Riding the crest of a late-season wave, Auckland City make the short trip to Trusts Stadium tomorrow with a deserved air of confidence in facing arch-rivals Waitakere United in the fourth all-Auckland grand final.
Able to put out virtually an unchanged XI in the past six weeks, including the vital
2-1 away win over Amicale in last Saturday's O-League final first leg, City coaches Aaron McFarland and Ramon Tribulietx see the ASB Premiership showpiece as "business as usual".
"We are all set to go," said McFarland. "Apart from a fitness check on David Mulligan on Saturday morning, everyone who went to Vanuatu plus Adam McGeorge is fit and keen to play."
On the other hand, Waitakere coach Neil Emblen is in a quandary, with his final selection yet to be decided.
He is without injured Roy Krishna and Sean Lovemore, has Chris Bale suspended and Luke Adams away for trials in England.
"We have been hit in losing four players who would be definite starters," said Emblen. "But I'm not going to moan about that. On form, we are probably underdogs but we have to remember it was not long ago we scored six goals in 60 minutes against Canterbury United."
Of more concern was the effort in last weekend's return leg against the southerners.
"We didn't turn up to play," said Emblen. "We played like we had a four-goal lead. But now we have to forget that and man up and go out and enjoy the battle against an Auckland City team who have done very well lately.
"They are all good players and while it would be harsh to single out any as the particular danger, Manel Exposito has scored some very important goals for them. His conversion count is very high.
"We know about players like Daniel Kopricvic and Adam Dickinson and from the subs' bench they are able to bring on like-for-like."
Emblem's biggest conundrum is how to replace Bale in the back four.
He is tossing up between New Zealand Under-20 international Ant Hobbs and himself to play alongside Aaron Scott, Jason Rowley and Tim Myers.
Elsewhere it is more settled with Andy Ralph in goal, Allan Pearce, Martin Bullock, Jake Butler and Ryan de Vries (who has gained his New Zealand citizenship) in midfield and Tim Payne and Dakota Lucas rounding out the XI.
City are likely to play Jacob Spoonley, James Pritchett, Ivan Vicelich, Angel Berlanga, Ian Hogg, Alex Feneridis, Kopricvic, Stu Kelly, David Mulligan, Dickenson and Exposito.
There is an air of familiarity about the clash but if Waitakere can reproduce what they showed in that explosive start in their first semifinal leg and City turn it on as they did in thumping Team Wellington 5-1 a fortnight ago - in arguably the best performance of the season - it should be a cracker.
History suggests maybe more of the same.
City have scored three goals in each of their three finals victories over Waitakere winning 3-2 (twice) and 3-1. As the minor premiers and with home advantage, Waitakere would love to turn it around. The odds suggest it won't be easy.
ASB Premiership
Grand Final
Waitakere United v Auckland City
Douglas Field, Trusts Stadium
Tomorrow: 2pm
Referee: Peter O'Leary
Riding the crest of a late-season wave, Auckland City make the short trip to Trusts Stadium tomorrow with a deserved air of confidence in facing arch-rivals Waitakere United in the fourth all-Auckland grand final.
Able to put out virtually an unchanged XI in the past six weeks, including the vital
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