United hope to draft new player

Trust House Wairarapa United are hoping to draft at least one new player into their central league soccer squad this week to cover the distinct possibility of present squad members being automatically suspended for disciplinary reasons.
Central league rules are that once a player receives five yellow cards they have to miss one game and Wairarapa United are in the dangerous position of having four of their key players just one yellow card away from that fate & skipper Pita Rabo, James Oxtoby, Adam Cowan and goalkeeper Sacha Nathu.
Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley says his team can't afford to risk the chance of losing most of those players for the same game simply because they didn't have the numbers within their current squad to cope.
And so he was now in the process of looking to recruit at least one new face into the squad to provide insurance in that respect.
"We have to guard against getting ourselves into a situation where we might not even be able to field a side", Keinzley said.
"That would be the worst possible scenario and we need to do everything we can to avoid it."
Keinzley isn't bagging individual referees for the influx of yellow cards inflicted on Wairarapa United this season but he does admit to being frustrated by the fact that some rule interpretations are different week by week.
"I don't think referees are going out of their way to pick on us or anything like that but it is confusing when you can do one thing one week but not the next," he said.
"It's upsetting for the players and some of them tend to react more vocally to those situations than others."
At the same time, however, Keinzley said the need to maintain their discipline was a message often stressed to the Wairarapa United squad and it was obvious it was taking longer than it should to get through.
"The fact of the matter is that in all sports referees will not change their minds and that's something you have to live with," he said.
"And the more noise you make the harder they are likely to come down on you."
Apart from the yellow cards though Keinzley was delighted with the improved form shown by Wairarapa United in their 1-1 draw with then competition leaders Western Suburbs at the Park Oval on Sunday.
In a tense, enthralling encounter Wairarapa United took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half with a superb goal from a free kick by Rabo and Western Suburbs' equaliser did not come until about 10 minutes from the game's end.
Keinzley has one word for the improvement & attitude.
"Honestly it's the first time I've walked away from a game this season completely happy with the way we played," he said.
"We often talk about the need to be assertive and this time we were, there was a lot of steel there and it wasn't just in one area, it was all over the field."
Especially pleasing for Keinzley was the amount of possession Wairarapa United earned by robbing Western Suburbs off the ball through close marking and hard tackling.
"Teams like them just love time on the ball and we knew we had to be in their faces all the way through," he said.
"Defensively we were very strong, we didn't have the concentration lapses we have had in the past."
Making the draw against Western Suburbs even more tasteful for Keinzley was the news that the two teams below Wairarapa United on the central league table, Wellington United and Palmerston North Marist, had also drawn their match, meaning neither of them overtook Wairarapa United on the competition ladder.
In fact, it was a weekend of draws in the central league with the only game with a clear winner being that between Miramar Rangers and Napier City Rovers which Miramar won 3-2.
Otherwise Wellington United and Palmerston North Marist drew 3-3, Lower Hutt City and Olympic drew 3-3 and Taranaki and Petone drew 1-1.
The current points table is: Miramar Rangers 14, Western Suburbs 12, Petone 11, Lower Hutt City 10, Olympic 8, Napier City Rovers 7, Taranaki 6, Wairarapa United 5, Wellington United 3, Palmerston North Marist 2.
The draw for this coming weekend is (home teams first): Palmerston North Marist v Miramar Rangers, Petone v Wellington United, Olympic v Taranaki, Western Suburbs v Lower Hutt City, Napier City Rovers v Wairarapa United.