Albury United 10 St Pats 1: Greens through to face Albury Hotspurs in grand final

The Greens last won the cup in 1991 but will have the chance to end that long wait when they face Albury Hotspurs at Lavington Sports Ground.

It was one-way traffic at Willow Park from the moment Mel Crorken's high cross dropped under the crossbar for the opening goal inside 30 seconds and Tony Cigana's side never took their foot off the gas after that.

United effectively had the game sewn up inside 15 minutes, by which time they were leading 3-0 and looking in complete control against a Patties side who kept battling but were always second-best.

"We've been the best team all year and we proved that today," Cigana said.

"Every player stepped up and did the job I asked them to do, which is a credit to them.

"When you're the favourites, you're under a little bit of pressure to perform and this is the second time in 31 years we are in the cup final so that was a huge expectation.

"Anything can happen in finals so it's a huge relief to get in there."

Patties' Claire Mahoney had a low shot pushed out at 1-0 but when Paula Mitchell ran clear to slot her 50^th goal of the season, it signalled the start of the landslide.

Molly Goldsworthy's right-wing cross was chested in by Maree Matthew five minutes later and Zoie Dalitz came off the bench to bag herself a couple of goals late in the half.

First, she obliged with a close-range finish when Mitchell squared from the byline and Dalitz then ran onto Goldsworthy's through-ball and kept a cool head to pick out the bottom corner.

Mahoney pulled one back for St Pats, eight minutes into the second half, but the goal served as the catalyst for two at the other end within three minutes.

Mitchell left Amelia Watson trailing in her wake and buried a shot into the roof of the net before Matthew followed in after Kaitlin Rennie had pushed a cross back into the six-yard box.

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United captain Allanah Seary, on the stretch picked out the bottom corner with a neat finish and Crorken's corner from the left drifted all the way into the net before the Greens brought up double figures in the 89^th minute, Mitchell setting up Anna Parrett.

"In the huddle, before we went on, I said the first five minutes will decide this game," Seary said.

"The girls just switched on and you could see the result.

"You play all these games to get into the grand final so we weren't going to slack off in the second half.

"It's amazing to have this opportunity but it's nerve-wracking for sure because we have a lot of pressure on us now.

"We're just so grateful to actually play a grannie after the last couple of years."

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