Soccer: Golden strike seals Miramar cup win

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Michelle Zanotto was not called off the substitutes' bench until two minutes into extra time of last night's Chatham Cup final at North Harbour Stadium.

Fourteen minutes later he was the toast of his Miramar Rangers team-mates as he scored the golden goal which broke the deadlock and gave the Wellingtonians their 1-0 win over a gallant Waitakere City.

It was a gut-wrenching result for the City team, who had made a mockery of the odds weighted heavily against them.

Waitakere played with an urgency which had been missing in their lead-up matches in which they had twice won with a golden goal and once in a penalty shootout.

From the outset it was obvious Waitakere had come to play. There was no holding back.

Frontrunners James Slack and Kris Bright ran at the static Miramar defence throughout, causing problems but without seriously threatening to turn early attacking possession into goals.

From one such raid they forced a corner. Craig Wylie floated the ball towards Hone Fowler, but his strong header bounced over.

Two minutes later Miramar goalkeeper Dylan Hall miscued his clearance and Slack, on the edge of the penalty area, was short with his attempted long-range header.

Bright then created a half chance, but he showed just enough of the ball for Hall to recover and smother.

All this inside the opening 11 minutes.

On the other hand, the much-touted Miramar side played as if they reckoned they had only to turn up to win.

For too long their strikers seemed more intent in their running verbal battle with unflappable referee Peter O'Leary than putting themselves about.

The visitors were well-served in midfield by man-of-the-match Tim Butterfield and Tariq Iman, and at the back by Matt West and Andy Hedge, but strikers Bryan Little and Graham Little rarely tested City goalkeeper Michael Utting.

The home side had other chances. They clearly won the corner count - nine to three - and had Hall on guard.

Bright, ever-lively, was badly let down in the dying seconds of the first half when Slack broke away, carved in and attempted a low percentage shot when Bright was well-positioned in front of goal.

Miramar's best opportunity came seconds earlier when they had three half chances. The first was whipped across the face of the goal. The second and third were somehow kept out by a scrambling Waitakere defence.

In the early stages of the second half it was more of the same, with City forcing the pace.

Mauro Donoso and Wylie commanded the left side of the park, winning crucial ball to ensure City had the lion's share of attacking opportunities.

The half chances again fell to the home side, with Bright breaking through; Fowler just missing with an attempted header; and Slack bottling another from a superb Donoso cross.

Yet, the best chance in the first 75 minutes fell to the visitors when livewire striker Roddy Brown angled his cross to Bryan Little at the far post.

Little headed down, forcing Utting to change direction and pull off a fingertip save.

In the second period of extra time, Miramar worked the ball wide to Bryan Little.

He played it in to Zanotto who was able to turn and from close range steer the ball away from Utting and into the net.

He turned to celebrate Miramar's third Chatham Cup triumph - leaving the disbelieving City players slumped on the ground.