Auckland FC coach Steve Corica says last season's heartbreak provided his side with the valuable lessons that helped spur them to book a maiden A-League Men grand-final berth.
In their debut A-League season, Corica's side had taken out the premiership but fell short after a semi-final defeat to Melbourne Victory.
But second time around, Auckland clinched a spot in the decider thanks to their decisive 4-1 aggregate win against Adelaide United, which was sealed emphatically by their 3-0 win at Coopers Stadium on Friday.
Jake Girwood-Reich headed in a Lachlan Brook corner on 44 minutes before Sam Cosgrove doubled the lead from the penalty spot just before the hour, with substitute Logan Rogerson icing the win in the 88th minute.
"I think we learnt out lessons from last year," said Corica. "We took our chances tonight as well at the right times.
"We defended well, we did well in both boxes and I'm extremely proud of the effort and the performance, because we know they're a good footballing team but we didn't allow them to play their stuff."
Following a much more even clash a week earlier in Auckland which finished 1-1, Corica said his side relished being underdogs.
"We knew everyone wrote us off and that was motivation. But we knew what we had in the change room. We know we've had our fair share of injuries -- and we still have -- but we showed the depth in the squad as well with our subs coming on and doing a good job and Logan Rogerson scoring the third.
"We wanted to remain calm coming into the game, we didn't want to get too excited because then we don't perform at a good level.
"But the boys were up for it from the start, defensively. We played some good stuff as well, we hurt them on the counter."
Adelaide coach Airton Andrioli insisted his side could hold their heads up.
"I think we had a fantastic season," he said.
"But we're disappointed; we thought we could go all the way. They scored the goals at the right moments, we didn't. So congratulations to them."
A silver lining to Adelaide's exit, and a significant factor in United's success this season, was the discovery of yet more young talent.
While local products like Ethan Alagich, Jonny Yull, Yaya Dukuly, Panagiotis Kikianis and joint Golden Boot winner Luka Jovanovic continuing to mature and excel, another crop of even younger stars caught the eye.
Players like Ryan White, who took out the club champion award in just his second season, Brody Burkitt a hat-trick scorer on debut off the bench against Brisbane Roar and Harry Crawford, who equalised in the first leg against Auckland.
Andrioli acknowledged the home-grown young stars might leave, but said: "If they do move on, we can consider that a success because that's what we pride ourselves on as a club, to develop and bring players to the next level."
