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2004 Grand Final
Capital Stun Auckland To Clinch National Crown
by Jeremy Ruane
Capital Soccer produced the upset of the National Women’s Soccer League season in the inaugural Grand Final at Trusts Stadium on November 28, as they stunned Auckland-Manukau 2-1 to prevent the reigning champions from scoring a "three-peat" in the competition.
The Wellingtonians, who got into the play-offs via a protest ruling, then edged out Central Soccer on penalties a week ago, struck the opening goal with the first attack of note in the match, Patrice Bourke - the Grand Final’s best-performed midfielder - heading home an Angela Goodridge corner at the near post.
They could have doubled their advantage four minutes later when Ashleigh Cox saved with her legs from Goodridge, after Bourke and Ashlee Delahunty had combined to engineer the opening.
Gradually the Aucklanders began to get into their stride, with Sarah Gibbs, from a corner, and Michele Keinzley, from the rebound, hitting both posts in the fourteenth minute.
Capital scrambled the ball clear on this occasion, but were breathing a sigh of relief two minutes later, after Zoe Thompson’s back-heel sent Gibbs racing down the left, and her cross flew just too far in front of the incoming Kirsty Yallop, as she looked to make contact with a diving header.
In the 23rd minute, the home team drew level with a well-worked goal. Dana Humby, Thompson, Keinzley and Leah Tagaloa’s interchange of passes was thwarted by the outstanding Julia Baldwin, who was later named the MVP of the Grand Final.
But Keinzley, the National Women’s League Player of the Year, retrieved the situation and worked an opening which allowed Yallop to get to the byline, from where she whipped a cross to the far post. Gibbs was arriving bang on cue, and her header beat Pam Yates all ends up - 1-1.
The next three minutes saw the premiership winners carve the Capital rearguard apart on as many occasions, only for profligate finishing - the bane of their campaign - to again mar good approach play.
Thompson was central to each attack, firstly wriggling into the penalty area before presenting a gift-wrapped chance for Tagaloa. Somehow, the youngster scooped the ball over the bar from inside the goal area.
Thompson herself shot straight at Yates seconds later, while the New Zealand international fired over a hanging cross in the 26th minute which Gibbs headed inches past the post, getting in between Yates and Nikki Wenzlick to do so.
Five minutes later, Humby and Thompson combined to send Keinzley spearing through the defence on a well-angled diagonal run behind the Capital defence. But she fired her shot past the post.
After Yates had pawed away a Gibbs corner - the New Zealand international produced a generally sound display between the sticks - the scorer of Auckland’s first goal had the ball in the net again in the 36th minute.
This time, Rebecca Sowden and Tagaloa had engineered the opportunity, the latter playing the ball across for Gibbs to chase. Bria Sargent was in hot pursuit, and a tangle of legs ensued, with both players stumbling. Gibbs recovered quickly, and stabbed the ball home, but referee Nick Waldron ruled that Wellington’s captain had been impeded by the "scorer", so called play back for the infringement.
It was to prove a crucial call, for after Gibbs had fired another shot at Yates - Sowden was influential in this move, Capital were gifted a second goal two minutes before half-time.
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Cox fielded a pass-back from Melissa Ray, but her attempt to play the ball out to Maia Jackman went nowhere near the Auckland captain. Instead, Goodridge was the gleeful recipient of a woeful piece of distribution, and despite the closing figures of Jackman and Humby, she raced on before picking her spot past the dumbstruck figure of the goalkeeper to restore Capital’s lead.
It set up the match for the second half, with the goodly crowd anticipating a much more lively performance from an Auckland side in which, truth be told, too many players had produced ineffective first half displays.
That pattern continued in the second spell, to a large extent. The front two, Thompson and Tagaloa, were generally ineffective and shy on confidence - too often they checked back when confronted by Sargent or Baldwin, instead of taking them on.
Meanwhile, in central midfield, an area of the game which Auckland has invariably dominated over the years, opposition regardless, for the second time in three games the home team found themselves second-best in this key aspect of the contest.
Yallop and Sowden were outshone by Toni West and, in particular, Bourke, who used her experience to telling effect. One can’t begin to imagine just what former Auckland midfield general, 112-times-capped Michele Cox, was thinking of her successors’ efforts while watching the proceedings unfold before her.
Instead, too many of the locals were found wanting when push came to shove, and this despite continuing to dominate the game with their attacking approach. After Jackman had stepped in to thwart Goodridge in the 54th minute, the second half was largely one-way traffic, but try as they might the Aucklanders simply couldn’t capitalise on their chances.
Sargent produced a vital tackle to thwart Thompson in the 55th minute, before Yates produced a top save to thwart Humby from twenty-five yards a minute later. The ‘keeper was flapping at a Gibbs cross two minutes after, however, only for Tagaloa to guide her header wide of the far post.
Another Auckland raid in the 59th minute saw Sowden clip a ball into the goalmouth which found Baldwin outnumbered by Keinzley and Tagaloa. The latter got a close-range shot in, but Yates was equal to it, albeit at the second attempt.
The goalkeeper was at fault in the 65th minute, her poor goal-kick gifting possession to the lively Keinzley. Her one-two with Thompson allowed the former Wairarapa United star to get to the byline before pulling the ball back for the incoming Gibbs. Her shot was goalbound, until Baldwin blocked the ball to safety.
By this time, Auckland had unveiled a rather obscure substitution. 2-1 down, and chasing the game, they introduced Terry McCahill to the fray for her 97th appearance in blue-and-white - a move which earned the biggest cheer of the day, it must be said.
In such circumstances, logic would surely dictate that an under-performing striker be replaced by the vastly experienced defender, with Jackman moving forward into the attack as a result, a change which would prompt a re-think of Capital’s approach.
Wrong - try a straight swap for Ray, who, with Jackman - dominant in the air again, Keinzley and Gibbs, were four members of Auckland’s starting line-up whose displays were far from ineffective. Capital coach Wendi Henderson must have thought all her Christmases had come at once when her opposite number, Paul Temple, opted as he did with his first chance to change the course of the match.
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After Tagaloa had fired over under pressure from Wenzlick, Auckland were denied a second equaliser in the 71st minute. Sowden, who was coming more into the game as Bourke and West tired, released Keinzley down the right, and the international fired in a splendid cross. Yates was found wanting under pressure, but as Yallop smashed the ball into the net, referee Waldron’s whistle sounded, signalling a foul on the ‘keeper.
Substitute Rebecca Tegg was keen to get in the thick of things in the last fifteen minutes, and was one of three players - Jackman and Yallop the others - who were denied in a goalmouth scramble which resulted from a Gibbs free-kick twelve minutes from time.
After Tegg and Keinzley had combined to fire in a cross which Yates anticipated well, thus denying Tagaloa another chance, McCahill and Keinzley linked to inspire a twenty-five yard effort from Yallop, which slid wide of the mark.
Time was now Auckland’s enemy, and so was the Wellington crossbar. Twice in five minutes it was rattled, firstly by Keinzley six minutes from time, following a Gibbs pass, then by Tegg, who hit the woodwork from an oblique angle after being released by McCahill.
In between times, a free-kick from Jackman - who was finally called on to join the attack when just three minutes remained - had found Keinzley, who fired over another measured cross. Gibbs headed this over the crossbar, and, like many of her team-mates, could only look on in frustration in stoppage time as Keinzley presented Tegg with a great chance which the substitute fired tamely at Yates.
It was Auckland’s last hope, for Capital could have added what would have been a flattering third goal deep in stoppage time, after Sarah Gregorius’ cross from the right had been flicked on by West to the unmarked Goodridge.
Cox blocked this effort well, but it was her first half gift from which the striker and Capital benefited, as the sound of the final whistle saw new National Women’s League champions crowned for the first time in the competition’s brief history.
The undisguised delight of the victorious Wellingtonians was there for all to see, as was the despair of the beaten Aucklanders, who also lost their grip on both the Challenge Cup and the Roy Cox Shield - regained by downing Capital 4-0 just a fortnight ago - with this result.
Henderson was understandably delighted by the victory, achieved as it was by a group of largely young players, very few of whom have enjoyed recognition beyond regional representative level - a stark contrast to their beaten opponents, all of whom have appeared for New Zealand in either full or schoolgirl internationals.
On the day of the Grand Final, however, the old adage of cup football - anything can happen, and usually does - again proved correct. While the home side had the lion’s share of the chances, their failure to convert them ultimately meant that an extra seat had to be found on the 6pm Air New Zealand flight to Wellington to accommodate the additional hand-luggage of the visiting side, due reward for the all-round solidity of Capital’s display.
Auckland: Cox; Rennie, Jackman (booked, 30), Ray (McCahill, 61), Humby; Keinzley, Sowden, Yallop, Gibbs; Tagaloa, Thompson (Tegg, 69)
Wellington: Yates; Wenzlick, Sargent, Baldwin, Hansen; Gregorius, West, Bourke (booked, 66), Ponsford; Delahunty, Goodridge
Referee: Nick Waldron
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