Cashmere Technical for the title in the final minutes of season.
The defending champions who had dominated the local leagues for over a decades looked
in the box seat for the final round with a comfortable goal difference but an extraordinary
goal blitz by the boys in blue sparked wild celebration at the United Centre.
“After losing to Cash Tech last week, I thought we have thrown away our advantage,” said
coach Paul Ifill, “but it shows in football you just never give up and strange things can
happen.”
Cashmere Technical held a massive 7 goal advantage in the final round, but only managed to
beat Dunedin Royals by the smallest margin, 5-4, to leave the door open for Christchurch
United.
“The boys just kept pushing, and we had to keep going because Cash Tech could have easily
scored a few more in the final minutes as well,” says Ifill.
The two top teams ended up equal on 49 points with Christchurch United eventually
winning the title with a three-goal buffer.
United really got the wind in their sails after Eddie Wilkinson and a Mosgiel own goal put
them 2-0 ahead after only seven minutes, before Will Pierce, Joel Peterson and Leo Uribe
Sepulveda added three more before the break.
The home side struggled to keep up the goalscoring pace with only Noah Billingsley adding
one more with less than 10 minutes to play.
As the tight score from Dunedin started filtering through, United found another gear and
unleashed an attacking onslaught on the brave Mosgiel goalie. Mika Rabuka grabbed a late
double while Eddie Wilkinson, Blake Weston completed the double digits final score.
“Our boys just never gave up. That was a testament of this group who have worked so hard
this year to take Christchurch United to another level,” says Ifill.
“Last year, they just missed out on National League, they were keen to make a statement
this season.”
Christchurch United had already qualified for the National League with Cashmere Technical
and next month will take on the other eight qualifiers from the Central and Northern
leagues.
“We know that those teams will be a huge step up, especially against a club like Auckland
City who have just won the OFC Champions League, so it will be interesting to see how the
team will respond to that challenge,” says Ifill.
President Slava Meyn was grinning from ear to ear all weekend after his beloved United
took the first step towards his ambition of again becoming the best club in the country.
“Winning the first title in 24 years is a massive step for us and will hopefully inspire
everyone in the club to keep working hard,” says the president of the club whose last major
trophy was the Mainland Premier League title in 1998.
“Paul and his team have done an amazing job this year but I also don’t want to forget all the
great coaches, like Danny Halligan, former players, administrators and other supporters,
who have helped the club grow each year.
“Winning the Southern League is a major step, but we are all very aware that the gap with
the North Island clubs has been substantial and we hope to close that gap as soon as
possible and hope to be competitive in this year’s National League,” says Meyn.
“These are very exciting times to be part of Christchurch United.”
