By Gary Caffell
Kuranui College pupil Emily Morison was an inspired substitution for Capital when they scored a vital 2-1 win over Northern in their national league women’s league football encounter at Memorial Park, Petone
last weekend.
Victory guaranteed Capital a place in the playoffs and it was Morison who provided a classy finish in the 70th minute with what was her first touch of the match.
At that point the scores were locked at 1-1 and the evenness of the exchanges suggested it was anybody’s game.
Capital went into this fixture as rank outsiders as while they had been battling to keep their playoff hopes alive Northern had dominated the league for most of their campaign.
After a scoreless first half Capital took the lead just before the hour mark when Jayme-Lee Hunter scored but their excitement was short lived as Jane Barnett struck back to equalise for Northern just a few seconds later.
From there it was a case of first one side and then the other looking likely to take control and it was Morison’s effort which finally broke the deadlock.
With just one round of preliminary round matches still to play Capital are the only team already through to the playoffs while Canterbury have all but done that after their 6-1 win over Waikato-Bay of Plenty in their latest appearance.
Just who will join them is still up in the air with the winner of Northern and Waikato-Bay of Plenty clash this coming weekend clearly in the box seat.
