2015 Grand Final 061215

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Northern End Mainland's Hopes Of "Three-Peat"

by Jeremy Ruane

Just as Mainland Pride did to them in 2013, Northern Football scuppered the ASB National Women's League Grand Final hosts' hopes of recording a competition "three-peat" at ASB Park on December 6, prevailing 4-3 over the Cantabrians, who were flattered by the final scoreline.

Paul Greig's charges bossed this game from the first whistle, but despite Northern dominating both territory and possession it was Mainland who earned the first two corners of the game, with Ashleigh Ward's deliveries being well dealt with by Northern's rearguard.

The visitors deservedly opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute with their first genuine goalscoring threat. Rebecca Burrows - she had a massive game in midfield - and Emma Rolston were at the heart of the move, which culminated in Jess Innes being thwarted by Emma Proctor's challenge in the area.

The ball broke kindly for Estelle Harrison, who maintained her reputation as the go-to girl for the big occasion this season by adding an ASB National Women's League Grand Final goal to her double strike in the ASB National Women's Knockout Cup Final, which earned her the Maia Jackman Trophy as that showpiece fixture's Most Valuable Player.

The goal rocked the reigning champions, and Northern wasted little time in looking to press home their advantage. Tayla O'Brien linked with Rolston and Katie Rood - her pace was something with which Mainland couldn't live all game long - to play in Innes, but Geena Gross intervened in the sixteenth minute.

That sparked a Mainland counter-attack, with Ward and Annalie Longo linking with Megan Shea, who broke down the left before picking out Monique Barker with a cross which the striker headed wide of the near post.

Mainland rightly enjoyed plenty of home support, with Air New Zealand's airfares more than doubling between these teams' round-robin meeting three weeks ago and Grand Final day, rendering the trip south financially untenable for all but a hardy few.

The masses urged their charges on, especially in the eighteenth minute, when Kate Seatter's header back to Erin Nayler was eagerly pursued by Gabrielle Brodie. The Football Ferns' custodian just gathered the ball before the striker could swoop, a rare moment of concern for Northern's captain in a match which her team dominated.

They resumed their attacking drive in the 22nd minute, Rood roasting Rebecca Lake before looking to set up Rolston, arriving on the far post. Esson was alive to this threat, and that posed by Innes' twenty-five yarder seconds later, before she blocked a Rood effort at close quarters in the 28th minute after Rolston had just failed to meet Daisy Cleverley's cross from the right.

Amidst these threats by Northern, Mainland had penalty claims turned away by referee Anna-Marie Keighley, who turned a blind eye when Shea went down a little too easily when under pressure from Catherine Bott in the area.

On the half-hour, Northern pressed again, Tessa Berger combining with Seatter to pick out Rood, who held the ball up well before playing Rolston through the offside trap. She beat Esson all ends up with her shot, but looked on despairingly as the ball rolled past the far post.

The goalkeeper picked out Longo near half-way with the resulting goal-kick, and Mainland's talisman promptly produced a delightfully weighted angled cross-field ball to release Brodie at pace on the right. She was ultimately beaten by both the bounce and Nayler.

Not long afterwards, Lee Maoate-Cox earned herself a yellow card for a foul, and was spoken to again by referee Keighley before half-time - she was treading a rather fine line by this stage of proceedings, and Mainland's coaching staff did the wise thing by withdrawing her from the fray at half-time.

By which time Northern should have been out of sight on the scoreboard. Burrows' steepling thirty-five yarder deceived Esson as it dropped down and crashed against the crossbar. Rood, following in, was unable to convert the rebound, but had she done so it wouldn't have counted, the offside flag having been raised against her.

Nayler had a life in the 36th minute. Longo's probing through ball invited Barker to stretch her legs once more, but Seatter was always favourite to win the race. She guided the ball back to her goalkeeper, whose clearance landed at the feet of her fellow Football Fern. Longo was unable to extract the ultimate punishment, Nayler quickly recovering her position to avert the danger.

Two minutes later, Northern were hot on attack again, this time forcing a corner. Harrison whipped the ball into the danger zone, causing pandemonium aplenty in Mainland's goalmouth. An unidentified player fired the ball past Esson, only for Whitney Hepburn to head the ball off the line.

Mainland survived this scare, but another wasn't far away. Cleverley played the ball forward for Rood, whose pressure proved too much for Maoate-Cox to cope with. The striker thundered downfield, sweeping past Rebecca Lake with all the subtlety of a tsunami.

This left Rood one-on-one with Esson, and a goal looked odds-on. But the 'keeper stood her ground superbly to make a terrific blocking save with her legs - had Rood scored, Mainland would have been facing the proverbial mountain-climbing expedition. Esson was a heartbroken figure come the final whistle, but this was the save of the game, no question.

Mainland's goalkeeping captain looked on moments later as Rolston landed a thirty yard free-kick on the roof of her net, before Maoate-Cox's final intervention in the match saw her cut out an Innes cross intended for Rood, after O'Brien had released the winger down the left.

Esson rode her luck again four minutes into the second spell. Advancing to the edge of her penalty

area as Northern raided, she provoked some hesitancy among her defenders, something which Rolston was swift to take advantage of - she blocked the 'keeper's attempted clearance.

The ball eventually found its way across to Innes, who somehow struck the side-netting with Esson and her team-mates desperately scrambling across their goalmouth in an effort to deter the winger in her attempt to double Northern's lead.

A second goal wasn't far away, however, but not before Rolston had volleyed over the top after Seatter, Berger, Rood and O'Brien had combined to good effect in the 53rd minute, with a goal-kick the result.

It reached half-way, where Harrison was lurking on the left. She spotted Rolston's run through the inside-right channel and flighted a measured ball into her stride. The prolific markswoman, who missed the majority of the season due to a nagging injury, finished with aplomb on this occasion, neatly controlling the sphere before steering it beyond Esson's despairing dive into the far corner of the net.

Game over, seemingly. With Longo being well contained by Northern, Mainland offered little in the way of an alternative attacking approach. But the gifted midfield maestro still managed to find a way to create problems for the visitors, with her 55th minute through ball from half-way prompting a volleyed strike from Barker which Nayler tipped round the post.

The resulting corner was cleared by Seatter to Burrows, who instantly linked with O'Brien for Rood's benefit. The speedster was a constant menace to Mainland's back-line, and on this occasion attempted to chip Esson from distance. Her effort drifted past the far post.

Cue the start of the substitutions which regularly punctuated the final half-hour of proceedings. These included Aimee Phillips' return to her old stamping ground, but this time being her first appearance since making her Football Ferns' debut, something in which her Mainland fans take great pride, despite the fact she was playing for their opponents in this match.

Northern's other attackers continued to threaten, however. Berger and Seatter ignited another attack in the 66th minute, with Harrison, Cleverley and Innes all involved before Rolston was sent dashing through on goal.

Esson saved at her feet on this occasion, and her clearance downfield looked to have been dealt with comfortably by Northern's defence, until Bott made a horrendous misjudgement with a back-pass towards Nayler. Proctor said "Thanks very much" and on her farewell appearance before marriage and relocation, fair battered the ball past the stranded 'keeper to put Mainland back in the contest - 2-1 after 67 minutes.

Northern stepped up their attacking endeavours, knowing full well that the scoreline as it stood did not fairly reflect the game and their dominance of it. Twelve minutes from time, Phillips combined with Rood to play in Innes, but she shot straight at Esson.

The 'keeper hadn't a prayer four minutes later, however, and while it was a contentious goal, it was one of the highest quality. Nayler threw the ball out to substitute Belinda Van Noorden, in space on the left. She lobbed the ball over the top for Rolston, who appeared to be in an offside position upon receipt of the ball, but obviously wasn't when it was played in the eyes of FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final flag-bearer Sarah Walker.

What followed was sumptuous skill. Rolston controlled the ball, deftly evaded one challenger, flicked the ball over another, then, as it dropped, uncorked a sublime volleyed lob over Esson and into the back of the net - if ever a goal deserved to win a national final, it was this one! Brilliantly conceived and executed.

And still they pressed. Harrison fired in a free-kick three minutes later which Rolston headed against the crossbar. Rood chested home the rebound, but again fell foul of the offside flag.

Cue an 88th minute attack which culminated in Esson bringing Phillips to earth, and referee Keighley pointing to the penalty spot. Her Northern team-mates all wanted the substitute to take it, but Phillips' body language was of the "anyone but me" variety. She bowed to her peers' wishes, however, and duly sent Esson the wrong way - 4-1 in the 89th minute.

A minimum of five minutes of stoppage time was signalled, and in that time, Mainland reduced the deficit not once but twice. Firstly, Barker punished Northern's sluggishness in clearing their lines with a shot which flew past Nayler and ricocheted in off the post - a late consolation goal, seemingly.

Not so. When Keighley deemed Nayler guilty of picking up a back-pass from Berger - how it be considered as such given the defender was averting the danger posed by a lofted ball in towards their penalty area defies logic - it gave Mainland the chance to reduce the deficit still further.

Sure enough, they did, Longo masterminding operations over the indirect free-kick which had been awarded, then hammering home Ward's pass from same to make it 4-3, with time still on the clock.

It wasn't enough to allow Mainland to pull off the most unlikely of comebacks and force extra-time, much to the home fans' disappointment, but it certainly gave Northern a scare at the death in a final which saw the new champions prove far superior to their predecessors right across the park, and now they've got the silverware to prove it.

Mainland: Esson; Gross (Hamblett, 53), Lake (Gillett, 88), Maoate-Cox (booked, 33), (Jones, 46), Ward; Proctor, Hepburn (Bray, 63), Longo; Brodie, Barker (booked, 76), Shea

Northern: Nayler; Bott, Berger, Seatter (Wilson, 90), Harrison; Burrows, Cleverley (Stratford, 90), O'Brien (Phillips, 59); Rolston, Rood, Innes (Van Noorden, 78)

Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley

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