The Premmy Finals – Grand Final Review
Auckland City versus Team Wellington, it was the predicted final and it was a predictable final too. A couple big game teams with quality defensive structures and a habit for taking control of the midfield. Chuck in a plethora of killer attacking players and goals are the usual outcome… except for when they play each other, of course.
As far as the team sheets go, there was very little to ponder with Team Wellington’s XI. The only change from last week was Justin Gulley coming in for Taylor Schrijvers, allowing Roy Kayara to keep his place after his man of the match effort in the semis. Otherwise exactly as expected. Auckland City weren’t quite as anticipated. Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi starting ahead of Mario Bilen at centre-back was an interesting one, albeit a move that continues on a trend for Ramon Tribulietx who has loved a bit of TAHW all season, finding a way to get him in there in 16 of their last 17 games having begun the season on the bench. Kris Bright didn’t begin the season on the bench. He started and scored against Team Wellington in the first game of the campaign… and literally has not started a game since. Only a handful of subs appearances too. Getting the gig ahead of Micah Lea’alafa was one hell of a ponderer.
It was a first half of few clean chances. Auckland City started off with some nice territorial possession but not much to show for it before Team Wellington kinda surprisingly stepped it up. Just as they did against Canterbury, roughly quarter of an hour into things the Wellies found their rhythm and began weaving some clever passing moves. It was Hailemariam and Bevan dropping in that swung things. They each pop up in such dangerous situations and then they’ve each got an attacking wingback looking to overlap and Ross Allen in the middle for options. Team Wellington were also looking for the odd long ball over the top, not a bad option when ACFC’s defensive line tends to creep pretty high.
City didn’t have nearly the same level of interplay on attack but they did have Emiliano Tade. Twice in the first half he found himself on the ball in the penalty area – ‘found himself’ because both were kinda fortunate – and TW were lucky to escape unscathed. One he lashed wide on the spin and the other he saw his effort smartly blocked by Scott Hilliar. This was the level of threat we were talking about. Half-chances and good defensive play. Although, for your entertainment, here’s the ref getting pumped in the head by Cam Howieson. Fair play to him for getting right back up too, Joseph Parker never took a blow this hard from Anthony Joshua.
The other thing was that while Hailemariam’s speed was one of TW’s better outlets, his defensive work on Albert Riera was equally impressive. The odd time he even pickpocketed the Spaniard and sparked a counter attack. Andy Bevin’s jink and slam on Angel Berlanga, which he sliced across the goal, was probably the best look that Welly had in the opening 45. Dan Morgan’s scooped effort on the cut was probably City’s. No missed sitters or stunning saves… but it wasn’t exactly conservative footy either. Hudson-Wihongi vs Allen was a great battle all game long.
Another half of football made it 1143 minutes without conceding for Auckland City, so as you know. Throughout that spell of clean sheets they’ve had some comfortable wins but they’ve also had four 1-0s and a 0-0 (the draw being against Team Wellington). Everything’s always magnified in a final and the longer this game went without a goal, the more that first goal was going to be absolutely crucial… possibly even definitive. As the second half got going, Emiliano Tade got a little more involved with a header at the far post which Basalaj was able to slap away and a penalty shout on Jack-Henry Sinclair’s challenge.
So Jose Figuera made a change, putting on Angus Kilkolly for JH Sinclair. Sinclair had chucked in a few lovely crosses but Kilkolly brings a tad more going forward. Pretty soon Tribulietx was thinking the same thing by chucking on Mario Bilen and Micah Lea’alafa for Fab Tavano and Kris Bright, both of whom had been fairly quiet. Especially Bright and it was tough to figure what point was being made by starting a guy with so little footy in his boots lately… but a fresh Lea’alafa coming on mid-half is never a bad thing.
Lea’alafa immediately brought a more dynamic element to the City attack although by this time most people were already thinking of extra time. A few charging Andy Bevin runs aside, we were waltching the Wellies getting pushed back on defence but it all coulda changed had Hudson-Wihongi not made an incredible diving block against Nate Hailemariam’s shot after Ross Allen’s intelligent layoff, followed up by another block from Berlanga. Dunno if these stats exist but, with defence like this, old mate Zubikarai’s probably made a maximum of, like, eight saves in those 1180 minutes and counting. He’s so incredibly well protected at all times.
You know who we hadn’t seen much of yet? Callum McCowatt. Breakout player of the season with his reliable attacking presence for City but the teenager had mostly only been a support player in this game. Well, for the first 83 minutes that was true. Then he found a pocket of space outside the box, took a touch towards goal and lashed one across the keeper to the far post. He’d had a similar chance from the opposite side of the goal last week and pummelled one dead straight into the net. You knew that was in as soon as it left his boot. This was no different. The teenaged forward added another wonderful moment to a season full of them with an 84th minute deadlock-breaker in the grand final. Some kids have all the fun.
This left Team Welly with a handful of minutes to score an equaliser against a team that had kept 12 clean sheets in a row and were 9/10ths of the way towards a lucky 13th (and 1188 minutes of cleanliness). Tade might have killed them off after McCowatt picked him out in the box but he tried to cut inside rather than shoot first time. Team Wellington were all about the long balls now. Roy Kayara had a dig from a free kick but a deflection took the steam out of it and Zubi saved comfortably. Three minutes of injury time. Basalaj saved one-on-one as Lea’alafa ducked in from the right side. Time slipped away. A diving challenge, a hopeful long-ball, a run to the corner, a turn and a chipped shot… a whistle.
Auckland City, aye? Two years of disappointment in the final and it was third-time lucky for their seventh national league title. A really high quality contest between the two best teams in this competition and ultimately it was a single moment of class that split them. 1-0 with a late winner. That’s finals footy, baby.
Guts to Team Wellington. They arguably got the better of the midfield duel for long stretches out there but didn’t quite have the cutting edge in those crucial moments – something that Auckland City have a long culture of coming up with. It’s hard to criticise them though. Hailemariam and Hilliar in particular had fantastic games while Bevin was pretty bloody good himself. Callum McCowatt was the one who was given the inaugural Steve Sumner Trophy (great idea) for the man of the match but that only reflected NZ Football’s player of the week award which basically just goes to the dude who scored the most goals, making McCowatt a lock. There weren’t too many standouts for City (and you can’t really give MoM to a losing player) but Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi must have come close to that award.
The consolation is that these two teams will almost certainly play again in a few weeks in OFC Champions League semi-final action with a spot in the Club World Cup the endgame there. Team Wellington are desperate to topple the Navy Blues. After two straight Premiership titles followed by Champions League defeats you can guarantee that they’d take OCL over NZP if they had to choose.
So massive credit to Auckland City who have taken some brutal heartbreakers in this final in recent years and have been the best team in the comp all season. They deserve this victory and then some… but this war ain’t over yet.
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