Chatham Cup: Wairarapa to travel

No favours were done Wairarapa United when the semifinal draw for the Chatham Cup football competition on the weekend of August 13-14 was broadcast live on Radio Sport yesterday.
Not only did they have the bad luck to draw the hot favourites and last year's runners-up, Bay Olympic, but they will have to play them at their Auckland base. The other semifinal match will see Napier City Rovers at home to Caversham.
Just how difficult the task will be for Wairarapa United is illustrated by the Northern Regional League points table. It shows Bay Olympic on 36 points, seven ahead of its nearest rivals Three Kings United and 18 points clear of Waitakere City, the team Wairarapa United beat 4-1 in last weekend's quarter-final match at Carterton's Howard Booth Park.
Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley admitted that playing Bay Olympic at home had to be the worst possible draw for any of the teams through to the semifinals.
"They were always going to be the team to beat and playing them at home only makes it more difficult," he said. "It certainly wasn't what we wanted but it's the luck of the draw, you just have to take what you get and make the most of it."
Keinzley says the next few days will be spent catching up on homework as he investigates the composition of the Bay Olympic side and what style of football they play. "Honestly, I don't know anything about them but I have been told most of their players have been part of the national league. And they don't seem to have any trouble scoring goals so I'd pick them to have an attacking mindset."
The Wairarapa United coach said Bay Olympic's 5-3 win over Dunedin Technical in their quarter-final match last weekend also suggested they could handle pressure as the match was played in a blizzard and the scores were locked at 3-3 at the end of ordinary time. "That was a real test for them and they obviously showed plenty of grit to pull it off."
But Keinzley is still confident, despite the undoubted quality of the opposition, that Wairarapa United are capable of another upset win. He said his players would enjoy their underdog status and also the opportunity to claim the scalp of another group of city slickers.
"Nobody up there will be giving us a chance and hopefully we can turn that to our advantage," he said. "Mentally it's going to be a lot harder for them, it always is when expectations are so high."
But yesterday's draw does pose a major off-field problem for Wairarapa United - some hurried fundraising will be needed to fund their trip north.