Navy Blues through to grand final

Words: ACFC Media

Saturday 25 March 2017

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC is through to the Stirling Sports Premiership grand final after Micah Lea'alafa's second half goal downs Hawke's Bay United at Kiwitea Street.

Auckland City FC created a spate of interesting chances with Darren White and Cam Howieson both denied by the fine goalkeeping of Josh Hill.

Tade then blazed a great chance wide after great work down the left by Alfie Rogers, Mario Bilen and Ryan De Vries had opened up the Hawke's Bay United defence.

Hawke's Bay United's best moments came when they had the Navy Blues defence turned around with balls in behind them.

While this happened rarely, when it did it caused anxious moments including one in particular that saw Marko Dordevic clatter into the back of Saul Halpin.

With the match played in transition there was always the risk of a caution and that came when White put in an awkward challenge on Halpin on near halfway.

Lea'alafa went close when he vollied a White cross over Hill's crossbar just after the restart.

White then wasted a golden opportunity on the hour mark when a Tade corner sat up perfectly only for the right back to send his powerful volley high over the crossbar with the Bay goal beckoning.

Lea'alafa eventually broke the deadlock when he latched onto a beautiful throughball from De Vries before smashing home an upstoppable shot beyond Hill on 64 minutes.

That goal changed the complexion of the game and it altered further in favour of Auckland City FC when Cory Chettleburgh was shown a second yellow card with just over 15 minutes left to play.

Auckland City FC exploited the extra space to great effect and Lea'alafa had the ball in the net again after a piece of wizardy by De Vries only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.

Navy Blues coach Ramon Tribulietx, who was without three of his starting line-up Clayton Lewis, Joao Moreira and Fabrizio Tavano for the fixture, was pleased to have another chance to win the Stirling Sports Premiership Final.

“It was a very well-played game,” said Tribulietx. “We completely dominated but we did not capitalise on the chances that we created in the first half. It was a well-played game against a very good side. They defended well and very deep and they made life hard for us but congrats to our players who played well.”

Tribulietx said the standout for him was the character his team showed to finish off the game. It was pleasing after losing their initiative in many games during the regular season.

“We have been in this situation a lot this season where we have been 1-0 up in the last five or six minutes and we haven’t been able to finish it off. Today we were smart enough to not concede at the end.”

Hawke’s Bay United coach Brett Angell, who said his side respected their rivals but they did not fear them, opted for a game-plan where they sat back and let the Navy Blues play. For the most part it worked well with keeper Joshua Hill frustrating the Auckland City front-line. But in the end they could not score themselves and could not contain the dangerous attacking play of Auckland City.

Ten minutes after the Lea’alafa goal, the task got a lot tougher for Hawke’s Bay United when hard-working midfielder Corey Chettelburgh was sent off for a second yellow card after a foul on De Vries.

Angell’s side, who made the final by winning seven of their last eight games, were chasing the game and going down to 10 men against an Auckland City side that was in control was a step too far.

Angell continued his fine record of taking his team to the semi-finals for the third year in succession, but Hawke’s Bay prolonged their poor playoff record. They have now made the final four eight times and only advanced once.

Meanwhile Auckland City, the six-time Premiership champions, will look to make history by winning the title for a record seventh time.

They will face either defending champions Team Wellington or Waitakere United, who meet in the second semi-final tomorrow at David Farrington Park, on Sunday 2 April at QBE Stadium in Albany.

Ends

Match Result
Stirling Sports Premiership Semi-final
Saturday 25 March, 2017
Auckland City FC 1 (Lea'alafa 64')
Hawke's Bay United 0
Halftime: 0-0
Cory Chettleburgh (HB) red card 74 minutes