Any hopes WaiBOP and Central had of lifting the National Women’s League trophy now appear over for another year while Southern United are among the front runners for the first ever time after an intriguing fourth round of action this afternoon.

With leaders Northern sitting out the weekend with the bye, those on their coat tails had to chance to make up ground on the 2015 winners but defending champions Canterbury United Pride were not able to do so as they became the latest side to be stunned by the vastly-improved Southern.

Having spent the last few seasons at the foot of the table and without a win in over four years at the start of this campaign, few expected Southern to be pushing for the playoff places but they now share the lead with Northern, albeit having played one more match.

They went into their short trip to Christchurch for the South Island derby after being frustrated in a scoreless draw at home against WaiBOP last week and coach Terry Parle had implored his players to be more clinical in front of goal. Those words obviously had an impact as Southern struck twice in the opening stages at English Park to leave the hosts shell-shocked on their own patch.

In just the seventh minute, Lara Wall went through on goal and ignored offside claims from the Canterbury players to finish calmly and give Southern a surprise lead. It got even better for the visitors just over ten minutes later when the same player received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and cut onto her right foot to curl an unstoppable shot into the far corner.

There was no further scoring after Wall’s heroics until the 65thminute, when Canterbury’s Macey Fraser set up a grandstand finish with another strike of world-class quality from 25 yards out. The Pride then piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser but it was Southern who came closest to finding the net again, a header from Kristy Hayr going just over the bar.

Southern were not made to pay though as they hung on to claim one of the most memorable results in their history.

“We’re very happy because we had a game plan and the girls stuck to it extremely well,” coach Terry Parle said. “We got the result and, to be fair, we could have scored a few more. The girls have bought into what we want to do and it’s starting to show in the results on the field – we’re getting better each game.”

Canterbury assistant coach Shane Verma felt the Pride improved in the second half and could have taken something from the game but had plenty of admiration for Southern’s performance.

“We’re really disappointed but full credit to Southern,” he said. “They came out really battling and I think they put us to the sword in the first half. We had a plan but we just weren’t able to execute it today.”

The side Canterbury defeated in last year’s final, Capital, enjoyed a far more pleasing afternoon as they extended WaiBOP’s winless streak with a 4-1 success at John Kerkhof Park in Cambridge. With their season on the line, WaiBOP would have been aiming to throw everything at Capital in the early stages but it was the visitors who took the lead, Maggie Jenkins slotting home in the eighth minute after great work down the right from former Football Fern Sarah Gregorius.

WaiBOP hit back in the 26th minute with a stunning individual goal from Leanna Ryan, who collected the ball on halfway before skipping past several challenges and lashing in an equaliser. But it proved no more than a consolation in the end as two goals in as many minutes – from Maya Hahn and Sarah Gregorius – near the end of the first half killed the game off.

There was no further scoring until one of the last kicks off the game when Jenkins completed her double for Capital but there was plenty of drama around the hour mark as two penalties were missed in quick succession. WaiBOP passed up a potential route back into the match when Cushla Lichtwark got down well to save Chelsea Elliott’s spot kick before Capital likewise failed to score from 12 yards, Amanda Wilshier denying Gregorius and Jenkins then hitting the rebound off the woodwork.

There were also plenty of goals at Memorial Park in Palmerston North, where Auckland held off a late comeback from Central. Tayla O’Brien headed the visitors in front early on while another goal from captain Stephanie Skilton just past the half hour put Gemma Lewis’ side in control at the break.

Britney Cunningham-Lee and Georgia Martin made it 4-0 with second-half strikes before Central threatened to launch a stirring comeback, a double from Aleesha Heywood making the final score 4-2.

Lewis was pleased to see her side withstand the late pressure but admits the hosts should not have been able to put themselves in that position in the first place.

“To be honest, we did that to ourselves,” she said of Central’s fight back.

“We kind of took our foot off the gas in the final 15 minutes and relaxed a little too much. In this league, if you do that people are going to take those opportunities and come back at you.”

For the National Women’s League table please click here

National Women’s League Round Four Results

Central 2 (Aleesha Heywood 76’, 91’)Auckland 4 (Tayla O’Brien 16’, Stephanie Skilton 32’, Britney Cunningham-Lee 56’, Georgia Martin 76’)HT: 0-2

Canterbury United Pride 1 (Macey Fraser 65’)Southern United 2 (Lara Wall 7’, 18’)HT: 0-2

WaiBOP 1 (Leanna Ryan 26’)Capital 4 (Maggie Jenkins 8’, 90’ + 4’, Maya Hahn 34’, Sarah Gregorius 35’)HT: 1-3

BYE – Northern