Canterbury United Pride 4 (Gabi Rennie 53’, 71’; Britney-lee Nicholson 79’; Nicola Dominikovich 85’)

Capital Football 0

Alana Gunn, Canterbury United Pride head coach
“Capital came out with a hell of a first half and I think we were grateful not to be behind at half time - maybe both sides could have been grateful not to be behind at half time. I think the half time talk was really clear that we need to stick to what we do well, and I think in the second half we drew on all the finals experience we have the girls smashed it out of the ballpark.”

“[In terms of what’s next for the Pride] There’s a bit of a new look to the league next year. We will be the same - we will continue developing through our youth programme and our Pride development programme. So hopefully continuing lead, trying to boost the side up and hopefully we see some more girls playing in that New Zealand shirt come the Olympics and the next World Cups.”
 

Maia Vink, Capital Football head coach
“I think the first half we went toe to toe with the Pride and we actually grew into that first half and put the pressure back on them. In the second half the Pride got a bit of headwind and put the pressure on and built the pressure up and up. And we kind of folded at one point and lost that togetherness that kind of binds us as a team. So I guess from there, the going got tough and we tried to chase the game and, unfortunately, the Pride got a couple more and the game was gone. But credit to the girls, they’ve had a really, really good season. And massive credit to the Pride. The three peat is unheard of - they created history today.

“I’m incredibly proud [of Capital]. We actually never set out to make a final or to go and win it or anything like that as a group, we're actually just out there to be proud of our performances week on week, and building week on week, and we've done just that. I think there's something special about this team and it's a unique bunch of players, you know, they wear the Jersey with real pride and I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, we had two 15 year olds take the field today, so there's a really bright future from Capital region. And I think this is just a start. The Pride have obviously had their dynasty and, and now maybe this could be the side of ours, you never know.”

End of season awards

Golden Boot – Kaley Ward, Capital Football (6 goals)

MVP – Georgia Candy, Capital Football

Article added: Monday 21 December 2020