Onehunga 1-4 Wests
Wests played better, more skilful football and could have won by more.
Onehunga (by their twitter feed) conceded 8 yellow cards to six players (i.e. two sent off), all for foul play. One of the yellows (to their captain) could have been a straight red - their card count could have been higher. Is it time NZ Football directed refs to toughen up on foul play, so skillful players can develop?
Wests - one red for abusing the match officials, one contested yellow for diving (Billingsley; I'd question if he has the ability to dive) and two yellows for foul play.
That tells the story - a traditional physical-to-dirty NZ team vs a team playing skillful possession based football (though Wests did play a few long balls towards Billingsley; probably a good tactic in this game).
Standout players today IMO for Wests were Awad, then a gap to Just and McCowatt.
Awad looked the best of the Wests. Best touch, really nice; also very fast, good passing, dribbling and vision. Like Singh, but faster - or Krishna, without quite the finishing ability (in this game). Dangerous in possession, and drew a great save from Caunter with a shot from 20m out. Would be interesting to see how he went at a higher level. NZ / Somali; 24.
Just and McCowatt also showed good touch, passing and vision but both made a few mistakes.
For Onehunga - Sean Lovemore was aggressive, determined, skillful at times and effective. Their late sub (41 - Boon Ozawa?) didn't get much of a run but looked promising.
Edge - passionate and vocal, full of instructions. I wonder if the team would play even better if he left them to it.
Here's hoping Wests win the cup.