United in box seat

Wairarapa United's 1-0 win over Tawa at Tawa on Saturday has put them in the box seat in Capital Soccer's premier division competition. They now sit in second place with 21pts but have a game in hand over leaders Island Bay United who have 22pts. Tawa have now dropped back to third with 19pts with Upper Hutt City next on 17pts.
Saturday's victory was a triumph for Wairarapa United's persistence in conditions which were anything but conducive to attractive soccer.
Coach Phil Keinzley said ground conditions were "diabolical" with the numerous divots making accurate passing something of a lottery.
Keinzley said the pre-match message to his players was to try and put the ground conditions to the back of their minds and to concentrate on playing good soccer despite them, and he was delighted with the way they responded to that challenge.
"I think it's fair to say that we actually coped with the conditions better than Tawa did," he said, adding that the 1-0 scoreline was very flattering to their opposition. "We probably did enough to win by three or four goals, that's how dominant we were," he said.
In fact, the only period of the game where Tawa had control was the opening 10 minutes and Wairarapa United goalkeeper Matt Borren proved his worth by making a couple of fine saves.
From that point on it was all Wairarapa United with player of the match Miriek Tvaroh and Paul Gregory excelling in midfield, Andy Robertson making a fine fist of marking Tawa's danger man Peter Withers, Sakeo Valevou prominent on both defence and attack and Waisake Sabutu and James Oxtoby sweeping effectively in defensive situations. The only goal of the match came about midway through the second half when an accurate Pita Rabo cross was picked up Seule Soromon who, rather than fire the shot himself, passed unselfishly onto Anton Ross who found the net.
Making Saturday's win even more enjoyable for Wairarapa United was the fact it represented the first time in 12 years Wairarapa United had beaten Tawa in a league game. "We've come second to them a lot in that time so it was good to get that monkey off the back," Keinzley said.
Wairarapa United's next premier division game will be against Miramar Rangers at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton next Saturday.