Lethargic United drop home match

Wairarapa United had only themselves to blame for their 2-1 loss to Waterside-Karori in their Capital Soccer premier division match at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton yesterday.
The level of intensity displayed by the two sides was mirrored by the final scoreline with Waterside-Karori creating at least 50 per cent more scoring chances than the home team and being about that much better on defence as well.
Why Wairarapa United should be so lethargic was difficult for understand for anything other than victory was always going to hurt their prospects of winning the premier division title, and with it promotion to central league for 2009.
Apart from the first 10 minutes of play when they held a territorial advantage and threatened to open up the opposition defences on a couple of occasions Wairarapa United gave the impression of being in second gear.
All too often they "gifted" Waterwise-Karori possession through weak passing, particularly in midfield, and that meant in turn that proven goal scorers like Seule Soromon and Pita Rabo were very seldom given the opportunity to demonstrate their attacking skills.
And even when they were they were usually comfortably contained by a no frills Waterside-Karori back four who positioned themselves well and tackled strongly.
The defensive effort of Wairarapa United was very average at best and woeful at worst and but for the excellence of goalkeeper Matt Borren they would probably have been beaten by three or four goals.
He made some superb saves, including twice tipping the ball over the crossbar, and the two goals scored against him were no fault of his.
Unfortunately though Borren got little support from his fullbacks whose lack of urgency was continually exposed by a Waterside-Karori forward line which showed speed down both flanks and impressed with the accuracy of their passing anhd the diligence of their support play.
Waterwide-Karori scored the only goal of the first half, that coming after they had seized upon a loose pass from Waisake Sabutu with the successful strike from Jono Sole being taken from a wide angle and giving Borren no chance.
Wairarapa United drew level in the second spell when they had a player brought down in front of the Waterside-Karori goal and Seule Soromon made no mistake with the resultant penalty.
At stage what would have been a fortuitous draw looked very much a possibility for Wairarapa United but Waterside-Karori had other ideas,capitalising on more shoddy defence to deservedly score the goal through James Hill which was to be decisive in the end result..
Yesterday's loss dropped Wairarapa United to third on the premier division table after other results which saw Marist beat Western Suburbs 3 0, Kapiti Coast beat Upper Hutt 5-3, Miramar Rangers and Island Bay draw 0-0 and Tawa and Lower Hutt City draw 2-2.
Current points are: Tawa 13, Waterside-Karori 10, Wairarapa United 9, Island Bay 8, Upper Hutt 7, Miramar Rangers 7, Marist 5, Lower Hutt City 5, Kapiti Coast 3 and Western Suburbs 0