Onehunga Sports' reign as co-leaders of the Lotto Northern Women's Championship came to an abrupt end at Waikaraka Park on April 27 as Franklin United stunned "The Green Machine" 7-3 to leave Melville United alone at the top after five rounds of action. It was raining goals as well as water in the match of the round, with Keely Taylor giving the visitors the ideal start, scoring inside the first sixty seconds of play, an advantage which Britney Cunningham-Lee built on ten minutes later, the first goal of her hat-trick. Kate Inwood and Pip Meo dragged Sports back into the contest in a five-minute spell before the half-hour mark, their goals sandwiching the reigning Golden Boot winner's second of the game to leave Franklin in front by the odd goal in five at that point in the contest. Sports were bereft of the services of defensive lynchpin Sivitha Boyce and former Football Fern Holly Patterson, amongst others, but they made light of that by drawing level just shy of the hour mark through the prolific Sophie Stevenson. Parity lasted just eight minutes, at which point Franklin blew Sports away with three goals in a five-minute spell. Michelle Oostdam - another member of the Oostdam footballing dynasty which has played such a significant role in Franklin football over many years - restored their lead in the 65th minute, before Cunningham-Lee and Sarah Carpenter put the visitors out of reach. Captain Georgia Irvine iced the cake in stoppage time to complete the scoring in another goal-fest between these teams - the corresponding fixture a year ago at the same venue saw Sports prevail 7-1. Melville, meanwhile, eased to a 3-0 win at Cambridge to take the outright lead in the league, with all the scoring coming in the first half-hour at John Kerkhof Park. Laura Bennett bagged a brace,

her double sandwiching a Lola Williams strike as United made it five wins from five matches to claim bragging rights in the Waikato derby. The two derbies in Auckland were more closely contested. Sylvia McDougall struck yet again for Central United as they overcame Onehunga-Mangere United 1-0 at Kiwitea Street in the Central Auckland derby, while it was honours even in the North Harbour derby at Shepherds Park, where Nicola O'Leary's penalty five minutes before half-time for Birkenhead United was matched by Lauren Smyth's leveller for Northern Rovers halfway through the second spell. In Kate Sheppard Cup action, just one tie ended up taking place in the northern region, and it saw Te Awamutu score a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Hamilton Wanderers at Porritt Stadium, Astrid Joy netting the winner halfway through the second spell. Next Sunday's fare sees Melville welcoming Birkenhead to Gower Park, while "The Green Machine" head across the Harbour Bridge to McFetridge Park, where Northern lie in wait. Central and Cambridge lock horns at Kiwitea Street, while Franklin pay "The Scarlets" a visit at Mangere Domain. Details: Birkenhead United 1 (N. O'Leary (40 pen)), Northern Rovers 1 (L. Smyth (65))  HT 1-0 Cambridge 0, Melville United 3 (L. Bennett (4, 31), L. Williams (22))  HT 0-3 Central United 1 (S. McDougall (36)), Onehunga-Mangere United 0  HT 1-0 Onehunga Sports 3 (K. Inwood (22), P. Meo (27), S. Stevenson (57)), Franklin United 7 (K. Taylor (1), B. Cunningham-Lee (11, 24, 68), M. Oostdam (65), S. Carpenter (70), G. Irvine (90))  HT 2-3 Kate Sheppard Cup details: Hamilton Wanderers 2 (A. Rowell (14), Z. Pearson (32)), Te Awamutu 3 (H. MacKenzie (24), L. Proffit (48), A. Joy (68))  HT 2-1