Waitakere Utd 3
Auckland City 2
Waitakere United finally shrugged the Auckland City monkey off their back to win a sometimes bizarre ASB Premiership grand final yesterday.
United finally sealed their first grand final win over their cross-town rivals with an own goal a minute into stoppage time. But there was plenty of drama before the game got that far.
For Waitakere coach Neil Emblen it was a fitting finale to his long career.
Emblen took a gamble elevating himself into the starting lineup in the absence of Luke Adams and Jack Pelter. But his vast experience made up for any lack of pace and he was still on the field 90-plus minutes later.
"That's it. I want to say I'm done with it. It would be a very desperate situation before I would do that again," said Emblen in celebrating back-to-back grand final triumphs. "The rust came back in the second half.
"Getting that early goal was vital. It was what we needed and gave us time to settle and do what we set out to."
City co-coach Aaron McFarland was disappointed but said their season lives on with Sunday's O-League final second leg clash with Vanuatu's Amicale.
"We gave Waitakere the game. They preyed on our mistakes," said McFarland.
Taking the early initiative, Waitakere quickly shut City down, seizing any opportunity to get go-forward ball and pressure the City defence. In the first minute 17-year-old Tim Payne fired a ball across the City penalty area. It eluded everyone but signalled the home team's intention to attack.
Inside 10 minutes that determination was rewarded. The disjointed City defence failed to clear, the ball ran loose and Dakota Lucas pounced as goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley charged forward, failed to gather and left Lucas to simply run the ball the 14 metres along the ground into an empty goal.
Continuing to win the 50-50 challenges, the home side maintained their dominance but with Jason Rowley hitting the crossbar and Payne failing to convert a half chance, City played their way back into the game.
In the 27th minute Ian Hogg ran deep on the left before unleashing a cross which right back Aaron Scott succeeded only in deflecting away from the despairing effort of goalkeeper Andy Ralph.
Frustrated at giving up that own goal for 1-1 against the run of play, United refocused and 11 minutes later were back in front when Scott sent in a long, curling ball.
As Ivan Vicelich and Spoonley attempted to clear, Lucas nipped in and headed the ball into the City goal.
Three minutes into the second half, in a bizarre mix-up in front of goal, Ralph pounded an attempted clearance into Emblen and could only watch as the ball looped back over him leaving Manel Exposito with a clear shot.
Fired-up, City went in search of the winner. They thought they had that when referee Peter O'Leary ruled against Scott's clumsy challenge on the hour and pointed to the spot. Exposito whacked his attempt on to the upright.
Exposito felt he had won a 73rd-minute penalty but instead was shown O'Leary's yellow card for simulation.
But then substitute Mike Gwyther chased deep and as Angel Berlanga chose not to push clear for a corner, Gwyther got a foot in for a cross. In his attempt to clear, James Pritchett turned the ball into his own goal to spark wild Waitakere celebrations.
