Football: Another title for Auckland City

Ryan De Vries fires in Auckland's opening goal. Photo / Getty

Auckland City FC 2
Hawkes Bay United 1

When Auckland City FC won their sixth ASB Premiership title today, coach Ramon Tribulietx silently celebrated with a firm, authoritative fist pump.

It was the dignified mark of a man who had just achieved everything he set out to do in New Zealand Football.

His detailed, often-obsessive tactics had brought Confederations to their knees at the Club World Cup in December, but now, they had also comprehensively conquered New Zealand's domestic league.

It was Auckland's 17th win from a 19 game season and after winning the Minor Premiership by 12 points, the defending champions cruised through the playoffs and dominated the final in front of 1853 fans at Kiwitea Street today.

Despite going a goal down to Hawkes Bay United, there was always an air of inevitability about the game. Auckland would come back, it was just a matter of when.

Auckland dominated the opening stanza and were unlucky not to go ahead after five minutes when Darren White curled a 20-yard free kick against the bar.

But Hawke's Bay came with a plan too and were happy to sit with two banks of defenders behind the ball at all times and then spring forward using the pace of Sean Lovemore on the counter attack. And after soaking up a ton of early pressure, they opened the scoring with their second attack of the game.

In the 19th minute Facundo Barbero robbed Oscar Garcia of possession before being bundled over in the box by the Auckland defender and Ryan Tinsley buried the resulting spot kick for a 1-0 lead.

But there was no panic from Auckland City. Not once did they stray from their game-plan and clear objective; keep possession at all costs, move the defence around and wait for the opening.

It came in the 38th minute when new All Whites striker Ryan De Vries cleverly combined with Ivan Vicelich on the edge of the box before curling a clinical finish beyond Josh Hill to level the scores.

Tribulietx cut a relaxed figure in the second half, as Auckland strangled the life out of Hawkes Bay with their relentless possession based approach. But they're pretty handy from set pieces too and when Hawkes Bay conceded a freekick just outside the box for a contentious handball decision in the 62nd minute, they found their winner.

Serbian centreback Marko Dordevic met Darren White's freekick and powered his header into the net, and then it was all about slowing the game down, and grinding out the result.

Tribulietx said his team's belief in their possession-based philosophy got them across the line.

"I think we kept trying and that's probably the key," Tribulietx said. "I thoroughly believe in this way of playing and they set up a very difficult net in the middle third and it was difficult for us to play through.

"We had to readjust a couple of things in terms of our structure and look to receive in those pockets because in the first 20 or 30 minutes we were struggling to penetrate.

"The bottom line for me is we carried on playing the same way and in some respects that paid off at the end."

Auckland City FC 2-1 Hawke's Bay United (half: 1-1)
AC: Ryan De Vries 38', Marko Dordevic 62'
HB: Ryan Tinsley (pen) 19'

Auckland City FC: 1. Tamati Williams (GK), 2. Marko Dordevic, 3. Takuya Iwata, 4. Mario Bilen, 5. Angel Berlanga, 9. Darren White, 10. Ryan De Vries (12. Adam McGeorge 90') 1, 15. Ivan Vicelich, 17. Joao Moreira (19. David Browne 82'), 20. Oscar Garcia, 23. Sam Burfoot (25. Michael Den Heijer 57')
Substitutes not used: 11. Cameron Lindsay, 13. Ivan Carril, 19. David Browne, 22. Andrew Milne, 24. Jacob Spoonley (GK)
Coach: Ramon Tribulietx

Hawke's Bay Utd: 1. Josh Hill (GK), 4. Ross Haviland, 5. Finlay Milne, 6. Ryan Tinsley, 9. Sean Lovemore, 10. Viktor Lekaj (16. Leon Birnie 87'), 11. Mario Barcia, 12. Saul Halpin, 19. Facundo Barbero (7. Troy Pennycooke-Morgan 71'), 21. Sean Liddicoat, 22. Billy Scott (8. Alex Palezevic 82')
Substitutes not used: 2. Wade Randle, 26. Kyle Baxter (GK)
Coach: Brett Angell