Loaded WaiBOP v Canterbury United Pride - 2018 National Women's League

Photo: PhotoSport

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LoadedWaiBOPvCanterbury Utd Saturday November 3, 2018 | Kick-off: 1pm | Gower Park, Hamilton

Michael’s Minute

Welcome to Gunnie and her Mainland Pride team to Gower Park today. For us it’s great to finally be back at ‘home’ for a match. Our last true home match was round one and we have been on the road since, so to finally have a game where our players, for the most part, don’t have a long day of travelling is a bonus.

The last month has been interesting for me and extremely frustrating for the players. I have found that out of the last four games, we should have had three comfortable wins based on the 90 minutes we put out.

Instead we have only three points to show for it. The interesting part for me is how unpredictable this game is we play. I am by no means trying to say we are perfect or we have had everything go against us, but more about the unforgiving nature of football sometimes. Away to Capital, there was a real sense of progress.

We understood our roles really well and we were disciplined throughout.

Having held the lead for the better part of the game and missed several

obvious chances, we were undone in the 89th and 92nd minute. Away to Central in the first of two matches over a long weekend and we dominated most of the play for 90mins, had seven shots hit the woodwork, peppered the GK on a regular basis, but still could not score. They countered us in the 91st minute, and despite having players there to deal with it, a clinical strike buried us in a deep hole of regret. Thankfully, we had a strong counter match on the Monday and Kellie Brown collected a well taken hat trick to win our first game of the season. Last week against Northern we were up against it. Happy to have spells without possession, we looked to restrict their talented squad to few chances. I would say we did that really well for 60 minutes and had a couple of half chances of our own, but they were too good for us on this day. So out of those four games, we had some moments where I have truly admired the girls’ progress and work, and then there have been times of absolute despair for the players as I felt the result didn’t match the effort or performance they put in.

This league so far has shown our players the level really required. There have been plenty of lessons along the way for the players and management and while we will struggle to really impact the league in 2018, wheels are in motion to make sure we are better for the experience in 2019. We have five games left in the season and we are going to approach each one with Continued page 7...

Kelli Brown, Loaded WaiBOP’s leading scorer, in action against Northern Lights last weekend.

Photo: Graphic Sport Images.

National Women’s League Round 8 Auckland Football have ended the Canterbury United Pride’s unbeaten run in the National Women’s League.

Auckland, the defending champions, came into the match looking to bounce back from their 2-0 loss to the Northern Lights on Tuesday night and they did so with a commanding 3-1 win over the Pride at McLennan Park in Papakura.

Auckland winger Paige Satchell set up a goal and scored another as the seven-time champions delivered their best performance of the 2018 season.

The victory means Auckland and the Northern Lights, who defeated WaiBOP 3-0 today, move to within four points of the Canterbury United Pride at the top of the table. The top two teams advance to the final in December.

Auckland Head Coach Tracy Wrigley said this was the sort of performance that her and her support staff have been expecting from their squad. “We have had patches of good play [this season] but it was just a matter of putting it all together, we delivered a good team performance today,” Wrigley said.

“We were particularly cohesive going forward and hopefully we can start to put the goals on the end of that sort of attack.”

Canterbury United Pride’s Alanna Gunn paid credit to Auckland for the way they took the game to her team. “Auckland came out today and started by far the stronger team

which put us on the back foot a little bit,” said Gunn. “It took us a little while to get into the game and the way Auckland played throughout put the game out of reach.”

Auckland took the lead early when Satchell used her pace to good effect.

The Football Fern got in behind the Pride defence and laid off a ball for Grace Jale to knock in, in the 14th minute.

The hosts took that lead into the break and soon after Satchell made her presence felt once again. She went around a defender with relative ease and then slotted past Pride keeper Vic Esson in goal.

The Pride were reeling at 2-0 down but responded when skipper Annalie Longo scored in the 52nd minute.

The Football Ferns legend gave her team hope of remaining unbeaten but Auckland soon ended that idea.

With 20 minutes to play midfielder Jade Parris hit a powerful strike from long range which beat Esson.

It was Parris’ fifth goal of the season and her most important as Auckland recorded an important win over the form team of the competition.

Across town at McFetridge Park, the Northern Lights continued their momentum with a 3-0 victory over WaiBOP Football.

The Gemma Lewis coached team opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Dayna Stevens was played in nicely by Jane Barnett and she slotted home.

WaiBOP, who picked up their first win of the campaign last week with a 3-0 win over Central, battled hard but the Lights controlled the game.

Northern scored twice in the last 11 minutes to put the match to bed. The first came through Nicole Stratford in the 79th minute when Barnett delivered a cross from a short corner and Stratford headed home. Minutes later, Stratford was in the thick of the action again. She put in a low cross into a dangerous area and WaiBOP’s Ashley Weld scored an own goal in the 89th minute.

Stratford said she was happy with the team’s performance as they controlled the game well.

“We were patient in our build up and moved the ball forward well to get into scoring positions,” she said.

“I think 3-0 was a scoreline which reflected how we played and we deserved it.”

Capital kept their slim hopes of claiming the National Women’s League title alive with a vital 3-1 win over Southern United.

Southern didn’t help their chances by getting a player sent off early in the second half.

On a day in which wise heads were always likely to prove crucial, it was no surprise to see Sarah Gregorius emerge as the match-winner for Capital. The Football Ferns striker wore the captain’s armband as usual and led by example with a brace while Anna McPhie also got on the

scoresheet.

Gregorius showed exactly why she has had such an illustrious career with the manner in which she gave her side an early lead. In the 10th minute, the 31-year-old picked the ball up near halfway and embarked on a jinking run before beating Southern goalkeeper Jordan Woodward with an accomplished finish.

But the lead didn’t last long, Shontelle Smith equalising for the visitors just a few minutes later.

Southern thought they had done enough to go into the break on level terms after an evenly-fought first half but Capital had other ideas and Gregorius again had a hand in the goal. This time she used her determination to win the ball back before Maya Hahn released McPhie, who smashed her effort into the bottom corner to restore Capital’s advantage.

Another defining moment then arrived early in the second spell and, once again, Gregorius was at the heart of it. The skipper had been put through on goal and Renee Bacon needed to take drastic action but mistimed her tackle and was given a red card.

That gave Southern a steep hill to climb and their odds were diminished further with just under 10 minutes remaining as Gregorius completed an action-packed afternoon for herself with a brave header to make it 3-1.

Article courtesy: NZ Football.

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...from page 2

the focus and determination to finish strong.

I do feel like today’s game is a real test to see if we are able to cope with a strong outfit again. Northern last week was a nice little rehearsal, but based on our last round performance against the Pride, I want to see how our players have developed in certain areas. We are going to need to be at our absolute best in terms of discipline and focus if we want any points today.

I want people to understand that while I have a strong sense of focus towards developing our region’s top female players, this business is about results, something that has proven elusive. So the aim is to get points today from the top team and really cause as many frustrations for them as possible.

It is at this point I must acknowledge that our team will lose a few players going into the next couple games, but I also want to acknowledge their success in doing so. Georgia Candy, Kelli Brown and Grace Wisnewski leave for Uruguay to compete at the FIFA U17 World Cup. They will face a friendly against Canada, and then pool matches against Finland, Uruguay and Ghana. It is important to note that this is a strong showing for our region in

terms of representation and while my tenure with these players has been short, I am really pleased for them because they have worked hard for this and I look forward to watching them live on the world stage. Myself and Max Tommy will also be travelling with the squad for the tour, which is another massively positive promotion of the game in our region. We also have another international coach, Sam Wilkinson, who is currently with the NZ U17 mens programme working in this region. Having players and coaches working at this level from the WaiBOP region bodes well for the youth game here and should be evidence that there is real progress to be made in the near future. While I’ll miss one NWL game, the programme for our team won’t change and I will be leaving the squad in safe hands until I return and I will be operating things remotely with my players and staff.

To all the volunteers and supporters here today, we appreciate your continued support. We look forward to putting our best out there today for you and we hope to achieve something that only one other team has done to the Pride this season…win!

Your Loaded WaiBOP Playing Squad

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GEORGIA CANDY

OLIVIA HOOPER

EMMA CAWTE

ELLA GOLDING

CHLOE HENDERSON

STELLA NEEMS

LILLY MUSPRATT

KATE WILLIAMS

JAYDEN WATTS

HELEN TALBOT

KELLI BROWN

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TIANA HILL

GRACE WISNEWSKI

ASHLEY WELD

LAUREN HENRY

RICHLYN TUHORO

KIM MAGUIRE

CHELSEA ELLIOTT

AMY HARRISON

GRACE COX

SARAH MONTEITH

RYLEE GODBOLD

SHAE BRADY

Vital Statistics 2018 NWL Table

Canterbury Utd Pride Northern Lights Auckland Football Capital Football Southern United WAIBOP FOOTBALL Central Football

P W D L F A Pts 7 6 0 1 26 6 18 7 4 2 1 17 3 13 7 4 1 1 16 5 13 6 3 1 2 12 11 10 7 2 1 4 16 15 7 7 1 0 6 7 22 3 7 1 0 6 2 34 0

2018 NWL Fixtures Date Opponents H/A Venue Sep 15 Auckland H Gower Park, Hamilton Sep 22 Cant.Utd Pride A English Park, Christchurch Sep 29 BYE Oct 7 Southern United H McLennan Park, Papakura Oct 13 Capital A Memorial Park, Petone Oct 20 Central H Massey Uni, Palmerston North Oct 22 Central A Massey Uni, Palmerston North Oct 28 Northern Lights A McFetridge Park, Auckland Nov 3 Cant. Utd Pride H Gower Park, Hamilton Nov 10 BYE Nov 17 Capital H Gower Park, Hamilton Nov 25 Southern United A Tahuna Park, Dunedin Dec 2 Auckland A McLennan Park, Papakura Dec 8 Northern Lights H Gower Park, Hamilton Dec 15/16 Grand Final

Result 0-4 loss 0-6 loss 3-6 loss 1-2 loss 0-1 loss 3-0 win 0-3 loss 1pm 2pm 11am 2pm 2pm

* Please check for any alterations at www.waibopfootball.co.nz

2018 NWL Golden Boot 5 - Monique Barker, Annalie Longo, Gabrielle Rennie (all Canterbury Utd Pride), Jade Parris (Auckland), Sarah Gregorius (Capital).

4 - Kelli Brown (Loaded WaiBOP), Cody Taylor (Canterbury Utd Pride).

Loaded WaiBOP @ Central Football, Saturday October 20 & Monday October 22.

Helen Talbot (above) and Tiana Hill and Georgia Candy (below) during our Labour Weekend National Women’s League double header in Palmerston North. Photos: PhotoSport.

Head Coach Michael Mayne 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Georgia Candy (GK) Kate Williams Olivia Hooper Chloe Henderson Jayden Watts Emma Cawte Stella Neems Helen Talbot Ella Golding Lilly Muspratt Kelli Brown Tiana Hill Richlyn Tuhoro Grace Cox Grace Wisnewski Kim Maguire Sarah Monteith Ashley Weld Chelsea Elliot Rylee Godbold (GK) Lauren Henry Amy Harrison Shae Brady

Match Officials Referee N Browning Asst referee D Neville Asst referee J Lee 4th official

C Dickson-Hards

Head Coach Alana Gunn (GK) Victoria Esson Marisa van der Meer Rebecca Lake Arna Roberts Annie Gilchrist Chloe Jones Gabrielle Rennie Tahlia Herman-Watt Jayda Stewart Annalie Longo Macey Fraser Amelia Abbott Whitney Hepburn Jasmine Donald Monique Barker Melanie Cameron Cody Taylor Rebecca Gillett Ellena Firth Kate Taylor Lily Bray Una Foyle Blair Currie

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