IDIOMATICALLY speaking, Maycenvale Misfits must feel like they are taking a candy from a baby.
Sure, one can underestimate the tenacity with which babies grasp the sweet stuff and inevitably kick up a tantrum, but ultimately, it's a given.
Having clinched the Hawke's Bay Appmed House-sponsored women's first division football league with consummate ease, the Leon Birnie-coached Misfits aim to claim the treble - the Knockout Cup and the Fed Cup bragging rights.
Even with centre backs Rosie Morgan and Jenny Moore out with injuries, the Hastings powerhouses should make short work of the HB Knockout Cup.
Although they beat Massey University Reserves by eight goals in their first foray into the Fed Cup this season, the Aleesha Heywood-captained side face an unknown quantity in United Women tomorrow in a 1pm kick-off at Akina Park, Hastings.
Striker Heywood, left winger Melanie Hinton and right winger Emma Rogers admit they have never heard of the Gisborne team.
But the collective verdict is to simply play the ball crisply to the feet, keep moving and have fun.
Of course, they agree the fun element could dissipate pretty quickly if they find themselves on the back foot, but they would dearly love a challenge before the season is over.
The game face also comes to the fore when they face archrivals Taradale Baldwin Jewellers and Advanced Construction Eskview Blue, mindful they have the ability to cause an upset.
Heywood, 20, a final-year sport and recreational student at the Eastern Institute of Technology, believes the players harmonious existence - on and off the field - combined with Birnie's coaching nous are the basic ingredients for their success.
"I've never had a better coach than him," she says of the veteran Hawke's Bay United player.
Heywood, Hinton and Rogers are all former Napier City Rovers players who gravitated towards the Vale club to improve their talent under Birnie's guidance.
The exodus of players caused some animosity among other coaches and players who felt it had eroded the strength of other clubs, mainly former powerhouses Rovers, who dropped to second division this winter.
Like Heywood, Hinton, 18, believes her prowess is refined under Birnie.
"My attacking is sharper, I'm a lot stronger and flexible.
"His skills are more beneficial than anything in Hawke's Bay coaching," the Sacred Heart College seventh-former says.
Rogers, 16, a Taradale High School sixth-former, echoes those sentiments and adds her positional play, and also notices the marked improvement in her ability to make smarter, snappier decisions under duress on the field.
Having attended a national talent centre in April with Morgan, Rogers hopes to study criminology after graduating from school.
While Heywood and Hinton feel they have missed the boat to national honours, Rogers still harbours dreams of representing her country on the international stage.
"To play for New Zealand will be amazing and a dream," she says, having missed the cut to make the age-group training squad with Morgan.
An age-group hockey rep, Rogers caught the Taradale Bug (intermediate team) at the age of 12 - a team that former All White Marty Akers coached - so she eventually dropped the stick for the beautiful game.
"All my friends played soccer so I had natural talent and I could juggle so I joined them," she says, adding her parents, Jenny Rogers and Grant Fowler, don't have a football background.
A striker with the Rovers, Rogers took on the new challenge as a midfielder and thoroughly enjoyed using her pace and tackling skills on the flanks.
Making the Central Fed under-14 squad gave her the confidence to aspire to an elite level.
"I think if I step it up to another level I can do it," she says, but acknowledges the demands of schoolwork means time to train is an issue.
Heywood had the benefit of learning from her older brothers and sisters from the age of 5, although they all opted for other sports such as hockey, kart racing and running.
Her parents, Barbara and Alan Heywood, were season players with her mother playing in Hamilton and father a former Taradale AFC and Port Hill United member.
Hoping to be a sports co-ordinator at a school, Heywood is looking at the police force as a back-up if the school market is too saturated.
Football is, of course, something she'll definitely carry on playing.
Misfits plan to win bigWomen's football
Hinton got her first taste of football in Melbourne at the age of 7 at a fledgling club called Watsonia Wolves after her parents, Kendall and Greg Hinton, moved there in 2000 to boost their cookware business.
The family returned to the Bay where Hinton played for the Marewa club for three years before ex-Rovers coach Craig Barkle approached her to join the Blues.
A competitive gymnast, Hinton realises a life-long dedication to football is required to the higher echelons, and making the Central Fed under-16 squad gave her that sniff.
"I don't think my ability is there. I'm 18 now so I'm focusing on education and travelling," she says, hoping to play for a Wellington club or a team from Victoria University, where she hopes to pursue a degree in tourism.
A right-footer, Hinton is happy to play on the left flank and even finds it awkward if she finds herself on the right.
"I'm lost on the right. I learned to play on the left so I'm on the left. I'd rather be on the field then on the sideline," she says.
For the record, United Women are third on the six-team competition in Gisborne, having won just three games from nine, drawing five and losing one.
The leaders are undefeated Tatapouri Marist, with six wins and a point ahead of second-placed Gisborne Girls' High School First XI, who face the Graeme Jones-coached Taradale here on the hosts' No 2 park in a 1pm kick-off today.
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