Poor Pugh pitch lets United down

The poor state of the Pugh Sports Bowl playing surface is likely to see Wairarapa United forfeit home advantage to Napier City Rovers in their Central League football match on the weekend of July 18 and 19.
Remedial work on the Sports Bowl pitch in Masterton was, somewhat surprisingly, left until the end of last cricket season and while some Central League games have been played there its condition has been the subject of unfavourable comment from players and officials.
And the situation has only been made worse by the recent spell of inclement weather which has slowed the recovery process even more.
Wairarapa United are due to continue their Central League programme with a match against unbeaten Western Suburbs in Whitby on Saturday and Palmerston North Marist in Palmerston North the following weekend.
Then they are scheduled to play Napier City Rovers at home but coach Phil Keinzley admits they could have no alternative but to travel to Napier for the second time this season.
Particularly with Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton apparently being taken out of the equation by the Masterton District Council because of a wish to save it for the start of the 2009-10 cricket season.
"Right now it does look like we will have to forfeit home advantage to Napier simply because there are no suitable grounds available here," Keinzley said. "Obviously we will be gutted if that has to happen but it's very much on the cards."
Making the situation even harder to take for Wairarapa United management and players is they have long targeted the second-round matches against Palmerston North Marist and Napier City Rovers as fixtures which could completely remove any chance of them being relegated from the Central League competition. And with Napier City Rovers having won their last encounter it was hoped the home advantage would be enough to swing things their way.
"We've been lucky to get big crowds to our home games and there's no doubt it does spur the players on," Keinzley said.
Meanwhile, Wairarapa United will have to do without their inspirational skipper Pita Rabo for their game against Western Suburbs this coming weekend. He picked up his fifth yellow card for the season when they lost narrowly to Lower Hutt City in their most recent match and has been sidelined for one game as a consequence.
Also missing will be goalkeeper Richard Gillespie, who is not available, while fullback James Oxtoby has a hamstring problem and is on the doubtful starter list.
Good news for Wairarapa United though is the return from suspension of Manawatu NFC captain Adam Cowan and he will play in the centre back role with Carl Shailer, Waisake Sabutu and either of Oxtoby and Andy Robertson alongside him. Taking up the goalkeeping role will be Matt Steele and the midfield will consist of Nick Roydhouse, Miriek Tvaroh, Aaron Spierling and Kote Maeno.
Up front will be Campbell Banks and Seule Soromon with the latter's 11 goals making him second only to Miramar Rangers's Dominic Rowe as the leading goal scorer in the Central League competition.
Western Suburbs have won nine and drawn three of their 12 matches to date and will be warm favourites to beat a Wairarapa United side with three wins, two draws and seven losses.
However, their first round clash ended in a 1-1 draw and coach Keinzley believes they are capable of pushing them hard again.
Central League points are, with the number matches played in brackets: Western Suburbs 30 (12), Lower Hutt City 25 (13), Miramar Rangers 23 (12), Olympic 21 (21), Petone 21 (13), Napier City Rovers 19 (13), Taranaki 13 (14), Wairarapa United 11 (12), Palmerston North Marist 6 (14), Wellington United 4 (12).