![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4JOKQA4_GettyImages_2276368518_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nJake Girdwood-Reich celebrates his opening goal for Auckland FC.
\nPhoto: Sarah Reed\/Getty Images\n<\/p>\n
Auckland FC are into the A-League men’s grand final at the second time of trying.<\/p>\n
After the disappointment of last season – when they won the Premiers’ Plate, but were dumped out of the semifinals – a 3-0 win over Adelaide United in the second semifinal in Adelaide, at a soldout Coopers Stadium on Friday night, has propelled the competition’s newest club into the showpiece event.<\/p>\n
The scores were level at 1-1 after the first leg of the semifinal in Auckland, but the visitors struck just before halftime on a wet night in South Australia to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n
A corner-kick from Lachie Brook was headed home by Jake Girdwood-Reich in the 44th minute to give the visitors a 2-1 lead on aggregate goals.<\/p>\n
After the break, leading goalscorer Sam Cosgrove was a awarded a penalty, which he got just across the goal-line to extend the lead.<\/p>\n
Substitute Logan Rogerson scored Auckland’s third of the night, just his second goal of the season, as he slotted home off an assist from Jesse Randall in the 86th minute.<\/p>\n
For Randall, the result means he gets one more game in Auckland colours, before he leaves for Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership next season.<\/p>\n
As tempers rose and fatigue set in, the Black Knights were able to hold on for a second win over Adelaide in a history of close battles between the sides.<\/p>\n
With the 4-1 win on aggregate, they have now done what they could not last season, when they lost the two-legged semifinal to Melbourne Victory, and will face either Premiers’ Plate winners Newcastle Jets or Sydney FC in next week’s grand final.<\/p>\n
Read how the semifinal unfolded below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Girdwood-Reich celebrates his opening goal for Auckland FC. Photo: Sarah Reed\/Getty Images Auckland FC are into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-428894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}