The Navy Blues have not exactly been short of silverware during that period, earning a historic hat-trick of OFC Champions League wins and picking up two minor premierships, but the national title had alluded them until Emiliano Tade’s 17th goal of the season brought it back.
Wellington meanwhile will be wondering what they have to do to become the first side from outside the country’s largest city to claim it after being defeated at this stage for the third time.
“I’m over the moon for the club and the players, we’ve had a busy year but we got through to the final and I’m really proud of our efforts,” Auckland captain Ivan Vicelich said.
“It’s been a while for us to win this competition, we’ve won a few Champions Leagues in between but it’s great to finish on top again and tick this off the list.”
There were fears throughout the week that the game would be badly disrupted by the aftermath of Cyclone Lusi but, thankfully, the worst had passed by the time kick-off rolled around.
The pitch was in great condition considering the nature of the recent weather and it is was more the stiff breeze that made playing an attractive brand of football tricky. Both sides squandered possession more easily than they would have liked in the first half as the action failed to live up to its billing as a meeting between the best footballing sides in the country.
There were few clear-cut chances in the opening exchanges but the sides did manage to carve out one each, both coming from headers. Alex Feneridis rose to meet an Emiliano Tade corner at the near post for Auckland in the 13th minute but put his effort just wide while Charlie Henry did likewise at the other end on 24 minutes after good work down the right by Joel Stevens.
Even at this stage, it looked as if it might be the sort of game in which one goal would be enough and the strike that turned out to
be the winner arrived via two of City’s season stand-outs in the 31st minute.
Evergreen skipper Vicelich picked out Emiliano Tade with a perfectly-flighted ball which the Argentine showed good composure to bring down on his chest before skilfully lifting a lob over oncoming goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley to send the Kiwitea Street faithful into raptures.
Given their unbeaten record at home and dominance over most opponents in this campaign, you might have expected Auckland to kick on in the second half and extend their lead but Wellington stuck to their game plan resolutely and restricted the hosts to
several chances.
The better of these fell to golden boot winner Tade, who needed two more goals to equal the record for a season of this length, but he was denied by a combination of good goalkeeping and misfortune.
In the 74th minute, the same duo who had combined for the goal teamed up again, Vicelich putting another lovely ball through but Spoonley would not be beaten this time, coming out to smother at Tade’s feet.
Tade had another opportunity to put the game to bed with a few minutes to go when he rounded Spoonley and steered his effort past a couple of recovering defenders but could only find the far post.
Wellington had a handful of chances of their own, several of them coming from the unlikely source of fullback Tom Doyle, but lacked the cutting edge to truly trouble Auckland’s defence, which has conceded only 13 goals all season.
Despite the defeat, Calcott was immensely proud of his side’s accomplishments over the season.
“We were a bit nervous in the first 30 minutes but it was a fantastic effort in the second half,” he said.
“We kept the ball a little longer and had a go. We had some really good opportunities at the end there but just couldn’t get the goal,” he added.
“It’s two grand finals in three years for us now and we just need to go to the next level.”
Their championship win means Auckland City are now guaranteed a place in the 2015 OFC Champions League but, if there are no changes to the current qualification format, Wellington would also join them.
For more on New Zealand football go to www.nzfootball.co.nz

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