Football: WaiBOP women suffer 4-0 defeat to Auckland

WaiBOP goalkeeper Georgia Candy watches a shot whisk past her near post. Photo / Grant Stantiall

WaiBOP women's team began life under coach Michael Mayne with a 4-0 lost against champions Auckland football, but showed promising glimpses of better things to come for them in the national women's league.

Their starting line-up consisted of 10 Hamilton Wanderers players that finished third in the LottoNRFL last season, with Tiana Hill the sole representative for Claudelands Rovers in the starting eleven.

The team had only been training together for a couple of weeks, due to the winter season only finishing two weeks ago, and showed that with a bit more time, they could cause an upset or two.

In the opening minutes at Hamilton's Gower Park, Auckland was already showing their class with Jade Parris and Paige Satchell combining well to put the WaiBOP defence under early pressure.

Former Hamilton Wanderers player Britney Cunningham-Lee and Lucy Carter then worked some more magic for Auckland, laying off the ball for Samantha Muirhead, whose shot rolled into the hands of Georgia Candy.

As the opening minutes ticked on, WaiBOP steadily grew into the game and pressured further up the field, but it was Auckland still having all the chances in front of goal.

Lizzie Anton released Paige Satchell down the right wing, whose cross found Parris, but the latter's shot could not find the target.

The first half drew to a close and despite not looking too threatening in front of goal, WaiBOP had held the champions to a goalless half.

Auckland had come to Hamilton to play their style of game, but WaiBOP was intent on breaking up their game plan with a more physical defensive effort.

In the second half, tired legs and lapses in judgement allowed Auckland to put WaiBOP to the sword, scoring four quick goals in the space of 20 minutes.

Sarah Morton whipped in a cross which Jade Parris made no mistake of in converting, sending the ball under goalkeeper Georgia Candy.

WaiBOP's Emma Cawte tried to draw her team level with a shot from distance, but it was comfortably saved by Auckland's Corina Brown.

Auckland then pressed on the attack again with Muirhead making up for her earlier miss with the second goal of the match.

Carter then grabbed Auckland's third of the match after Auckland were awarded a penalty kick with 15 minutes to go, and they were not done yet as Parris grabbed her second and Auckland's fourth to give them a convincing win on the day.

Despite the large scoreline it was not all doom and gloom for WaiBop. Head coach Michael Mayne wanted a strong physical defensive performance from his team, and for the first 45 minutes he received that.

The squad will now look to quickly build on the positives, as they face a difficult away fixture in Christchurch next weekend.