We don't cope with the favouritism, says Keinzley

Wairarapa United soccer coach Phil Keinzley doesn't think complacency was an issue for his side when they were beaten 2-1 by Waterside-Karori in their Capital Soccer premier division match played at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton on Sunday.
The lack-lustre performance by Wairarapa United had some spectators suggesting the players did not have their minds on the job but Keinzley believes it was more a case of them failing to cope with public expectation on the home front.
And not for the first time this season either with an earlier 4-1 loss to Tawa at the Queen Elizabeth Park oval coming after a similar effort.
"I'm starting to think we don't cope with the favouritism tag too well, particularly when we are at home,"Keinzley said. "We don't play with near the same confidence as usual under those circumstances, it's like everybody freezes because of what is expected of them."
Keinzley freely concedes Wairarapa United were fortunate to come out of Sunday's match with only a goal separating the two sides.
He said that if marks out of 10 had been given Waterside-Karori would probably have got an eight with Wairarapa United struggling to get above three.
"They (Waterside-Karori) would have to the best team we have struck so far this season, they defended well and they attacked well," he said. "They were just so much more efficient than us it wasn't funny.We could have had no complaints had they won by four or five goals.""
Keinzley was so impressed by Waterside-Karori in fact that he has labelled them as favourites for the premier division title, a somewhat surprising assessment at face value when you consider Wairarapa United hammered them by five goals in a Hilton Petone pre-season tournament match.
But not so difficult to understand when you consider their current combination is rather different to what it was then.
"They are a lot tighter at the back now and their midfield has been strengthened too, they are a formidable unit " he said. "They haven't lost a competition game yet and it's going to take a big effort to knock them off."
Keinzley said there were few aspects of the Wairarapa United effort on Sunday which satisfied him although the solidness of goalkeeper Matt Borren was a definite plus. "He will probably look back and say he should have done better when one of the goals was scored but he pulled off a number of excellent saves, he was our player of the match by a long way," Keinzley said.
The enthusiasm shown by a couple of youngsters in Koto Maeno and Anton Ross when they came off the bench late in the second half also pleased Keinzley, so much so he is seriously considering making changes to the starting XI for the next premier division match against Upper Hutt at Upper Hutt on Saturday.