Football: Stratford strike sets up Northern victory

Northland's Nicole Stratford got her representative season off to a great start, scoring her Northern Football side's first goal of the ASB Women's League.

Stratford opened the scoring with a 25th minute effort for her 2013 runners-up Northern Football side as they beat Football South 2-0 at Dunedin's University Oval on Sunday. Katie Jackson scored Northern's second in first-half stoppage time.

Northern's standout player, New Zealand under-20 representative Tayla O'Brien, was happy with her side's effort but acknowledged there is room for improvement.

"The game went well considering it was the first of the season," O'Brien said. "We made quite a few chances and throughout the season we'll just get better, score more goals and become a stronger side."

Football Ferns striker Helen Collins netted a hat-trick, leading Waikato-Bay of Plenty to the early competition lead thanks to a 4-0 home victory over Central Football at St Peter's School in Cambridge.

Kylie Jens gave the hosts a 16th minute lead and Collins had Waikato-Bay of Plenty up 3-0 at the break before capping her day with the game's final goal midway through the second spell.

Defending champions Mainland Pride made a winning start with a stoppage time winner seeing them claim a 2-1 victory over the New Zealand Development team.

In the weekend's final game, Auckland Football recovered after being a goal behind at home against Capital Football to win 2-1 at William Green Domain.

After Emma Main gave the visitors the lead with a 30th minute strike, Melanie Gooch headed Auckland level from a corner in first half stoppage time. An improved second half by the hosts was capped by an 85th minute winner to debutant Maxine Rawnsley.

Auckland captain Emily Cooper says an opening victory provides the team with a good platform but, like several other teams, there are several areas of their game needing attention.

"It's great to start with a win obviously and we did okay but it wasn't perfect and there are a lot of things we can build on," Cooper said. "We played a lot better in the second half and we need to keep taking steps forward like that as a team.

"We haven't been together for that long so it's going to take a little while for everyone to be on the same page. Once we've gotten to that point, you'll see us take some big steps forward."

ASB Women's League 2014
Round 1, October 12:
Mainland Pride 2-1 NZ Development (HT: 1-1)
Auckland Football 2-1 Capital Football (HT: 1-1)
Football South 0-2 Northern Football (HT: 0-2) NFF: Nicole Stratford 25', Katie Jackson 45+1'
Waikato BOP Football 4-0 Central Football (HT: 3-0)

Round 2, October 19:
Central Football v Mainland Pride - 12pm, Memorial Park, Palmerston North
Capital Football v Waikato BOP Football - 1pm, Memorial Park, Petone
NZF Development v Northern Football - 1pm, QBE Stadium Turf, Auckland
Auckland Football v Football South - 1pm, William Green Domain, Auckland