Eddie Castro-Wade's first-half strike in the shadows of halftime proved the difference as United progressed to a Coastal Premier League southern conference grand final showdown with Macleay Valley.

The result maintained United coach Nathan Wade's near-perfect record in local derbies with the only loss under his guidance occurring four years ago.

Wade felt his side's defence was rarely tested with goalkeeper Cameron Higham only required to make a handful of saves.

"I think we left a few goals out there again and we could have killed the game off earlier but because we couldn't, that gave them hope that they were still a chance to draw the game," he said.

"We weren't good enough to kill the game off; we were pretty poor in front of goal again."

But the match wasn't without some controversy with Saints believing they had a fair goal disallowed late in the second half after goalkeeper Higham was ruled to have been taken out.

Saints coach Darrell Pascoe was understandably frustrated to fall on the wrong side of another derby.

"It's hard for the referees depending on where they are and what they see," he said.

"Those little things are probably highlighted more when you don't come away with the result, but if we're going to get those calls go against us it's always against United which drives me insane."

A share of the points, however, wouldn't have been enough for Saints to extend their season for another week with United holding a better goal differential.

"A draw wasn't going to be enough for us anyway; we needed to win," Pascoe said.

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