Three unanswered second-half goals carried Glenfield Rovers to a 3-0 win over plucky Coastal Spirit in the ASB Women's Knockout Cup final at Palmerston North's Memorial Park yesterday.
Beaten four years ago by Western Springs in their only other appearance in the showpiece game in New Zealand women's soccer, Glenfieldhad plenty to celebrate as they added to their already impressive trophy haul.
"They've won everything they've played for basically so it's great for them and great for the club which had its 50th anniversary last year," said Rovers coach Craig Alexander. "The players have done the hard work and they deserve the rewards."
The win, a week after disposing of crosstown rivals Eastern Suburbs - also by three goals - in the semifinals, justified their solid favouritism heading into the match against the southerners, who had beaten some big guns en route to the final.
Liz Milne's near-post header from a Sarah Gibbs freekick opened the scoring in the 55th minute. Player of the match Stephanie Skilton doubled Rovers' advantage 15 minutes later when she tapped home a Hannah Wilkinson cross.
Jamie Hackett ensured there would be no way back for Spirit when she stretched the lead to three seven minutes from time.
"I would have liked to be ahead at halftime," said Alexander, "but that fact that it was scoreless is all down to Coastal Spirit. They really dug in."
Coastal Spirit looked lively on the counter-attack in the first half but too often their passing in their opponents' half saw promising attacks break down.
"I was content at halftime," said Coastal Spirit coach Gareth Turnbull, "I thought we defended well ... Credit to Glenfield because we didn't really create those opportunities in the second half."
