Soccer: Auckland rivals book places in competition final

Sunday's New Zealand Football Championship grand final promises to be a cracker as old foes Waitakere United and Auckland City square off yet again.

The long-time adversaries head into the season showdown at Trusts Stadium on the back of resounding second leg semifinal triumphs in which Team Wellington and YoungHeart Manawatu were left wondering just what they must do to close the gap at the top of the competition.

Waitakere, already crowned minor premiers and assured of a place in a play-off to find New Zealand's O-League representative should that be necessary, shut out Wellington 5-0 on Saturday for an emphatic 6-0 on aggregate and book home advantage for the season showpiece.

City were just as impressive. Needing 2-0 to wipe out a first leg 1-3 deficit and progress without the need for extra time, Auckland needed 44 minutes to open the scoring but the goal in the shadow of halftime was a killer for Bob Sova's Manawatu and led to a 3-0 win and 4-3 on aggregate.

Ivan Vicelich, resolute in defence in leading Auckland City to victory, paid tribute to his players for their resilience in coming back from the first leg deficit but said Waitakere would start as favourites in the final.

"It is going to be very hard," said Vicelich. "Waitakere are champions of everything."

But a repeat of what they produced, especially in the second half, at Kiwitea St yesterday would have them in with a real shot of winning a return to the O-League and perhaps the even bigger stage.

"It was nice to score when we did at the end of the first half," said Vicelich.

"We knew we needed to score a lot of goals and when we got to 2-0 we knew it was dangerous to sit on that. We had to keep attacking."

They did and gave the visitors little more than scraps.

The first half was different with Jason Hayne inspiring the visitors by running at the City defence. His endeavours, in the end, came to nothing and Chad Coombes' killer blow when a poor Manawatu clearance from a late first half corner presented him with the chance to hit home from outside the penalty area was a heart, and game, breaker.

The home side doubled their lead midway through the second half when Grant Young was brought down in a clumsy Scott Robson tackle and substitute Keryn Jordan converted from the spot. Four minutes from the end of regulation time - five minutes were added - Jordan made it safe when he ran on to a through ball, outstripped the leaden-footed defence and scored.

Twenty-four hours earlier Waitakere gave themselves an early lift and sent Team Wellington reeling when Roy Krishna needed less than five minutes to turn expectation to misery. The sprightly Fijian ripped the Wellington defence apart and finished with aplomb for 1-0.

Benjamin Totori, continuing his late season sparkle, made it 2-0 before the break and when Adam Birch turned the ball into his own goal two minutes into the second half it was all over although there was time for Krishna to add his second to take his season tally to 11 from 13 matches - one shy of Wellington's Luis Corrales (who was sent off for lashing out 71 minutes into Saturday's game) 12 from 16. Krishna has the chance to finish top in the final. He deserves nothing less.