United, Suburbs face off

It will be a defining moment for both sides when Wairarapa United and Western Suburbs meet in a central league football match at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton on Sunday.
Whoever wins this encounter between the second and third-placed teams on the points table will give themselves some chance - albeit an outside one - of overhauling runaway leaders Miramar Rangers in the race for the league title but, conversely, whoever loses will basically be playing out the rest of the 2011 season with second the best they can hope for.
Wairarapa coach Phil Keinzley expects both sides to play a similar brand of football, based around exploiting the attacking skills of their strikers while at the same time maintaining a structured defence.
"Composure and patience will be very important, it's the sort of game where one mistake could be the difference between the two sides," he said.
That being the case Wairarapa can take confidence from their 1-0 victory over Wellington United in their Chatham Cup fourth round fixture last Saturday.
There they clearly had the better of the exchanges in the first 90 minutes but couldn't get the ball into the back of the net, mainly because of the brilliance of Wellington United goalkeeper Jamie McKay who pulled off a number of excellent saves.
However, they did not allow the frustrations of setting up a number of prime scoring chances and failing to convert them into goals upset them and came up with what was to be the winning goal early in the first period of extra time.
The only change from that Wairarapa United side for Sunday's match will come in the midfield with Miroslav Tvaroh headed overseas. His competitiveness - especially in tight defensive situations - will be missed but Wairarapa United are fortunate to have a number of players capable of playing well in several roles so finding adequate cover should no problem for coach Keinzley.