Alex Paulsen, who starred in goal for Wellington the season prior, kept a clean sheet for his new Auckland side.

His mistimed pass in the dying minutes only found the feet of Jake Brimmer, who slotted it past to take Auckland into a late lead.

The build-up had been fiery: fuelled by comments from Wellington manager Giancarlo Italiano delegating Auckland's early success to luck.

Auckland got ahead by two goals; courtesy of an unfortunate Isaac Hughes header into his own net and a Nando Pijnaker set-piece nod.

Kosta Barbarouses scored late to give the travelling Wellington crowd hope, but the final whistle blew at 2–1.