Late decision saves Wai United's future

Wairarapa United will play their first two home games in the 2008 Capital Soccer premier division competition in early April at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton.
That is the end result of discussions late last week which threatened to place the very future of the Wairarapa United club in jeopardy.
Coach of their premier division side, Phil Keinzley, said he was about to "pull the plug" when Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell advised him that a combination of the drought and the need for reconstruction work meant plans for Wairarapa United to use Pugh Sports Bowl as their headquarters had to be stalled. That despite the fact they had been formulated as far back as August-October the previous year. And at that stage there also seemed to be little, or no, chance of Queen Elizabeth Park Oval being part of the equation either.
"It was serious stuff, very serious," Keinzley said. "Suddenly we had no ground which would fulfil our requirements, it was a shock I can tell you."
Fortunately, however, that situation changed through the intervention of Mr Daniell's predecessor, Bob Francis, and the co-operation of the council's park and recreation services manager Grant Hathaway and representatives of the Masterton Athletics Club and the Wairarapa Cricket Association, who are also closely linked with the Pugh Sports Bowl and the Park Oval.
With their assistance the decision to play at least the first two home games at Queen Elizabeth Park was made with a return to the Pugh Sports Bowl likely to happen a little further down the track.
It's a decision which Keinzley admits was music to his ears. "It saved our bacon, I can tell you," he said. "To have so many people supportive of us was very encouraging, without their support we would have been gone."
Keinzley himself is no stranger to soccer matches being staged at the Park Oval. The Wairarapa United women's team played a handful of games there while he was coaching them in the late 1990s and central league men's matches were played on the Oval on a regular basis two decades or more ago.
"Really it's an ideal venue for soccer, both for players and spectators, and we're delighted to have the chance to play there," Keinzley said " Hopefully it will encourage even more people to come along and watch us and that's got to be a plus, doesn't it?".
That Wairarapa United should be a major force in the Capital premier division competition in 2008 has been illustrated by their form in the annual Hilton Petone pre-season tournament where their record is two wins from as many matches.
Their latest success came on Sunday when they hammered Wainuiomata 6-0 after leading 2-0 at halftime.
Keinzley said the most pleasing aspect of that win was the manner in which combinations improved as the game progressed.
"Obviously we are still in the experimental stage so you can't expect anything like a perfect performance but the continuity in our play got better as the match wore on and that's what we were looking for," he said.
Happily for Wairarapa United the match appears to have solved their goalkeeping hassles with Matt Borren making the most of his chance to display his skills in that crucial role. He will now be transferring to Wairarapa United from Palmerston North End.
Fullbacks Sakeo Valevou and Carl Shailer also had impressive games for Wairarapa United with Valevou often pressing forward to boost his team's attacking strength and scoring two fine goals.
The move from fullback to midfield of Waisake Sabutu was a success with Sabutu linking well with strikers Pita Rabo and Soromon Seule, both of whom scored two goals apiece and were always a menace with their speed and elusiveness.
Wairarapa United's last opponent in pool play next Sunday is Olympic, a central league side who will go into the match as favourites due to their higher grading. No matter what the result there though Wairarapa United are through to the quarter-finals with Keinzley "very optimistic" they can advance even further than that.