Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley admits to being a "bit nervous" about his team's Chatham Cup first round clash with Marist Wellington at Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton today, kick-off at 2pm.
With Marist struggling at the bottom of the Capital One competition and Wairarapa United sitting midtable in the Central League, which is two tiers higher, this should be all over bar the shouting well before the 90 minutes is out.
However, anybody who has watched Wairarapa United this season will know why Keinzley isn't prepared to predict a comfortable win for his side.
In just about every league match they have played this season Wairarapa United have had periods of dominance in which they have threatened to blitz their opposition only to take the foot off the pedal and allow them back in the game.
Last Saturday against Upper Hutt at the park oval was a classic case in point.
Wairarapa United led 2-0 at halftime and had created so many prime scoring chances it seemed just a matter of course the floodgates would open in the second half. However, not only did slack defensive work allow Upper Hutt to draw level, they had enough ascendancy through that 45 minutes to feel they had been short-changed by the 2-2 draw.
Adding to Keinzley's nervousness over confronting a Marist side, who are certain to take an "everything to gain, nothing to lose" attitude into the game, is that he may be without star striker Hamish Watson who finished the Upper Hutt match with badly bruised calves, a mark of the aggressive tackling mounted against him.
He was still limping badly midweek and Keinzley was giving him no better than a 50-50 chance of taking the field.
Those odds are better than those being given to Tom Biss, who came off the bench late in the Upper Hutt game and added much-needed sting to the defence. Unfortunately, Biss' brief appearance did nothing to help him recover from the ankle problem he took into the game and it will be a sign of United being in deep strife if he takes any part in today's action.
The departure of the in-form Nick Roydhouse to the United States means he will be missing from the squad for the rest of the season and they will also be without skipper Adam Cowan, who is in the middle of a month-long break.
If neither Watson nor Biss are in the starting line-up the likelihood is United will have Seule Soromon and Mark Hemi up front, Nathan Cooksley, Aaron Spierling, Omar Guardiola and Thomas Hemi in midfield and Carl Shailer, Waisake Sabatu, Josh Margetts and Chris Cox at the back.
As usual Matt Borren will be in goal.
Douglas Villa are also involved in Chatham Cup action today.
They will face Havelock North Wanderers at the Park Sportsground at 2.30pm. While the visitors will start favourites, Douglas Villa have shown good early-season form in the Capital second division series. The boost for them is they will be at full strength and have home advantage.