Mainland Pride came from behind to down a plucky Football South combination 4-2 at Dunedin's University Oval on 22 October, taking the outright lead in the ASB National Women's Youth League's Southern Conference as a result of their victory. A lively South Island derby almost enjoyed a flying start. Una Madden sent Georgia Brown storming down the right flank straight from the kick-off, and the impressively performed youngster skinned both Laura Merrin and Ashleigh Ward before lashing a cross-shot inches over Lily Alfeld's crossbar. That set the tone for what was to follow, with thrills and spills aplenty at either end as both teams threw caution to the wind to serve up a cracking game of football. South were dead keen to open the scoring, as evidenced by the pressure under which they put the Mainlanders, who had to make do with counter-attacks in the  initial stages of the match. When they finally breached the Bianca Roy-led backline, they discovered Tess Nicol, South's 'keeper, was in fine form. Confident under the high ball throughout, she raced out of goal to save at the feet of Dayna Napa in the thirteenth minute, after the striker had been slipped through the defence by Hannah Wong's through ball. But South were in the ascendancy, and in the sixteenth minute came desperately close to opening the scoring. Brown linked with captain Chelsea Martin, whose super cross-field ball sent Shontelle Smith scampering down the left, from where she whipped in an inviting cross from which Mary Fraser was just a stride away from making perfect contact. Four minutes later, Smith's headed interception of Wong's crossfield pass was latched onto by Monique Francois, who worked a slick one-two with Fraser and duly rounded the advancing Alfeld, only to find Belinda Van Noorden on hand to divert the ball to safety as the striker looked to tuck the ball home from an acute angle. Brown took the resulting corner, and delivered it right into the heart of Mainland's goalmouth. Mikayla Wieblitz's heart was in her mouth when she sliced her attempted clearance towards her own goal - it was only the crossbar which spared her blushes. Mainland scrambled the ball away, but within seconds they found it back deep inside their own half, thanks to a raking clearance from Nicol which Brown latched onto. She whipped in a wicked low cross to the near post which Fraser met with a full-blooded drive. Alfeld plunged to her left to pull off a fine parried save, and Ward set in motion a lightning-fast counter-attack which saw Wong give Amber Mulhill-Larsen the runaround on half-way before releasing Aimee Phillips through the inside left channel. Nicol was alert to the danger, however, and raced out to save at the feet of the fleet-footed front-runner. Buoyed by this, Mainland pressed again in the 25th minute, with Meikayla Moore's pass to Wong touched into the stride of Napa. Her cross was flicked on by Phillips at the near post, but just behind the incoming figure of Merrin - an enterprising attack which deserved better fate. South responded immediately, led by Smith, a youngster with a great eye for a pass. The one she threaded through for Fraser was a peach, and put the striker one-on-one with Alfeld. Again, the 'keeper found herself second-best in this situation, but Moore came to her team-mate's rescue, showing superb anticipation to get back on the line and be perfectly placed to head Fraser's shot to safety. Just after the half-hour mark, Phillips exploited some defensive hesitancy by South from a throw-in, and jinked past a couple of opponents before letting fly at Nicol's near post. The 'keeper was unsighted, and was moving to her left before changing direction and diving full-length low to her right to pull off a blinding fingertip save - a superb stop! Her team-mates took heart from their fearless number one's solidity twixt the sticks, and mounted another raid three minutes later. Madden got to the byline on the right before laying the ball back to Brown, whose teasing cross to the far post was tailor-made for Fraser to head home - she would have done had she got adequate contact on it. Seven minutes before half-time, Emily Jensen - what was she doing out on the right wing? - raced inside off the flank and surged into South's penalty area. Madden came in on the angle with a sliding tackle which took the ball as clean as a whistle, but her momentum saw her clip the flying figure of Mainland's captain, and instantly, referee Dean Seager pointed to the penalty spot. Two minutes elapsed while Jensen received treatment, plenty of time for nerves to overtake both Nicol and the penalty-taker, Maia Vink. The former U-17 international stepped up and let fly from twelve yards, only for Nicol to pull off another outstanding save. But Vink was onto the rebound in an instant, and duly buried it to open the scoring.

Mary Fraser (South) and Ashleigh Ward (Pride) Hannah Wong (Pride) and Chelsea Martin (South) Belinda Van Noorden (Pride) Georgia Brown (South) Aimee Phillips (Pride) and Caitlyn Bloxham (South) Emily Jensen (Pride)

It was a blow which South barely deserved, but from which they could easily have capitulated. They didn't - indeed, they went straight down the other end from the kick-off and equalised! Brown and Madden teamed up on the right, with the playmaker beating one before setting up Martin for a shot from the edge of the penalty area. The first the unsighted Alfeld knew about it was when she saw a white blur fly past her and nestle itself in the bottom left-hand corner of her net - a terrific strike, which made the score 1-1. On the stroke of half-time, Francois spurned a fine change to give the home team the lead, while five minutes after the interval, Madden slipped Francois through with a nicely weighted pass which allowed the striker to wrong-foot Jensen before letting fly. Alfeld flung herself to her right to produce a top stop. After Nicol had smothered a shot from Merrin, and Alfeld had been forced into a rushed clearance of an ill-conceived back-pass from Moore which saw Fraser all over the 'keeper like a rash, Mainland went close to taking the lead again just shy of the hour. Merrin's cross arced beyond Phillips but found Wong arriving on cue to control and let fly, only for Nicol to grab her rising drive at the near post. The visitors followed this up with a superb move on the hour. Phillips played the ball wide to Merrin, whose low cross to the near post was spilled by Nicol. Substitute Arna Roberts followed in, only to see her shot saved by the legs of the recovering 'keeper. South scrambled the ball out as far as Wong, who duly lashed it back through the crowd. Once again, Nicol parried the effort, and this time recovered swiftly to save at the feet of Roberts. In the 65th minute, South were presented with a glorious chance to take the lead when referee Seager - a mixed bag of a display - pointed to the penalty spot for a second time. On this occasion, Jensen was adjudged to have brought down Francois in the area, and Fraser made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick - 2-1 South, a scoreline their display fully merited. It was at this point that coach Nick Rzepecky made a crucial error of judgement. Having already removed Madden from the fray - Carena Oosterbaan was a more than worthy replacement in her case - he proceeded to withdraw Brown from the action, which altered the balance of South's right flank. Mainland, sensing that South were ripe for the plucking down that flank, duly launched an attack down the left straight from the kick-off. Ward rampaged to the byline before drilling a low cross to the near post for Phillips to expertly steer home - 2-2, just sixty seconds later. Six minutes later, Mainland regained the lead. Wong pounced on a loose ball and played the ball back to Moore, whose quality cross was superbly anticipated by Wieblitz. She came storming through the middle to get on the end of it, and was rightly delighted after her outstretched foot steered the sphere over the stunned figure of Nicol into the roof of the net from six yards - a terrific goal. It was a savage blow for South to stomach, as the home team had contributed so much to this riveting encounter to this point, and didn't deserve to emerge from it with nothing to show for their efforts. They were reeling from conceding the third goal when Mainland went after a fourth, with Wong, Merrin and Roberts all involved. The last-mentioned's cross was plucked off the head of Wong by Nicol, who collided with the striker in the process, ending the U17 international's afternoon ten minutes earlier than planned. After Alfeld had foiled Fraser with a near post save twelve minutes from time, Mainland continued to press for a fourth goal, and two minutes from time gained their due reward. Moore picked out Roberts on the right, and her cross was met on the run by Phillips, off whose thigh the ball arced over Nicol and into the net to wrap up the scoring. But for another fine save by Nicol, this time with her legs at point-blank range from the well-performed Belinda Van Noorden, Mainland would have won the game by a very flattering margin. As it was, the final 4-2 scoreline in the visitors' favour was an unfair reflection on South's immense contribution to a rip-roaring South Island derby, with the performances of Nicol, Brown, Fraser and Smith particularly eye-catching. South:         Nicol; Mulhill-Larsen (Stannard, 77), Bloxham, Roy, Foote; Brown (Dunn, 67), Madden (Oosterbaan, 51), Martin, Smith (J. Walker, 71); Fraser, Francois (Whittaker, 84) Mainland:    Alfeld; Moore, Jensen, Van Noorden, Ward; Phillips (Los, 90), Wieblitz, Vink, Merrin; Napa (Roberts, 57), Wong (Z. Walker, 80) Referee:    Dean Seager