Canterbury Utd 3 Auckland City 0
One-time youth internationals Aaron Clapham and Russell Kamo were the star turns at Kiwitea St yesterday as a fired-up Canterbury United beat hot favourites Auckland City.
The loss, which stunned home fans, inflicted further misery on a City side who have endured a disappointing end to a season which promised, and at times delivered, so much.
With Clapham running the show from midfield and Kamo providing the clinical finish with well-taken goals either side of halftime, United won the second leg of their New Zealand Football Championship to take the tie comfortably 4-2 on aggregate after losing the first leg at home 2-1.
It was an emphatic display by Keith Braithwaite's team, who booked themselves another trip north for the grand final against Waitakere United on April 24 at Fred Taylor Park.
There could be few complaints from the City players, who struggled to contain the rampant southerners.
"We were pretty poor today," conceded disappointed City coach Paul Posa. "We did not really compete. That second goal was the killer."
City have had a hectic end to their season, with five games in three weeks producing two wins, a draw and two losses.
The home side rarely fired. They needed a superb save from goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley in the opening minute to deny what could have been an embarrassing early Paul Dirou strike.
City then had a good chance of their own a minute later but Jason Hayne's cross did not find Chad Coombes' head.
Unchallenged, Kamo ran through Greg Uhlmann's attempted tackle before angling home a low strike for the 26th-minute opener.
He went close to a second 13 minutes later, denied by another dramatic Spoonley save.
Eleven minutes into the second half Kamo again undid Uhlmann and fired home the second goal to virtually end City hopes.
The third came well into stoppage time when substitute Andy Barton was unopposed in racing away to score as United turned defence into attack.
"City are a good team, but we were up for this one," said Braithwaite. "After what we saw last week, we had a plan to work to and it paid off. We pressurised them all over the park."
It will be United's first appearance in a final since they lost 4-3 on penalties to Auckland City in 2006, while Waitakere will be lining up in the finale for the fourth time in as many seasons.
But for all but the final seconds of Saturday's match with Team Wellington, few would have given Neil Emblen and his Waitakere side much of a chance of progressing.
Trailing by a goal from the 10th minute when Andy Barron hammered home a free kick, Waitakere rarely hit their straps.
They got back to 1-1 midway through the second half when substitute Ryan de Vries sparked some life into a lack-lustre effort by smacking home a first time strike from a ball played in by Benjamin Totori.
At 1-1, Team Wellington were still in command, ahead 4-3 on aggregate.
They held that advantage until the third minute of stoppage time when, miraculously, and not for the first time this season, United conjured up a piece of magic which resulted in looping header from Brent Fisher which went over advancing goalkeeper James Bannatyne and into the net.
That good fortune did not spill over to yesterday's National Youth League final, in which Canterbury United thrashed Waitakere 6-0 at English Park.
