Auckland City will be a little less excited than most for Sunday's national football premiership final.
The table-toppers will have to watch Eastern Suburbs and Team Wellington battle for the league's top prize at North Harbour Stadium.
A record-breaking season came to an end when it was beaten 3-1 by Team Wellington in last week's semifinal.
It was Auckland's first loss of the season.
That followed 17 wins and a draw to finish 12 points clear atop the league table.
But that is the reality of a playoff format. Once you make the top four, being the best on the day counts for more than being the best all season. It rewards improvement and it gives the mid-table teams something to play for, although that is small consolation for the team that barely put a foot wrong for five months.
None of that matters now.
Eastern Suburbs has been classy, and has proved a lethal attacking force. It led the league with 53 goals, while being the toughest defence to crack with just 16 conceded.
In Callum McCowatt and Andre de Jong they have two of the most potent threats in the league. The pair scored 18 and 17 goals respectively to lead the golden boot ladder.
Meanwhile Team Wellington started well, but had a lean patch after returning from the Club World Cup in December.
One game it has won since then was against Eastern Suburbs, three late first-half goals securing a 3-1 victory.
That will give it confidence.
While its form may have been down, it remains a side with class all over the pitch.
A team like that is always dangerous in a one-off game, and so it proved last week.
It has finals experience, too.
Only one of the last five grand finals has not been a Team Wellington v Auckland City affair - 2015, when Hawke's Bay United met Auckland.
It is Suburbs' first final since entering the premiership in 2016.
