Duo's Olympic target

Wairapa United coach Wairarapa United's new potent strike partnership may be able to give a glimpse of their potential when United's 2012 central league campaign gets under way against strongly fancied Olympic in Wellington on Sunday.

Regular marksman Seule Soromon will have returned from his national league commitments with Manawatu and joining him up front could be the club's latest high profile signing, Englishman Paul Ryder.

The acquisition of Ryder came after Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley "chased him down" after hearing he had arrived in the country and was still deciding what club to join.

Aware he was set to begin the season without a number of key players due to national league clashes and transfer timeframes, Keinzley recognised how valuable 30-year-old Ryder could be.

"You only have to look at his record to see why we wanted him ... players like this don't come along very often," Keinzley said.

Ryder's résumé certainly makes for impressive reading.

As a youngster he was part of youth academies at two of England's current Premier League clubs, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, and he spent two years in the United States on a football scholarship.

In his first year there he scored 17 goals in 19 appearances and picked up an All American of the Year award and his second year saw him notch 18 goals, again in 19 matches.

Returning to England Ryder played for semi-professional club Bootle and then for Waterloo Dock in the Liverpool country premier league.

They have won that league every season for the last six and Ryder's goal tally last year was a remarkable 23, an effort which obviously played a big part in him being named in the Liverpool amateur representative team.

The only possible doubt about Ryder playing on Sunday revolves around his transfer papers being cleared but Keinzley is "very optimistic" of him being there. Keinzley is also looking forward to his partnership with the electric Solomon, one of the league's most dangerous attackers.

"Obviously it would have been nice for them to have more time together to work up a combination but they are both experienced enough to pick things up pretty quickly."

Even with Soromon and Ryder in tandem, however, Keinzley admits Olympic has to start as firm favourites.

"If you had to pick the team to beat for the league title right now, you'd probably have to say Olympic, and to have them first game up and at a time when we are still pretty much getting together is a big ask for us."