United blow their title chances

The chances of Wairarapa United winning Capital Soccer's premier division title this season were dealt a severe blow when they were beaten 3-1 by Petone at Howard Booth,Carterton on Saturday.
Third placed Anderson's Meats Wairarapa United went into the game against the competition leaders knowing a win was crucial if they were to be serious contenders for the championship and they failed to deliver.
Petone's victory left them at the top of the points table with 31, two more than Tawa, who continued on their winning way with a 6-0 thrashing of Island Bay on Saturday.
Wairarapa United are still third but with 25pts have dropped well off the pace. However, they are all of 10pts clear of fourth placed Waterside-Karori and Island Bay, both of whom have 15pts, followed by Brooklyn Northern United 14, Western Suburbs 13, Upper Hutt City , Marist and North Wellington, all of whom have 7.
Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley was "gutted" by the loss to Petone on Saturday, not because his team had played poorly but because they had a clear advantage over Petone in everything other than putting the ball in the back of the net.
"Honestly we had enough chances to thrash them???they had five shots at goal and scored three and we had 14 and came up with just one," he said.
Twice Wairarapa United missed open goals and four times they were left with just one defender to beat and failed to take advantage of the situation.
"We created one scoring chance after another and all we had show at the end was one goal?..it doesn't get any more frustrating than that," Keinzley said.
The only Wairarapa United goal was scored by Troy Burling and it gave them a 1-0 lead at halftime, an advantage which might well have been doubled had striker Pita Rabo been awarded a penalty for being tripped in the penalty box when seemingly about to score.
But the referee saw things differently and booked Rabo for "diving".Petone drew level at 1-1 inside the first five minutes of the first half and for the next 25 minutes it was all Wairarapa United but the goals just didn't come. Then in the last 10 minutes Petone broke away to score a goal which gave them a 2-0 lead and added another close to fulltime to win 3-1.
In spite of the result there were no shirkers in the Wairarapa United side with Keinzley "more than happy" with everything but their finishing work.
Among the standouts were Andy Robertson, Carl Shailer, Murray Burling and James Oxtoby.