In an alternate universe this game took place between Auckland and Canterbury, the Dragons hosting the match but up against a team that beat them 4-1 on this very same English Park turf earlier in the season. Instead the Aucklanders got docked some points and Capital were summoned back out of their bye week and straight into a grand final... a team that the Pride beat 4-0 in Wellington two weeks earlier. Very different complexion to the contest: a seven goal swing in respective results. The Canterbury Pride therefore were even bigger favourites to make it three championships in a row having gotten rid of the threat of Northern Lights a week ago.

Incredibly as the Pride lined up for kickoff they had nine players out there who had started all seven games this year: Una Foyle, Kate Taylor, Rebecca Lake, Tahlia Herman-Watt, Whitney Hepburn, Amelia Abbott, Lara Wall, Britney-Lee Nicholson & Gabi Rennie. The other two starters were Mikaela Hunt, back from missing the previous three halves of footy with a little knock, and Alyssa Whinham who had been so impressive the last time these two teams met. One name in particular standing out on the bench: Annalie Longo.

Then for Capital, who of course are coached by Maia Vink who in a past life won this thing as a player with Canterbury... nothing changed. Nope, same eleven as was beaten by the Pride a fortnight earlier. Slightly different arrangement of those players though as Anna Green dropped into the back three while Jemma Robertson played on the opposite wing to her sister Mickey. Those wingers offered the only real width for Capital. They have tried the traditional wing-back thing in previous games but they’ve also played a lot in this shape with a box midfield (3-2-2-3 / 3-2-4-1) so nothing unfamiliar here. It meant running the risk of isolating Kaley Ward if the Robertson sisters were forced to do too much defending but on the other hand it gave them an overload in midfield.

The initial scouting report is that Capital started this final pretty well. You could even say they were on the front foot in the early passages which was just what the neutrals wanted to see, the underdogs refusing to sit back and defend on foreign turf. Wouldn’t say they manufactured anything of note but it was a statement of intent. However that Pride defence is extremely good and as the defence held shape the midfield began to come into the game and with them those speedy forwards were unleashed. Although worrying signs as Meikayla Hunt got hurt in a challenge and stayed down looking groggy. She’d return to the game after some extended treatment.

It was ten minutes before we first saw Georgia Candy, the no-doubter goalkeeper of the season, get her gloves dirty. Gabi Rennie’s pace had already gotten that Capital back three on their heels a couple times and here she put on the after-burners to get onto a ball in behind and she thumped her shot towards goal but Candy dove to her left and pushed it wide. It’d only be fitting if she ended her campaign with one last flurry of highlight reel denials. It was also probably gonna be necessary if Capital were gonna get their hands on that trophy. She had a much sketchier moment when she was caught on the ball outside her area by Lara Wall but Ellen Fibbes had her covered. Candy was then back to her usual levels when closing down Kate Taylor at the far post in the 20th min.

About that same time Mikaela Hunt finally succumbed to that earlier knock and had to be replaced. Real stink way to have to exit a grand final but when you can’t continue, you can’t continue. Guts to MH but she’s an excellent young player who’ll play many more grand finals in her career. In this competition or in others around the world. Emma Clarke replaced her, a pretty handy experienced player to have sitting on the bench.

Big moment alert in the 24th minute. Lara Wall, who started the season in more of a defensive role but her irrepressible attacking instincts have seen Herman-Watt dropping to fullback and Wall featuring in the front three the last few weeks, got busy down the left wing running directly at Ellen Fibbes. Wall knocked it past her and was clattered as she tried to collect it again. Dead set penalty. Up rushed defender Rebecca Lake who had already scored FOUR separate penalties this season... but striking it low down the middle Georgia Candy was able to somehow get a foot on the ball before nonchalantly clasping the rebound as it landed in her lap. The Georgia Candy Showcase going good through the first 25 mins.

Jemma Robertson gave Una Foyle a proper save to make with a good low shot sort of out of nothing. Then it was back up the other end where Abbott struck one over the top and Rennie squared a ball she ought to have had a punt from herself. Plenty of opportunities in this final, nothing cagey about it. Most of them going the way of the home side. Plus there were also plenty of heavy challenges as the physios earned their pay. Whitney Hepburn was booked for a heavy challenge. Then a real nasty one when Charlotte Wilford-Carroll and Jemma Robertson clashed heads with CWC needing an ice pack for her cheek while Robertson had to be patched up on the sideline with blood pouring out of her nose. Both players were able to continue.

Capital almost blew it for themselves when Katie Barrott under-hit a back-pass but Candy got to it first, the ball bouncing out for a goal kick off Gabi Rennie – whose pace was a continual threat. Then some drama at the other end when Clarke bumped off Jemma Robertson in the box but the ref wasn’t having it. Not as obvious as the penalty that Canterbury won but mate it was a decent shout. And that frustration was only compounded in stoppage time when Ellen Fibbes hacked at Wall as she tried to shield the ball and that was a second penalty conceded by Capital for a foul by Fibbes on Wall. Fibbes with the yellow card this time.

The Pride changed penalty takers. Britney-Lee Nicholson placed the ball and took a few deliberate paces back (hard on Rebecca Lake given the four she’d already scored this season) and as she did that you could hear one of the Capital defenders yelling out: “Same again, Georg. All day, Georg”. And wouldn’t you bloody know it, Nicholson shot to her right side and Candy parried it away to safety. Unbelievable. Like, this was star-making stuff. All evens at the half-time hiatus.

Not ideal for Capital to see Anna Green land heavy on her back soon after the second half got underway, especially since her crossing was gonna be one of their best avenues to a goal. But nah she was all good and got back to chipping in those pesky corner kicks before long as Capital again started positively. A few important blocks from those Cantab defenders – Lake on Mickey Robertson especially – holding things down.

Therefore it didn’t take long before Alanna Gunn played the ace up her sleeve: Annalie Longo summoned in just the 52nd minute with Alyssa Whinham making way. But before Longo could even touch the ball Amelia Abbott stroked a magical ball from her own half which split the Capital defence and thus unleashed Gabi Rennie in a footrace. And you can probably guess how that went. Georgia Candy had been 11/10 amazing in the first half but there was no stopping Rennie one on one as the Pride finally took the lead. Can’t say they hadn’t been knocking at the door.

Canterbury’s first three subs (Clarke, Longo & Nicola Dominikovich) were all experienced pros in situations like this. Capital’s first sub was 15 year old Helena Errington, who trains outta the Ole Academy. Hell of an opportunity for her but it does say a fair bit about the depth of the two teams. Same as last week, Longo ramped things up to a new level after coming on with the added sharpness that a 124-capped international can offer. Capital kept at it but it was hard to see how they’d find a way through as their forwards kept getting isolated by some very focussed defending.

Then in the 70th minute: the dagger blow. Longo crossed in from the left wing and Anna Green couldn’t clear a difficult ball. She could step in to block Gabi Rennie’s shot attempt... but it looped up off her back (probably adding another bruise to the one she copped earlier when she fell on it) and not even Georgia Candy could slap it away. It’s the one weakness in Candy’s game that she’s not as tall as other goalies... but that was just a wicked deflection, not her fault at all. Hey guess what though? That was Rennie’s second goal of the day and seventh of the season... taking her past Kaley Ward (who never really got going in this game) and Rina Hirano for the Golden Boot. By Premmy Files’ unofficial standings at least.

Then a third goal. Once again it was Amelia Abbott with a lovely ball forward and once again it was the pace of the Canterbury forwards causing all sorts of havoc. Dominikovich this time, who then passed across to Nicholson for the finish in the 78th minute. It was Abbott’s last touch of the game before being subbed off. Capital also subsequently made a couple subs to offer some Grand Final experience to a few of their youngsters/alternates with the result now out of the question.

And then a fourth for good luck. Capital stretched across the park and Canterbury attacked with ruthless glee. They were first to the ball for the entire phase as Longo lobbed over the top down the right to Rennie who chipped it in for Lily Bray who poked it past the last defender to Dominikovich who took it down on her chest and then volleyed it low into the bottom corner, perfectly done. They kept pushing for a fifth too... but that woulda been a bit greedy. 4-0 was more than comprehensive enough – a mirror of the result when these two teams played two weeks ago.

It was a simple difference between the two teams in the end: Capital could not deal with Canterbury’s pace up front, Gabi Rennie especially. Heaps of other fascinating battles all around the park but that was the one clear advantage that either team had and they went back to it over and over again until it eventually paid dividends. Maybe if Capital had won that penalty in the first half... but honestly nobody is gonna argue with the result when one team had about 20 shots and the other like three. The final ten minutes were a victory lap for Canterbury. That 4-1 defeat to Auckland is a what-might-have-been given we never got that rematch but how about their results aide from that one: 4-1 vs Southern, 4-2 vs WaiBOP, 6-0 vs Central, 4-0 vs Capital, 2-0 vs Northern, and then 4-0 vs Capital in the GF. It wasn’t until that Central game when it felt like they really clicked and from that point onwards they scored 16 goals and conceded zero. Champion form.

Capital still got some love in the aftermatch. With the teams sitting cross legged in two squads on the turf like it was the end of high school athletics day, Kaley Ward picked up the league Golden Boot - NZF not including the final in their standings (or, presumably, the goals in Auckland’s overturned games)... which is an area where they and I happen to differ, but Gabi Rennie won’t care too much having won the trophy that counts most. Then Georgia Candy was awarded the 2020 Women’s Premiership MVP and there ya go. Can’t think of anyone who could possibly have deserved it more. Although... come on, surely we can come up with a better trophy than an engraved slice of A4 sized glass?

It’s easy to look at the eight finals in a row and the five championships – including three in a row now – and think of this Canterbury Pride dynasty as a singular organism and it is... but there’s been player (and even coach) turnover the whole way through. Last season’s final saw only six recurring starers with this year’s team (plus a couple more on the bench). And it would’ve been fewer had the pandemic not delayed USA college plans for a few players for both teams featured in this match. That college student influx was the biggest positive influence on the standard of the league this season. A great opportunity for fans to see the best up and coming players in the country at a stage of their careers where we don’t always get that luxury. But point being the replenishing nature of this Canterbury Pride team is an integral part of their sustained success. Easy to forget how young some of these players are too: Gabi Rennie and Amelia Abbot were in the legendary 2018 U17 World Cup squad.

So we’ve got consistency of selection. We’ve got pace and aggression amongst the forwards. We’ve got a red wall in defence. We’ve got tactical adaptability. We’ve got young players, fresh players, experienced players. We’ve got confidence on the big occasion. We’ve got replenishing talent depth. We’ve got ruthlessness when it mattered. We’ve got the Canterbury United Pride, champions of Aotearoa for the third year in a row. Yeah, that’ll do it.

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