Football: Northland FC take out Federation One Cup

The victorious Northland FC after their 7-1 win over Hibiscus Coast in the Federation One Cup final at Toll Stadium.

Nicole Stratford led the way with four goals as Northland FC smashed Hibiscus Coast 7-1 to win the Federation One Cup at Toll Stadium.

In a game that could have gone either way Northland FC made their opposition look toothless, going ahead 3-0 at half-time before finishing the job with four goals in the final quarter.

Stratford, the Northland skipper, was thrilled that the team had made the most of their chances this season and added the cup to their combined Northern Football Federation-Auckland Football Federation Conference title.

"It's fantastic for the team because we've worked really hard this year to win both the cup and the league and we didn't want to fall at the final hurdle like we have done in the past," she said.

She said the one-sided cup final result had come as a surprise to everyone.

"We've won one game each so far this season and traditionally it's been very close between the two teams, so today was a very good day for our team and Northland," she said.

Stratford said the coaching of Carl Compaan had been an integral part of taking a fairly new team to such a successful season.

The Northland skipper unsettled the visitors with an early goal, with Kayleigh Knight knocking in a second after a goal mouth scramble midway through the spell. Stratford then stuck one through the Hibiscus Coast keeper's legs to lead by three at half-time.

The visitors started the second half well and began to threaten the Northland goal but central defenders' Abby Venmore and Alex Kelly were up to the task.

Colleen Winstanley missed a couple of gilt-edged chances to increase Northland's lead and it wasn't until the 73rd minute, when Anja Gross spotted the keeper off her line and smacked in a long range effort that the game finally got moving again.

Stratford finished off her hat-trick five minutes later supplied by another quality through ball by Nellie Abbott, while Nikki Jones finally beat the Northland defense with a well deserved goal for the visitors. Caitlin Alabaster scored Northland's sixth with time almost up on the clock but there was enough time for another goal for Stratford before the final whistle.

There were two other women's finals played at Toll Stadium on Sunday with Central Brown winning the Northland Plate final and Kamo winning the Northland Cup.

Sarah Holland-Kearins, Shelley Fergusson and Sarah Martin were the scorers as CBs improved on a 1-0 half-time lead to beat Kaitaia 3-0 in the early game.

Cassandra Wood scored from a free kick to open the scoring for Kamo against Kerikeri High School and then Trudy Sandle scored the first of her double to give them a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Kerikeri improved in the second spell as Kamo slipped into cruise mode but Aila Witihira and Kelsey Evans were solid in defense for Kamo. Kerikeri keeper Nada Walker was in great form and pulled off some great saves while Libby Inwood was also good for Kerikeri.

While the season is now over for most, Northland FC line up one final hurdle next week when they play for promotion back into the big time with a match against Rotorua at Morningside Park next Sunday.