With the departure of teenage striker Angus Kilkolly to Lithuania, midfielder Josh Stevenson maintained his remarkable scoring habit with another goal yesterday to open the account for the visitors 1-0 in the 27th minute.
The Hastings police officer latched on to a high ball from his skipper, Danny Wilson, before depositing the ball into the net in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
"Then we gave away possession cheaply to Paul Ifill who pushed a pass to Sam Mason-Smith to equalise," lamented Robertson of the player/coach of Wellington Phoenix fame, whose golden boot league leader delivered with aplomb in the 32nd minute.
English import centre-mid Ryan Tinsley got on the referee's card in the 65th minute, following on from the two penalty kicks in the cup match, when the Rovers did the hard yards to secure possession at the edge of the 18m box.
This time Stevenson became the provider, threading the ball inside the top edge of the box to Tinsley who took a deft touch before drilling it past the goalkeeper.
"We had two big chances to win the game one-on-one but they equalised instead," Robertson said.
It came from a cornerkick scramble, 10 minutes from the final whistle, when the Blues defenders failed to clear the ball as a Wairarapa player hooked it back to Martin Canales, a Chilean striker-cum-centreback for Hawke's Bay United last summer, who didn't need a second invite to use his head to make it 2-all for the seventh-placed hosts and secure a share of the points.
Mindful the Rangers had received a 5-1 flogging at the hands of a mid-table Wellington United at David Farrington Park on Saturday and Western Suburbs had held Wellington Olympic to a 1-all draw, the table-topping Rovers - on 24 points - wanted to establish a healthy gap between themselves and the peloton but it was not to be.
The Greeks have shimmied up the ladder to sit a point behind the Blues, while Miramar have dropped to the third rung on 22 points. It begs the question if a jaded Miramar have made the quest for the cup their priority.
While that gulf in the league ladder isn't what the Blues would like it to be, Robertson said his troops were looking forward to hosting Petone FC at Bluewater Stadium this Sunday.
"We're battling a high number of injuries in a thin squad," he said, with No1 goalkeeper Ruben Parker Hanks declared unfit to play yesterday just minutes before kick off so reserve Kyle Baxter slipped on the gloves again.
"Ruben has little power in his ankles ... so we'll have to see how he comes along at the next training," Robertson said of the goalkeeper, who has ruptured a tendon in his ankle.
The Petone clash will be godsend because the Rovers had thrashed the league cellar dwellers - who have yet to win a game in 11 outings - by 4-0 at Petone Memorial Turf on April 23.
"Once again, we've not lost and we're leading on the league table," said Robertson of the Blues, who have now drawn four games and lost one away to Stop Out.
In the other games at the weekend, Petone drew 1-all with Lower Hutt while Stop Out pipped Palmerston North Marist 3-2 away at Memorial Park.
