The two players who made a positive impact when they came off the reserves bench last weekend have been promoted to the Wairarapa United starting line-up for their Central League football match with Upper Hutt at Upper Hutt tomorrow.
Jonatan Almendra and Nathan Cooksley added much-needed oomph to whatwas a disappointing performance in the drawn fixture with Tawa and coach Phil Keinzley has been quick to reward them for their efforts.
Alemendra will join Seule Soromon and George Jermy in a three-pronged forward line while Cooksley, who scored the late equaliser against Tawa, will be in the midfield.
The full starting line-up is: Matt Borren, Josh Margetts or Carl Shailer, Waisake Sabatu, Esava Naqueleca, Jorge de la Torre, Dale Higham, Nathan Cooksley, Mirsoslav Tvaroh, Jonatan Almendra, Seule Soromon, George Jermy. Not available was skipper Adam Cowan.
Keinzley is expecting a battle royal against an Upper Hutt side he sees as playing a similar style of football to Tawa but with more experience in key positions.
"They have three or four players who have been around a while and most of the play revolves around them, we're going to have work hard for everything we get," Keinzley said.
The Wairarapa United coach is confident, however, that the woes of last weekend won't be repeated again. "We had a long talk at training on Tuesday about what went wrong and everybody is on the same page now. I think we will be a lot hungrier and more competitive this weekend."
Meanwhile, Douglas Villa will be wanting to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat by Western Suburbs last weekend when they play Upper Hutt City at Chanel College tomorrow but, conversely, the three Wairarapa teams contesting the Capital third division series won't mind a repeat of seven days earlier when they all secured wins. Gardner Electrical Masterton play Wainuiomata at Hullena Park, White Swan Greytown takes on North Wellington at Alex Moore Park and Wairarapa United seconds host Victoria University at Howard Booth Park.
