Auckland star crushes Coopers concerns: 'wasn't a problem'

Key figures react to Auckland’s 3-0 romp into the Isuzu Ute A-League Grand Final.

Auckland FC striker Sam Cosgrove said his team was ‘due’ their crushing 3-0 win against Adelaide United to advance 4-1 on aggregate to the Grand Final.

When asked about the difficulty of coming to Coopers Stadium, Cosgrove was blunt in his reply.

“Yeah we’ve been told all week that it is, but it wasn’t a problem for us today,” Cosgrove said.

“I thought we silenced the crowd early doors. Dominant, totally in control…get the first goal and we were looking like going and getting two or three and we did that.

“We’ve been due a performance like that. We’ve got that in us…and it’s come out at the right time.”

Auckland FC coach Steve Corica was delighted with progressing to the Grand Final.

“Over the moon,” Corica said.

Match Report: Awesome Auckland advance to Grand Final

“The first 15 minutes (Adelaide) were on top. It took us a little while to get into the game and once we did we were excellent for the rest of the game.

“I’m really proud of the way we played tonight, the discipline we showed and the ruthlessness in front of goals to win 3-0.

“We’ve got one more game to go, we don’t want to get too carried away with this one.”

Former Socceroo and Adelaide United defender Robbie Cornthwaite gave a frank assessment of the Reds bowing out in front of their home fans.

“I think Adelaide bottled it tonight,” Cornthwaite said on Paramount+.

“Other than when they lost [0-4 to Central Coast] I can’t remember them playing worse.

“The tactics to go long worked early to a degree. Once Anselmo came off they needed to change things up. The amount of long balls they played to five at the back.

“I don’t understand it, I honestly think they’ll look at this and think not just the result, but a terrible performance to finish the season that they’ve had.”

Match Report: Awesome Auckland advance to Grand Final

Adelaide United coach Airton Andrioli cited the 24th minute of Brazilian forward Anselmo as a key moment in the game.

“The goals we conceded were a little bit easy and in the wrong moments of the game,” Andrioli said.

“Congratulations to Auckland, they did what they needed to go to go to a Grand Final.

“I think the officiating was also poor. It’s been like that when we’ve played them, getting away with some of the tackles, but I don’t want to make any excuses, Auckland won the game because they deserved to win.

“Losing Anselmo in that moment was not what we expected, it didn’t help us, we’re very disappointed in the result.”