Hawke's Bay United's entertaining 2-2 draw with Wellington Phoenix A at the Bluewater Stadium last night has thrust several players into contention for the team's upcoming game against Southern United.
Hawke's Bay meet Southern United at the Forsyth Barr stadium on Saturday evening, a team HB Utd coach Chris Greatholder acknowledges as the current form side of the competition based on their last two victories.
But based on the two teams' standings in the league and HB Utd's lofty position five places above the southerners, the visitors should expect to come away with three points, with Greatholder indicating there are "two or three places up for grabs" for the away squad.
Nathaniel Hailemariam did his reputation no harm last night, with his pace a threat for the young development Phoenix team and he eventually grabbed the home side's equaliser with a deft lob over Phoenix goalkeeper Lewis Italiano (whose contract extension was announced yesterday), created by a long ball into the goal mouth from Dave Mulligan.
The Phoenix had opened the scoring with Joel Steven's curled shot early in the second half.