It's been a rocking weekend for soccer in Auckland, with the city's A-League Men triumph followed by their feeder side beating South Melbourne FC 2-1 in the inaugural final of the Oceania Football Confederation Pro League.
There were plenty of celebrations in Auckland on Saturday night after Auckland FC defeated Sydney 1-0 to win the ALM grand final at Go Media Stadium.
Auckland FC's feeder club, which goes by the same name, added to the party vibe on Sunday when they downed South Melbourne in the OFC Pro League decider.
Daniel Normann opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, before Matt Ellis made it 2-0 in the 72nd.
South Melbourne pulled a goal back in the 97th minute through Yuki Uchida, but they didn't have enough time to snare the equaliser.
The OFC Pro League was first proposed in 2022 as part of the Oceania Football Confederation’s long-term vision to professionalise the sport across the Pacific.
The eight-team competition finally kicked off this year, with Auckland topping the table with 10 wins, two draws and two losses from 14 games.
Auckland scraped past fellow NZ outfit South Island United 1-0 in a tight semi-final, while South Melbourne cruised through to the decider with a 4-0 thumping of Vanuatu United.
Riding high off their A-League squad’s grand final success across town the previous night, Auckland made a bright start to Sunday's match.
The breakthrough finally came via a corner, with South Melbourne's inability to clear the line allowing Normann to lift his shot over the goalkeeper.
Isa Prins missed a golden opportunity to double the lead when he fired high from point-blank range.
South Melbourne coach Sinisa Cohadzic was growing increasingly frustrated on the touchline, with his side struggling to create attacking chances despite being able to score 54 goals from their previous 18 matches.
Ellis nutmegged South Melbourne's goalkeeper to make it 2-0, with the visitors only able to pull a consolation goal back deep into stoppage time courtesy of Uchida's header.
