Grand Final 2023

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Grand Final 2023

Better Team Beaten As Olympic Upset Champions

by Jeremy Ruane

Wellington Olympic upset reigning National League champions Auckland City 2-0 in the Grand Final of the 2023 competition at GoMedia Mt. Smart Stadium on November 26 to relieve "The Navy Blues" of a trophy which the beaten side should have retained, so well did they play.

The only aspect of the game where the Wellingtonians proved superior was on the scoreboard, City's profligacy in front of goal their downfall in a contest in which they twice hit the woodwork and spurned numerous other opportunities to overcome last year's beaten Grand Finalists.

The opening stages of the contest were cagey, with Jack-Henry Sinclair and Joe Lee exchanging angled shots which flashed across the face of goal and past the far post inside the first ten minutes of play.

Things started to warm up around the twenty minute mark, initially when Scott Basalaj dashed out of his penalty area to clear the danger as Angus Kilkolly raced through in pursuit of Michael Den Heijer's ball over the top.

Wellington instantly raced down the other end, Joel Stevens leading the charge down the left before unleashing a shot which Conor Tracey tipped round the post. Auckland cleared the resulting corner to Dylan Manickum, who combined with Gerard Garriga in a bid to pick out Kilkolly.

This threat was cleared, but only as far as Cameron Howieson, whose dipping twenty yard chip arced over Basalaj and crashed against the underside of the bar before bouncing down on the line and into the grateful goalkeeper's gloves in the 21st minute.

A poor Jordan Vale clearance invited Stevens to sting the gloves of Tracey three minutes later, before a handball incident involving Jack Cawley was pounced on by Garriga - referee Nick Waldron played a terrific advantage; a fine piece of officiating. The midfielder stormed forward before skipping past Tor Davenport Petersen and unleashing a rocket from the edge of the penalty area which flew narrowly past the post.

Buoyed by that close call, City stepped up the pressure, and there was only one team in it during the final third of the first half. Howieson, Kilkolly and Nathan Lobo teamed up to pick out Manickum in the 37th minute, the Futsal Whites international promptly picking out Garriga with his cross to the far post.

Basalaj brilliantly tipped the Spaniard's header over the bar, while from the resulting corner, Manickum lashed a snapshot narrowly past the post. Howieson then nutmegged Kailan Gould before combining with Garriga to play in Kilkolly, only for the striker to have his pocked picked by Joe Hopper.

Cawley then cleared the ball over his own crossbar from close range as City piled on the pressure, while a vital Justin Gulley interception prevented Manickum from latching onto Kilkolly's pass in behind the Wellington rearguard in the final seconds of a scoreless first half.

Auckland came out all guns blazing after the interval, Lobo's thirty yard shot on the run directed straight at Basalaj just two minutes after the resumption of play. Four minutes later, Manickum found himself in acres of space on the left, from where he raced into the penalty area before curling a shot around Basalaj but past the far post as well.

A lovely piece of skill by Howieson put Gould firmly in his place in the 54th minute, only for Garriga to spurn the opening. But the feisty Wellingtonian popped up in a place City weren't

expecting him to occupy four minutes later, Gould scrambling home Stevens' cross to give last season's beaten Grand Finalists the lead in the 2023 contest, very much against the run of play.

City sought a swift riposte, Lobo and Howieson presenting Manickum with the chance to let fly on the turn in the 64th minute. His effort flew past the post, to which Wellington responded via Sinclair and substitute Hamish Watson, whose shot was blocked by Adam Mitchell. Olympic claimed the defender had used his hand to divert the ball to safety, but referee Waldron wasn't having a bar of their impassioned pleas.

After a Sinclair free-kick had been headed to safety, Stevens - later named winner of the Steve Sumner Trophy as Grand Final MVP - directed the resulting 74th minute corner to the far post, narrowly which Davenport Petersen headed the ball. City responded by introducing their magic man, and Emiliano Tade duly made a near-instant impression upon proceedings.

He worked a one-two with Lobo on the left ten minutes from time, the fullback's cross looking to pick out Ryan de Vries in the six-yard box. Basalaj saved at the substitute's feet, and looked on in stunned amazement two minutes later as Tade's twenty-five yard free-kick sizzled past the wall and crashed against the post. Fellow substitute Liam Gillion fired the rebound over the bar.

Wellington had the chance to seal the deal in the 86th minute when Mitchell, with City pouring forward in search of an equaliser, inexplicably conceded possession to Watson on the edge of the penalty area. The journeyman striker squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to clinch victory, however, Tracey's smothered save ensuring City still had the chance to draw level in the minutes which remained.

Cue more tormenting by Tade. His 89th minute corner was cleared back to the Argentine, who responded with a wicked delivery into the penalty area. Mitchell met it with a fine header which Basalaj somehow kept out - it had "goal" written all over it, but the goalkeeper was reading a different script.

After Tade sent a snapshot sizzling past the post, and Tracey had thwarted both Watson and Gavin Hoy as they looked to wrap things up on the counter-attack, Auckland mounted an eleven-man attack deep in stoppage time, with Tracey up in the Wellington penalty area for Tade's free-kick.

The delivery was headed clear to Sinclair, who ran into Auckland's half of the pitch before rolling the ball home from distance into an empty net to secure a 2-0 win for Wellington Olympic with the very last kick of the 2023 domestic football season.

Such are the vagaries of the game, however, that merely winning the National League is no longer suffice to qualify for the following year's OFC Champions League. Instead, City and Olympic will do it all again, this time in a two-legged affair in March, for the right to represent New Zealand in the OFC Champions League competition in Tahiti next May.

Auckland: Tracey; Vale (booked, 56 (Tade, 75)), Mitchell, Den Heijer, Lobo; Lee (Gillion, 73), Ilich, Howieson, Manickum; Garriga (Murati, 75), Kilkolly (de Vries, 71)

Wellington: Basalaj; Gulley, Mata, Cawley; Sinclair, Davenport Petersen (booked, 90), Hoy, Hopper (Dimairo, 78), Stevens; Gould (Watson, 61), Bouzoukis (booked, 83 (Prins, 85))

Referee: Nick Waldron

National League