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23/08/92
Jackman Strikes Sink Te Atatu
by Jeremy Ruane
Maia Jackman warmed up for this week’s National Secondary Schoolgirls tournament by netting both goals in Panasonic Batteries Eden’s deserved 2-0 triumph over their unyielding Te Atatu opponents in Pepsi Premier One action at Te Atatu Park on August 23.
The home side started the stronger of the two, but within four minutes, Eden were in front. Gina O’Shea sent Maia Jackman away with a lovely through ball, and she ran on to coolly clip the ball beyond Margaret Pook to set Te Atatu back on their heels.
After a couple of long-distance efforts, from Melissa Verryt and Tracey Duke, had found Michelle Townsley alert to any such danger, Eden sent Pook into action again. Beth Clark battled hard to earn a corner, from which Lyn Pedruco’s near-post header brought the best out of the home team’s number one.
In the 22nd minute, Michele Cox’s pinpoint free-kick found Jackman near the far post. She beat two opponents before sending in a low cross which found Clark in an offside position with the goal at her mercy.
Seven minutes later, and a goal-line clearance from Te Atatu’s Susan Campbell was required to deny Tarah Cox’s determined efforts, while at the other end, Lynda Smith beat Paulette Wheeler but chose to shoot - tamely - with proven goalscorer Duke unmarked in the middle.
A period of probing for openings followed, with Campbell narrowly astray from distance, and Gillian Thurlow dispossessing Terry McCahill, only to find Townsley in top form, as she hurtled off her line to thwart the danger.
In the 58th minute came a goal of pure skill. The Cox sisters combined to send Jackman away down the left. She cut in and executed a superb chip with the outside of the foot, which left Pook beaten all ends up.
At 2-0, Eden started pressing for more goals, with Pedruco, Delwyn Lucas and Michele Cox - in her element as she repeatedly wove her way through Te Atatu’s midfield quartet - at the heart of her team’s attacking moves.
But it was Jackman who was proving the bane of Te Atatu’s defence. Referee Steve Levein ruled a slip, rather than a trip by Rebecca Curtis, the best of the home team’s performers, when Jackman went down in the penalty area after 68 minutes, while, four minutes later, the Auckland Under-18 rep failed to convert a great chance for her hat-trick. Pedruco, Lucas and O’Shea created the opening, but Jackman had overrun the cross, and couldn’t complete a fine Eden move with the goal it deserved.
After Yvonne Van Bakel, playing outfield due to a finger injury, had tested Townsley with a thirty-yard free-kick, Clark released Tarah Cox with an impeccable crossfield ball, but the tigerish midfield battler failed to do justice to her team-mate’s efforts.
Pook completed a fine goalkeeping display with a splendid diving save to deny Lucas a well-earned goal, her headed effort the result of another precise Michele Cox free-kick, while McCahill’s masterminding of Eden’s offside trap denied Thurlow the opportunity of some late glory, in the last act of a testing encounter, played in good spirit throughout.
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