Underdog tag suits Wairarapa United

Wairarapa United are relishing the thought all the pressure will be on their opposition when they play Wellington United in a Chatham Cup third round soccer match at the Pugh Sportsbowl, Masterton on Monday.
With Wellington United playing at central league level on the club scene and Wairarapa United one tier below them at Capital premier division level favouritism clearly has to rank with the visitors.
And that's a situation which pleases Wairarapa United manager Phil Keinzley, who believes his team are well capable of turning their underdog status to their advantage.
"They (Wellington United) won't want the embarrassment of being beaten by a lower graded side and that can play on the mind," he said.
Keinzley anticipates Wellington United adopting an attacking stance, especially in the early stages, in the hope that an early goal or two will settle the nerves and dampen the Wairarapa United enthusiasm at the same time.
So he considers it could be in his own team's interests if they apply tactics which revolve around keeping their goal intact, and relying on Wellington United to take the type of risks which could open their own defence, and consequently create scoring opportunities for the home team.
"The more they have to push forward in search of goals the more chances they could give us to score at the other end," Keinzley said.
"So we have to be patient, we don't need to rush things."
The improved efforts of the Wairarapa United defence over the past two to three weeks has heartened Keinzley and while he respects the skills of the Wellington United strikers he is confident they will have a hard job finding the net.
"Obviously they will be quicker and more skilful than most of the forwards we meet in premier division games but providing we keep to our structure we should be able to cope with them," he said.
Offensively too Keinzley expects Wairarapa United to give a strong account of themselves with a forward line spearheaded by the prolific-scoring Pita Rabo performing well on a regular basis.
"We have plenty of flair and skill up front ? players who can create something out of nothing," he said.
There is one worrying factor leading into Monday's game for Wairarapa United though, and that is the exertions of playing a key premier division fixture against Island Bay at Island Bay on Saturday will test their physical resources.
Wairarapa United currently sit second on the premier division points table and have made no secret of the fact that winning that title is their primary objective in 2007.
Which means there is absolutely no chance of any of their key players being rested from Saturday's game to keep them fresh for Monday.
Keinzley is optimistic though that the aura which surrounds the Chatham Cup will be a help in that respect and he hopes too that the local soccer community will be at the Pugh Sportsbowl in big numbers to provide an extra adrenalin rush for his players.
"The bigger the crowd and the more vocal they are the harder it will be on Wellington United ? they can be like having another couple of players on the field," Keinzley said.