Football
Wairarapa United marched into the fourth round of the country's premier knockout football competition, the Chatham Cup, with a hard-fought 2-1 win over arch-rivals Napier City Rovers at Park Island, Napier, on Sunday.
Going into the game with a plan to attack, Wairarapa United found themselves spending more time on defence but, in the end, coach Phil Keinzley was adamant they had deserved their victory.
"Territorially, we certainly came off second best but that didn't worry us too much because we were able to hold on to the ball for long periods, the composure was outstanding," Keinzley said. "They kept coming at us and did create a few good scoring chances but we held our discipline, we didn't rush things, there was no panic."
It wasn't only their coolness in defensive situations which highlighted the Wairarapa United effort, they also came up with one of their best goals of the season when the score was level at 1-1, Seule Soromon for Wairarapa United having pounced on a goalkeeping error and Harley Rodeka replying for Napier City Rovers when his shot somehow made it past a bevy of defenders and into the the net.
The second - and winning - Wairarapa United goal came in the 59th minute with eight players being involved in an attack which swept from one of the field to the other and ended with Soromon flicking a pass into the 18m box where Aaron Spierling calmly pushed the ball past the advancing keeper.
"You wouldn't see too many better goals at this level, it was a real team effort," Keinzley said.
In his 200th appearance for Wairarapa United's premier side, Carl Shailer ran himself into the ground, working overtime on defence as well as being quick to join in any attacking forays. It was from his cross that Soromon scored Wairarapa United's first goal.
The reliability of goalkeeper Matt Borren was another huge plus for Wairarapa United. He was safety personified in the air and on the ground but it was his distribution skills which most pleased his coach.
"He found his targets all game and when you are focusing on controlling possession that's so important."
The no-nonsense attitude of Nathan Cooksley in the vital role of central defender was also evident throughout the 90 minutes and there was a lot to admire about the enthusiasm of George Jermy up front. He had the Napier City Rovers defence on red alert on numerous occasions because of his willingness to chase hard and compete for ball.
Meanwhile, Capital Football interclub games continued over the weekend with Douglas Villa scoring a comfortable 4-0 win over Naenae in their second division match. It was not a good day for Wairarapa teams in the third division, with pacesetters Wairarapa United seconds losing 2-1 to Waterside-Karori Cougars, White Swan Greytown losing 4-2 to Wainuiomata and Gardner Electrical Masterton losing 3-2 to Petone Armanis.