The North Shore club now face the yet-to-be-determined Australian champions in a one-off match across the Tasman in early May for a place in the 20 team global finals of the U-15 club tournament in Manchester in July.

An initially tense and closely fought final opened up in the second half with talented Wellington striker Amir Mohammed sent off just before the break after his attempted bicycle kick connected only with the face of unfortunate Bays defender Brock Messenger.

East Coast Bays made the most of the man advantage as winger Michael Kapteyn struck two goals in six minutes while Mitchell Cairn put the icing on the cake, beating the offside trap and calmly beating Wellington’s ‘keeper three minutes from fulltime.

Victorious East Coast Bays captain Brendan Wyatt said his side would be doing everything they could to prepare for next month’s tough Australasian playoff and turn their Manchester dream into reality.

“Reaching the world finals in Manchester would be unbelievable. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and something not to be take for granted,” Wyatt said.

“There’s always rivalry between Kiwis and Aussies and we want to make the most of the opportunity. We’ll be putting in lots of work in the next month so we can hopefully go over there and get a victory.”

East Coast Bays striker Nathan Buswell was kept quiet during the final but still collected the golden boot trophy for his three goal haul on day one, while Coastal Sprit midfielder Connor Lidstone made up for the disappointment of his side missing the final by being named player of the tournament.

Manchester United Premier Cup
New Zealand Finals

Day Two Results – Sunday

Final

East Coast Bay 3 (Michael Kapteyn 29, 35; Mitchell Cairn 47)
Wellington College 0
Halftime: 0-0

Group play

Wellington College 4 (Wayne Stawles 6, 44; Scott Jacques 27, Will Walkley 36)
Fencibles United 0
Halftime: 1-0

Coastal Spirit 2 (Taylor Catlow 2, Nick Hay 37)
East Coast Bays 2 (Jared Grove 17, John White 45)
Halftime: 1-1

Day One Results – Saturday

Wellington College 0
East Coast Bays 2 (Nathan Buswell 21, Judd Baker 40)
Halftime 0-1

Fencibles United 0
Coastal Spirit 3 (Dj Kilden 29, Aaron Spain 31, Josh Wright 37)
Halftime: 0-0

East Coast Bays 2 (Nathan Buswell 16, 41)
Fencibles United 1 (Callum O’Donnell 50+1)
Halftime: 1-0

Coastal Spirit 1 (Matt McCaw 15)
Wellington College 2 (Amir Mohammed 5, Jo Collicoat 24)
Halftime: 1-2

Final Standings

Awards
Golden Boot – Nathan Buswell (East Coast Bays) 3 goals
Tournament MVP – Connor Lidstone (Coastal Spirit)