Birkenhead prevail in cup shootout
Birkenhead United won the Chatham Cup for the second time in three years, beating Western Suburbs 5-4 in a penalty shootout at QBE Stadium in Albany yesterday.
Both teams started with a miss but from there they were perfect until sudden death, where Luke Jorgensen made his for the Aucklanders, while Dom Wooldridge missed for the Wellingtonians.
They had headed to the spot after they couldn’t be separated in normal or extra time, where the score was 1-1, both goals coming in the first half of the decider in men’s football’s national knockout competition.
It was not a classic cup final, but Birkenhead were the more proactive side.
They struck first, seven minutes in, when striker Alex Connor-mcclean was able to get loose and poke the ball home from right in front, following a free kick.
Lachie Mcisaac’s free kick picked out the tall figure of Alex Solomons on the far side of the area, and Connor-mcclean reacted faster than any of Western Suburbs’ defenders when his team-mate sent the ball back across the face of the goal.
Wests goalkeeper Andrew Withers was at the centre of a lot of the action, coming out of his area to link with Wests’ centre backs, Adam Thomas and Nando Pijnaker, in an attempt to lure Birkenhead up the field, leaving space in behind.
The Aucklanders were disciplined, however, and Wests found it hard to penetrate their lines with any regularity.
Just after the half hour mark, Wests won a free kick when Alex Clayton was fouled outside the right-hand edge of Birkenhead’s area.
Elijah Just’s shot didn’t beat the first defender, but as Birkenhead tried to move upfield, wingback Jorgensen was dispossessed by Wests defender Dalton Wilkins, who swiftly played Mohamed Awad in behind. Taking a touch, Awad then fired past Damian Hirst, bringing the two sides level with 33 minutes gone.
Six minutes later, Solomons brought down Nati Hailemariam right on the edge of the box, and after initially awarding a free kick, referee Nick Waldron changed his mind and pointed to the spot, deeming the foul to have taken place inside the area.
Hirst came to the rescue for Birkenhead, diving to his left to save Hailemariam’s spot kick.
The first half had been a cagey affair, all things being equal, and that continued in the second spell, with genuine attempts on goal rare for both sides.
Birkenhead had an excellent chance in the 72nd minute, when Bronson Kelly got through one-on-one with Withers, only to have his shot blocked by a desperate Adam Thomas.
Connor-mcclean had a golden chance to win it for Birkenhead with four minutes left in normal time but Withers did well to advance and block his shot, and Wests had to battle to scramble at the corner that followed.
There were few chances for either side in the first period of extra time, and the second periodwas more of the same, so to penalties it went, where Birkenhead proved triumphant.
Meanwhile, the Kate Sheppard Cup is headed to the bottom of the South Island for the first time.
Dunedin Technical capped their remarkable run in women’s football’s national knockout competition yesterday, beating Auckland’s Forrest Hill Milford 4-2 at QBE Stadium in their first appearance in the decider.
The win was their third in a row on the road, following triumphs over Coastal Spirit in Christchurch in the quarterfinals, and Wellington United in the capital in the semifinals.