Injuries threaten United

An injury stricken Wairarapa United will need to reproduce their early season defensive form tomorrow if they are keep in touch with the Wellington premier soccer division frontrunners.
The side travels to Tawa sitting in equal fourth on seven points, three points behind leaders Petone, after crashing to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Waterside Karori at the Colin Pugh Sports Bowl last Saturday.
While the loss itself ruined Wairarapa's unbeaten start to the season, it may also have cost them the services of three key players.
Both player/coach Pita Rabo and captain Carl Shailer were forced from the field with knee and foot injuries respectively against Karori and are unlikely to start against Tawa.
Also under an injury cloud is hard-working midfielder Guiseppe Cugliari who is nursing a groin strain.
All three were to undergo fitness tests last night, though team spokesman Phil Keinzley was not holding his breath of a positive outcome.
"We won't know for sure until they've been put through their paces but it's not looking good that they'll be right by Saturday," he said yesterday.
"The injuries make it pretty hard to forge a game plan at this stage so we will just wait and see exactly who will be available before we make any final decisions."
Should all three be ruled out, Lai Gatarua and Andy Robinson will take up starting positions after running on from the bench last week, while a final replacement will likely be named shortly before the match.
Further changes will see Sakeo Valevou revert from striker back to defence with Aaron Spierling moving to the right midfield.
"It's a game we can't really afford to lose, in light of the tightness of the competition this year," Keinzley said.
"We need this one to keep in touch with the other teams, it's pretty jam packed at the moment and we don't want to drop off the pace. The competition's improved another level this year from last year and you can see the sides with strong defences will go well this season."
"We need to get back to where we were with our defence before last week's second half and ensure the worst result we can have is a nil all draw."
Last year Wairarapa lost twice to a Tawa side that ended up only one point short of claiming the championship.
This year the two teams share similar records and a win for either side will be a huge boost to their title campaign.