Grand Final 2007

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Grand Final 2007

Auckland City “Three-Peat” NZFC Title

by Jeremy Ruane

Auckland City clinched a third successive New Zealand Community Trust Football Championship on 16 April, downing premiership phase winners Waitakere United 3-2 in the Grand Final at a rain-slicked North Harbour Stadium.

By winning the title once again, the Kiwitea Street combination has also secured a berth in the 2007-8 OFC Champions League competition, putting paid to the hopes of Youngheart Manawatu in the process - United had to win for the provincial outfit to progress to the Confederation's fledgling championship.

And of course, City have extended to thirteen games their remarkable on-field sequence of never having been beaten by their arch-rivals from Auckland's western districts.

Both teams suffered eleventh hour injuries to key players which prompted changes to their planned line-ups. City's former United striker, Keryn Jordan, underwent knee surgery on the day of the final, while United's Daniel Koprivcic was ousted by a torn calf muscle.

Ironically, both players were the respective marksmen in the most recent clash between the cross-town rivals, which saw Waitakere end City's reign as O-League champions. Hence there was plenty of incentive besides the silverware at stake for these frequent adversaries going into this encounter, something which the ferocity of the tackles and other exchanges of a physical nature swiftly emphasised.

In an action-packed first half, City were first to fire a shot in anger, albeit a tame twenty-yarder from Neil Sykes which Michael Utting was little troubled in saving. The extrovert goalkeeper was a spectator over the course of the next ten minutes as Waitakere sought the opening goal, something which they twice came close to achieving.

The eighth minute saw Commins Menapi touch the ball off to Rupesh Puna, who was in support. The fullback hoisted the ball forward to send Allan Pearce scurrying clear, but Riki Van Steeden hurtled across the slippery surface to deny the striker on this occasion.

Four minutes later, Pearce was in again, this time picked out by a measured crossfield ball from Michael White. Lurking beyond the last City defender, the United striker was on too acute an angle to shoot, but his measured cross across the six-yard box was an invitation to score for anyone who happened to be wearing a white shirt. Sadly for Waitakere, no-one was in position to take advantage.

It nearly proved costly within seconds. Ross Nicholson, who played with a hamstring injury which intermittently restricted his ability to clear the ball decisively, had no problems with his hoisted clearance on this occasion, sending Grant Young racing away down the left.

The striker, who plays with the zest and zip of someone a decade younger than his thirty-six years, skipped round George Suri - the defender was cumbersome at best throughout the entire evening - before scything into the penalty spot and letting fly a curling effort which arced round Utting and just past the far post.

It was a classic Auckland raid, and they kept the pressure on, Suri gifting them a corner two minutes later. Neil Sykes' delivery was punched out by Utting to the edge of his penalty area, where Liam Mulrooney was lurking with intent.

The man who scored against United in the inaugural NZFC Grand Final two years ago repeated the dose in spectacular fashion, his fulminating twenty-yard volley swerving through the crowd and beyond the despairing dive of Utting to open the scoring with a sixteenth minute goal well worthy of the occasion.

Amazingly, United were on level terms within five minutes, thanks to a real “Minties moment” from Nicholson. White's through ball for Menapi saw the Solomon Islands striker bring Jeff Campbell into the play, but Jonathan Perry swooped to thwart him. Paul Seaman played the loose ball back to Nicholson, at which point all hell broke loose.

With Campbell, who had continued his run, lunging at him, the goalkeeper couldn't clear at the first time of asking, his injury another factor in the equation. But in side-stepping the tackle, he turned

straight into the path of the fast-approaching Menapi, who said `Thankyou very much' and poked the ball past Nicholson into the empty net. Cue a sheepish grin and a rueful shake of the head from the custodian as Waitakere celebrated their good fortune.

Back came City, the ineffective White gifting possession to Paul Urlovic, who set up Seaman for a twenty-yarder which the midfielder fired wildly wide. United's response, on the half-hour, saw a quickly taken free-kick culminate in Hoani Edwards releasing Pearce down the left at pace, Ben Sigmund - the game's first booking after just four minutes - trailing in his slipstream.

James Pritchett was racing back for City, and his despairing lunge saved the day, the fullback forcing the ball to ricochet off Pearce into the grateful gloves of Nicholson, who would have been in no man's land had the striker managed to execute the chipped effort for which he was shaping.

What had been a fiercely contested encounter boiled over completely in the 34th minute, thanks to the worst type of challenge in football - an over-the-top tackle.

Referee Peter O'Leary had blown his whistle for a foul a second earlier when Menapi and Van Steeden went steaming in for the ball, and the defender - no stranger to committing tackles of a dubious nature - found himself on the receiving end of a potential bone-breaker. And if the former All White hasn't got his lower leg in plaster after this incident, he can consider himself extremely fortunate.

Menapi, on the other hand, got his just desserts from referee O'Leary straight away - he had the red card out in an instant, and United's goalscorer duly trudged off the park, leaving Waitakere with just ten men on the park with the best part of an hour still to play.

On as capacious a pitch as North Harbour Stadium, and with their arch-rivals scenting blood, it was to prove a significant factor in the end of their bid to win the treble of NZFC Premiership, NZFC Grand Final and the O-League.

Auckland weren't slow in attempting to make their numerical advantage count. Young and Sykes combined to put Urlovic through, but the wily figure of Danny Hay thwarted the striker in the 39th minute.

Seconds later, it was Suri's turn to put paid to Urlovic's scoring prospects, after Pritchett had scampered past Graham Pearce and whipped in a near post cross from the left.

Twice before the interval, Sigmund committed fouls which, in light of his early booking, rendered him fortunate to stay on the park. Both Allan Pearce and White found themselves on the receiving end of his challenges, and in the case of the latter, significantly restricted his productivity still further - not that he'd engineered a great deal of note to this point.

Also before the break, both goals survived scares. Hay and Graham Pearce combined to deny Young in the act of shooting in the 44th minute, after Mulrooney and Urlovic had linked up, while at the other end of the park, another moment of madness from Nicholson presented Allan Pearce with a great chance to put the ten men in front.

The goalkeeper gifted the ball to the striker just outside the penalty area, but redeemed himself by parrying Pearce's effort, City scrambling the ball clear to spark a slick counter-attack which foundered on a wayward pass from Seaman - a poor end to a move which deserved better fate.

From the resumption, United attacked immediately. Edwards sent White down the left, and his cross zoomed across the bows of Allan Pearce as the striker was pursued by a posse of blue-clad defenders.

Campbell then sent a twenty-yard volley over the top upon being picked out by Graham Pearce, before himself picking out Hay at the near post with a measured corner. United's captain sent his header bulleting past the upright.

City responded with a super move to regain the lead, in the 51st minute. Chad Coombes, Van Steeden's replacement, motored down the right before linking with Young. His first-time pass to

Jonathan Smith saw the midfielder instantly stroking the ball into the space behind the defence towards which Coombes was charging at breakneck pace.

Latching onto the ball, the substitute delivered a goalkeeper's nightmare of a cross, hard and low and curling away from goal just outside the six-yard box. Such deliveries are a dream ball for any striker to run onto, and Urlovic was in full flight through the heart of United's defence.

Without breaking stride, he sent the ball crashing past Utting to add yet another entry to his portfolio of “big match” goals and, more importantly, put City 2-1 ahead.

How would the ten men handle this setback? They adopted an offside trap into which Auckland often strayed, while looking to take the game to their opponents via swift passing interchanges which demanded movement aplenty on a surface which was becoming increasingly slippery thanks to a series of passing showers.

That combination contributed to tiring legs, and with United struggling to penetrate a City rearguard in which Perry, like Hay at the other end, was calmness personified, it gave the reigning champions the edge.

After Mulrooney had fired a poor free-kick at Utting - Graham Pearce had been harshly booked in this incident, as the initial foul was perpetrated by Young, the City midfielder made amends by setting up the goal which all but clinched his team's third successive crown with fourteen minutes remaining.

A raking Nicholson clearance was neatly controlled by Urlovic, who sprayed the ball wide to Mulrooney on the right. The midfielder set sail for goal, taking on and evading three challenges before unleashing a ferocious drive. Utting parried it superbly, but only as far as Sykes, who lashed an unerring low drive through the legs of Marcel Isakowitz and into the net of the recovering goalkeeper's shins - 3-1.

United now had a mountain to climb of Everest proportions, and to their credit, they made a good fist of doing so. But in pressing forward in search of a goal to get back into the contest, they left themselves short in defence, which gave City numerous opportunities to further increase their advantage.

Young was denied by Allan Pearce - what was he doing tracking back into his own penalty area? - six minutes from time, while Utting saved superbly from Urlovic two minutes later, after the South African striker had crossed from the left.

Then the substitutes, Luiz Del Monte and Coombes, combined with a slick one-two which put the former into the penalty area. He surprised all-comers with a vicious low drive towards Utting's near post which went through the `keeper's legs, only to strike his heel and career across the face of goal, much to the custodian's relief.

Hay, by this time, had been sent forward to play target man, and Campbell picked him out neatly with an early ball forward. United's captain turned the sphere into the path of Mike Gwyther, but the substitute's attempt to return the favour was well anticipated by Nicholson, who launched a counter-attack which culminated in Urlovic firing wide of the mark under pressure from the challenging Isakowitz.

Back came United, this time gaining reward for their efforts. Pritchett headed clear a long throw-in, but only as far as Campbell, who unleashed a cracking twenty-yard volley in stoppage time which sailed past the diving Nicholson into the net - 3-2.

It was too little, too late for the premiership winners, however, and when referee O'Leary's full-time whistle sounded seconds later, it was met with delight by the Auckland City squad, NZFC champions yet again.

Auckland: Nicholson; Pritchett, Sigmund (booked, 4) (Uhlmann, 71), Perry, Van Steeden (Coombes, 36); Mulrooney (Del Monte, 82), Smith, Seaman, Sykes (booked, 39); Young (booked, 66), Urlovic

Waitakere: Utting; G. Pearce (booked, 64) (Isakowitz, 72), Suri (booked, 56), Hay, Puna (Gwyther, 66); Campbell, Sinkora, Edwards, White (Santos, 66); A. Pearce, Menapi (sent-off, 34)

Referee: Peter O'Leary

National League