving far too late to retrieve the situation. After Chance had fired inches wide on receipt of a Patterson pass, Claudelands scored their fourth goal of the game on the half-hour. United's defending of Chance's corner was abysmal - Robinson was afforded a free header which crashed into the net. Rovers were now laying siege to the Three Kings goal, and Berger somehow cleared off the line from Tessa Leong in the 34th minute as Robinson, Loye, Chance and Alice Ireton engineered an opening which their stunned opponents could only admire.

Another three-goal burst followed, this one in a five-minute frenzy of foraging in the seven minutes prior to half-time. Ireton fired in off the post in the 38th minute after evading Berger's challenge, while two minutes later, Kylie Jens and Chance tore United apart down Rovers' left, Leong the ultimate beneficiary of their impressive creativity. And two minutes before the break, Rovers went seven-up after Patterson swept past Molloy and Windsor on a run from half-way which culminated in a sumptuous curling cross in behind Berger. Loye was arriving on cue, and gleefully steered the ball home from six yards. With the game over as a contest, the second half became a damage limitation exercise for Three Kings, although it didn't start very well. Six minutes into the spell, Rovers struck their eighth goal. A lovely move down the left featuring Alex Shadbolt, Jens, Loye and Chance culminated in a delightful cross to the far post which had Leong as its intended beneficiary. The retreating figure of Windsor had other ideas, but could only look on in despair as the ball struck her and looped over Fuimaono before entering the net via the far post. Three minutes later, Loye and Jens worked a slick one-two on the left which saw the central midfielder clip a cross onto the head of Leong. The youngster's glancing header grazed the far post - it deserved better fate. Since the onslaught had begun, United had rarely enjoyed any time in possession, let alone threatened the opposition's goal. But Puketapu's pursuit of a seemingly lost cause in the 55th minute forced Carter to save at her feet, a threat to which Rovers responded with goal number nine, two minutes later. Libby Williams, who was playing against her old club, released Patterson down the right, and she duly took Molloy and Windsor to the cleaners once more before setting up Leong for a tap-in. After Patterson had rattled the side-netting with a fierce drive, the talented number ten took a free-kick, and landed the ball on the head of Ireton. With no-one challenging her, the striker picked her spot - 10-1, and there were still 27 minutes left to play. Four of those minutes had elapsed when Rovers brought up all the ones on the scoreboard. Chance and Patterson worked a short corner which saw the former evade a couple of players then see her shot blocked. The rebound fell kindly to New Zealand's reigning International Young Player of the Year, and she promptly evaded a couple more challenges before sending a twenty yard drive scorching into the roof of the net. Six minutes later, Rovers made it 12-1, and like a number of those which had preceded it, the goal was avoidable. Chance's corner wasn't cleared, Loye's attempt to turn home the rebound was blocked, and Jens was on hand to turn home the ricochet. And that's how it stayed, with Chance threatening once more ten minutes from time, sending a rasping drive over the bar after jinking inside past three opponents. Remarkably, no-one scored a hat-trick for Rovers, who were simply far too good for a Three Kings combination sorely lacking in experience, but which gave US-based U-17 prospect Courtney Pitman a debut during the last fifteen minutes of a contest long since over. There wouldn't have been too many teams which would have lived with Rovers on this display. They were clinical, precise, played some delightful football … to be perfectly frank, on the occasion of this, their best performance of the season, they were an absolute pleasure to watch, the inclement conditions notwithstanding. United:     Fuimaono; Crasborn, Berger, Windsor, Molloy (booked, 24); Rishworth, Kolose (Jeurissen, 64), Burrows, Hayr; Puketapu (Pitman, 74), Trowill (Eaton, 59) Rovers:     Carter; Williams, Carlton, Shadbolt, Jens; Patterson, Loye, Robinson (Boden, 81), Chance; Ireton (Stewart, 74), Leong Referee:     Anna-Marie Keighley