Title looms for United

A commanding 5-2 win over Miramar Rangers at Howard Booth Park in Carterton on Saturday has left Wairarapa United very much on track to be crowned Capital Soccer's division one men's champions for 2005.
And, if that is the case, they will also attain automatic promotion to the premier division for next season.
With just one round of matches still to be played Wairarapa United and Western Suburbs share the competition lead on 38 points, having the exact same statistic of 17 matches played, 12 won,two drawn and three lost.
Which means that if they both win their matches next weekend-and that seems a strong possibility- they will be separated only by goal difference and it is here that Wairarapa United have a major advantage.
They have scored 56 goals while conceding 23 for a differential of plus 33 while Western Suburbs have scored 48 goals and conceded 22 for a differential of plus 26
So if Wairarapa United beats Wainuiomata and Western Suburbs beats Miramar Rangers next weekend Western Suburbs will need to win by at least seven more goals than Wairarapa United to even things up.
That would be a huge task by any standards but Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley is not counting his chickens yet.
He recalled yesterday being once coach of a side which had to win their last game by eight goals or more to win a tournament and they came up trumps.
"These sort of things can happen and we can't afford any complacency at all.," he said "We have to go out there next weekend determined to not only win the game, but to win as comfortably as we can."
On paper, at least, Wainuiomata should not present too much of a threat to Wairarapa United. They have had just the three wins this season and have only one team below them on the points table.
It was Fijian striker Lai Gataurua who was the toast of the Wairarapa United camp after their win over Miramar Rangers. He scored four of their five goals and, in the second half in particular, was absolutely devastating on attack.
Gataurua's availability for Wairarapa United had, in fact, been in doubt up until late Friday.
Fiji was keen to have him play for them at home in a "friendly" against India and with international rules stating that if a player does not play for his country when required he therefore cannot play for his club on the same day there seemed every chance Gataurua would be missing from the Wairarapa United line-up.
However, that prospect was avoided when Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley contacted the Oceania Soccer Federation and discovered that "friendly" internationals did not count in terms of that particular rule.
And so Gataurua, who himself was keen to stay with Wairarapa United, was able to play, and he was a dominant figure.
"Lai was just brilliant - his second half was the best he's ever played for us," Keinzley said. "He made some pretty handy defenders look pretty ordinary."
It was Gataurua and another of Wairarapa United's Fijian connection, Sakeo Valevou, who scored the goals for the home team in a first half which Keinzley openly conceded was "just average".
He said his side had lacked composure on defence and were not hungry enough on attack and that if Miramar Rangers had taken their chances they could have gone to the break actually in the lead rather than 2-1 down.
It was a different story in the second spell though with Wairarapa United displaying far greater enthusiasm and commitment and with Gataurua slotting the goals they were never in danger of defeat.
Apart from Gataurua other Wairarapa United players to stand out were Carl Shailer and Robbie Bull.