Garcia down as pressure mounts for win

DOUBTFUL: Pedro Garcia is on the injured list.

Heartland Wairarapa could be without their influential player-coach, Pedro Garcia, for their national youth league football match against Southern United at Memorial Park, Masterton, tomorrow.

Garcia sustained an ankle injury early in the game during the 2-0 defeat by Canterbury United last weekend and, while he did his best to play on, he was eventually forced to leave the field.

With the ankle still swollen yesterday, he was giving himself only a "very slight chance" of playing in a fixture his side is desperate to win, as much for their supporters as for themselves.

"The support we've had for home games has been great but we haven't won there yet. This is the last opportunity to do that and no other result will be good enough," Garcia said.

"We have to win, simple as that."

There is another motivating factor for Heartland Wairarapa too. This the penultimate round of the southern conference section of the league and a win would guarantee they avoid the wooden spoon as Southern United is two points behind them on the points table.

The absence of Garcia would be a huge blow for the locals. He is the rock in their midfield, both for his ability to control possession through clever ball skills and his knack of creating space for his supports. Add to that his habit of scoring goals from unlikely positions and you have a player whose value can never be under-estimated.

Garcia may not be the only regular missing from the Heartland Wairarapa line-up tomorrow. At the time these notes were penned there was the possibility of others withdrawing through club commitments, a situation which had the naming of the starting XI delayed until today.

Even so Garcia is still confident of his side repeating the win they had over Southern United in their first round match. "We've got enough depth to do the job, there will be no excuses."

Tomorrow's match will kick off at 2pm.