KEY POINTS:
It might not have been a $1 million performance but a 1-0 victory for Waitakere United over Fijian champions Ba was enough to secure their first Oceania club soccer title in Auckland today.
The final finished 2-2 on aggregate but Commins Menapi's away goal in Waitakere's 2-1 loss in the first leg in Fiji last week proved decisive under the away-goals rule.
Waitakere finished today's second leg at Mt Smart Stadium with nine men after George Suri received his marching orders in the 51st minute for a second yellow card offence and Craig Wylie was shown a second yellow card for time wasting in the 94th minute.
Ironically Waitakere got the all-important goal four minutes after Suri's sending off, with Allan Pearce heading home from close range after Daniel Koprivcic headed Jeff Campbell's free kick back across goal for an unmarked Pearce to nod home.
The win more than made up for Waitakere's defeat in the New Zealand Football Championship final against Auckland City this month.
As well as a guaranteed payday of $670,000, Waitakere have earned a playoff against the Japanese J-League champions for a place at the FIFA world club championships in Japan later this year.
While it wasn't pretty, Waitakere coach, Steve Cain wasn't concerned with the quality.
"We deserved something from this season," he said.
"We've dominated the domestic game. We've let ourselves down in the NZFC Final but we were determined not to let that happen again."
However the Waitakere coach admitted he was concerned at halftime after Ba dominated the opening 45 minutes.
"The pattern was the same as in Fiji but they dominated more here. We knew we could turn it around and I think our experience and the fact that we play at a higher standard week in and week out stood to us.
"But all credit to them, they were better than I expected them to be, a lot better."
Waitakere weren't helped by losing three regular first team players to injury before the game, with their captain Danny Hay, Rupesh Puna and Jakub Sinkora all forced to watch from the bench.
They had to wait until the 88th minute for their first corner of the game, a clear indication of the few attacking chances created by Steve Cain's side.
Waitakere goalkeeper, man-of-the-match and stand-in captain, Michael Utting, pulled off a host of outstanding saves.
Utting said losing Hay was a good thing for the side.
"It made everyone else stand up. Last week we got done with a couple of harsh calls but we got the bounce of the ball today and we deserved the luck we got," he said.
Utting hinted that it might be his last domestic game.
"I said to Steve (Cain) before kickoff, 90 more minutes and I can have a nice break from it all and possibly not play again. Whether I play again or not it was a nice way to end the season," he said.
"I've really battled with injuries all season. I'm 37 next month and about 15 kilos overweight so to get to today was a real reward.
"I don't remember too much about the saves. I switch off during games but it was nice to play a big part in it but everyone played their part."
- NZPA
