Wairarapa United were on the verge of causing a major upset at the under-19 men's soccer tournament hosted by the Upper Hutt club on Sunday.
Up against central region champions Petone Wairarapa United were level at 1-1 going into the last five minutes of the game, thanks to a spectacular goal
by Anton Ross, who chipped over the head of the Petone 'keeper from 25m out with a shot kicked from the outside of his left foot.
However, Petone managed to add three goals to their tally over that short period, the first of them from a penalty kick inducing Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley to urge his side to place total emphasis on attack.
"We basically pushed everybody forward to search for the equaliser and they capitalised by scoring another couple of goals they would not have scored under normal circumstances," Keinzley said. "Essentially it was a one goal loss and against a team like Petone that's an excellent result."
While Ross's goal was the highlight for Wairarapa United they also impressed with the manner in which they competed in all departments with Ysuke Maeno a standout performer.
Earlier Wairarapa United had also achieved three pleasing results in pool play. Aaron Spierling and Anaru Te Rangi had outstanding games in the 1-1 draw with strongly-favoured Upper Hutt in their opening game. Anton Ross was also the goal scorer there.
A 1-0 win over Porirua City followed with Ross spearheading the attack and Kota Maeno scoring the goal.
Then came a crushing 5-0 victory over Wainuiomata where the goal scorers were Andrew Traill (2), Kota Maeno, Hadley Henderson and Ross and the standout player was Joel Vatselias.
Their results placed Wairarapa United sixth overall out of the 19 competing teams, a splendid outcome in what was their final dress rehearsal for the national under-19 tourney being hosted by Napier City Rovers over Labour Weekend.
"It was a good confidence boost just when we needed it," Keinzley said. "We played consistently well over four games and that's the sort of form you need to produce to be anywhere near the front runners at nationals."
