United forge on in Hilton Petone

Horse and Hound Wairarapa United soccer stalwart Phil Keinzley has been coaching for more years than he would like to remember but it was something new even for him when the club's premier side upset higher graded Lower Hutt City in their Hilton Petone tournament quarter-final match at Petone on Sunday.
It was the first time Keinzley had coached a team to success after they trailed 1-0 with a player down.
"I've had teams manage to hang for a win or a draw when they had players sent off but never come from behind&..I'm pretty rapt about that, "Keinzley said. "It was a huge effort, really huge."
Wairarapa United's prospects of beating Lower Hutt City, which plays at central league level on the club scene, looked remote when they had their latest Fijian "import" Waisake Sabutu ordered from the field after just 10 minutes.
It seemed a harsh decision too with Sabutu and the opposition 'keeper clashing as they both went for the ball.The latter came out worse for wear with his leg being broken while Sabatu was red carded, leaving Wairarapa United a player short for the remainder of the game.
"Honestly, it seemed like a case of two players going for the ball quite legally and one taking a hefty knock on the leg," Keinzley said. "But the seriousness of the injury obviously had the ref thinking otherwise."
Adding to Wairarapa United's woes was that soon after this incident Lower Hutt City scored their first goal from a corner and with five subs to call on they obviously had the inside running.
Wairarapa United had other ideas though and they drew level when Pita Rabo was brought down in the penalty box and striker Soromon Seule converted the resultant penalty into a goal.
If Lower Hutt City were shocked by that setback their sprits dropped even lower when Seule and Rabo launched an attack which ended with Rabo laying off the perfect pass to Seule who hammered the ball home to give his side a 2-1 halftime advantage. The message from Keinzley to his troops at halftime was that if victory was to be achieved against a Lower Hutt City side sure to utilise their subs bench they would need to take a more defensive approach and rely on counter attacks to increase their own scoreline.
"We had to get players behind the ball and make it difficult for them to create scoring opportunities, "Keinzley said. "That way we would force them to push more player forwards and perhaps give us the chance to catch them off guard if they coughed up possession.".
It was a plan which worked to perfection with Wairarapa United jumping to a 3-1 lead when a counter attacking featuring Seule, Rabo and Merick Tvaroh ended with Rabo finding the net.
Lower Hutt City did strike back with a second goal from a penalty corner but then Wairarapa United made certain of victory when several players were involved in another breakaway before Seule scored his hattrick to give them a thoroughly deserved 4-2 success.
The most pleasing feature of Sunday's win for Keinzley was it being due to a splendid team effort rather than individual brilliance.
"It was a game where everybody pulled their weight and we wouldn't have won any other way, " he said. "We attacked well and we defended well, it was really good stuff."
Just who Wairarapa United will play in the Hilton Petone semi-finals next Sunday was likely to be confirmed today with Kjeinzley expecting to encounter either Waterside-Karori or Stokes Valley, who were scheduled to meet last night.