Waitakere 2
Hekari 1
Waitakere United won the battle but Hekari United won the war, 4-2, and with it the prize of US$500,000 as Oceania qualifiers for the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
That was the story of the O-League final's second leg at Fred Thomas Park yesterday between the New Zealand champions and the pride of Papua New Guinea, who brought a 3-0 lead from the first leg.
Victory makes them the first Oceania team from outside New Zealand and Australia to qualify for the rich Fifa tournament.
"It's a great moment in the history of football in the island nations," said jubilant Hekari coach Tommy Mana. "We are a confident team. We know the World Cup is another step and we'll work on that."
Auckland City handed over $400,000 to New Zealand Football from their two wins and fifth placing in Abu Dhabi last year.
It's money that will be sorely missed by the clubs who sign up for next season's New Zealand Football championship.
Three minutes into the game it looked like business as usual for the home team, as a pinpoint left-wing corner was expertly headed home by player-coach Neil Emblen.
Wiping off a three-goal deficit seemed only a matter of time for a team that has specialised in fightbacks throughout the season.
Ten minutes later Martin Bullock and Benji Totori couldn't finish off a move that had goalkeeper Gure Gabina observing the scramble near the line from 10m away.
The miss was the first of many that had the crowd of well over 2000 - a record for the ground - wondering how often a foot, a post or just plain poor finish could deny the locals.
Hekari United had resisted the temptation to pack their defence and hope to cling to their lead. By keeping at least two strikers up front and switching speedily from defence to attack, they kept Waitakere honest.
After half an hour it took a good diving save from Danny Robinson to keep out a powerful drive from Stanley Waita. But two minutes later the keeper was involved in the goal that made Waitakere's task nearly unsurmountable.
Some sloppy defence delivered the ball to Alick Maemae, who tried to lob it over the goalkeeper.
His lob missed, but he tumbled down after the resulting clash with the goalkeeper, and Tahitian referee Norbert Hauata ruled a penalty that captain Kema Jack expertly converted.
With away goals counting double, Waitakere slipped into miracle country and despite chances galore they could manage only one goal, an 84th minute penalty by Brent Fisher after substitute Dakota Luca had been brought down in the area.
The list of chances foiled or wasted seemed never ending.
Typical was Totori's shot in the 54th minute, which was blocked on the line with the goalie beaten - and when Allan Pearce collected the rebound, the keeper managed to stretch out a hand and deflect the ball on to the post.
There were plenty of set pieces, but the balls into the box that had brought almost instant success at the start of the game were either headed wide or safely defended.
"We had the chances," said a bitterly disappointed Emblen. "It's going to really hurt when we look back at the highlights and see how many really good chances we had and how many good balls we put into their penalty area without it just falling for us.
"We've just fallen short against a team we should have beaten. Not getting an away goal hurt us."
Emblen said he would re-register as a player for the NZFC next season but was not looking to play, preferring to give the chance to the young players who had shown promise this season.
