Petone ripe for the picking

Wairarapa United need to beat Petone at Howard Booth Park, Carterton on Saturday to have any chance of winning Capital Soccer's premier division title, and they may have the timing just right for that to happen.
Petone might be the competition leaders, and have a three-point break on third-placed Andersons Meats Wairarapa United, but to say they have been under-performing in recent weeks would be no exaggeration.
Just last weekend, for example, they were on the end of a 7-0 beating by the Western Suburbs central league side in a Chatham Cup third round match while in premier division club games they have lost to fourth placed Island Bay and drawn with Upper Hutt, which sits third from bottom on the points table.
Petone's poor run of form hasn't been lost on Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley but tempering any optimism that it might give his team an advantage is the knowledge that Wairarapa United have already played Petone twice this season, and Petone have won on both occasions.
The first of those defeats was comprehensive with Wairarapa United having probably their worst game of the season but the second, a Chatham Cup second round match, was close, very close, with Wairarapa United conceding an own goal late an extra time in losing 1-0.
Keinzley said that second loss was, in fact, a morale booster for his side as it proved they had the capabilities to beat Petone.
"I think anyone who saw that game would agree we had the better off it ?.it was a huge turn round from what happened the first time we played," he said. "If we had taken our scoring chances we probably would have won by a couple of goals at least."
With that in mind the emphasis in training for Wairarapa United this week will be very much on their finishing work, as that particular game was by no means the only occasion this season where they have failed to take anything like full toll of their scoring opportunities.
"We have as much speed and flair as any side up front but the fact remains that too often we have struggled to find the net," he said. "We need to be more clinical there,
no doubt about that."
Keinzley does not though have similar concerns about his team's defence with the improvement there being substantial from what it was in the early-season games.
"Quite honestly our defence was our weak point when we started off but now it's probably our best attribute," he said. "And that's says a lot for the players involved in that area, they've worked their butts off to get it right."
The fact Saturday's game is on home territory is seen as a definite plus for Keinzley and he is hopeful of the local soccer fraternity turning up in big numbers to cheer their team on in what Keinzley himself rates as "easily our most important game of the season."
For not only would success see Wairarapa United well placed to win the premier division title but it would also aid their prospects of qualifying to play at central league level next season.
"I think it's fair to say that in many ways our whole season depends on Saturday's result and if that isn't an incentive to get the locals along to support us then nothing would be," Keinzley said.