Season offers hope

STRONG FINISH: Wairarapa United ended their Central League season with a 5-0 victory over Upper Hutt on Sunday. PHOTO/CHRIS KILFORD

Finishing fourth in the Central League wouldn't normally be the sort of result which would please Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley.

But with the 2013 season throwing up more curved balls for Wairarapa United than most sporting teams would receive in a decade, Keinzley's analysis is a simple "in hindsight, it wasn't as bad it could have been".

And it's a fair judgment when you consider that a couple of "imports" from Chile didn't come up to expectations and the mental pressures created by being eliminated from the national knockout competition, the Chatham Cup, because they were ruled to have played an ineligible player in the 2-1 third-round victory over Napier City Rovers.

An appeal to New Zealand Football against that decision was dismissed and so were their dreams of repeating their finals success of 2011.

Softening those disappointments for Keinzley was the knowledge that for the first time Wairarapa United managed to take competition points off all opposing teams in the Central League, they had maintained the remarkable record of not having lost at their home venue of Howard Booth Park, Carterton, for over a year - and only once in the past two-and-a-half years - and they had "blooded" more promising youngsters from their Capital third division-winning seconds team than ever before.

"There were a lot of positives and, at the end of day, that's the important thing" Keinzley said. "It's always nice to say you can look to the future with confidence and we can certainly do that."

Keinzley said he was "especially pleased" at the development shown by relative Central League rookies such as Thomas Hemi - scorer of a club-equalling record of four goals in the 5-0 win over Upper Hutt City on Sunday - Chris Cox, Mark Hemi and Arnon Tapp.

He said these players had benefited considerably from the coaching of first team player Miroslav Tvaroh while playing for the club's seconds squad and were now ready to make their mark at a higher level.

"The whole idea of the seconds team has been to prepare their players for the bigger stuff and it's great to know the plan is working," he said.

Keinzley is also quick to pay tribute to the Carterton District Council for their work at maintaining the playing surface at Howard Booth Park to a good standard but he also admits to being embarrassed by comments from visiting teams over the below-par amenities there.

"There's no hiding the fact that the facilities aren't ideal and it's hard to see us being allowed to keep using those grounds unless there are big improvements in that respect ... there's no question we could have to look elsewhere come 2014."

Whether Keinzley will continue to "import" players from Europe is doubtful, to say the least. He has had better fortune in the past when concentrating on talent from within the Oceania region - places such as Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands - and a planned trip to Vanuatu within the next couple of weeks suggests he is more likely to go there again.

"Oceania has clearly been the better bet so far and I'm certainly keen to see what they have to offer for next season," he said.