Experienced midfielder Pita Rabo again proved he is the man for the big occasion when he scored the late goal which earned Wairarapa United a 2-2 draw in their Central League top-of-the-table football clash with Wellington Olympic at Howard Booth Park, Carterton on Saturday.
Rabo's header, which found the backof the net with just five minutes of play remaining, was similar to the one he netted to give Wairarapa United a 2-1 win over Napier City Rovers in that memorable Chatham Cup final success in Palmerston North last season. It meant his side maintained their one-point advantage over Olympic on the Central League points table.
Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley was, on reflection, happy to share the points in a match which Wairarapa United dominated for the first 20 minutes before noticeably dropping their intensity and allowing Olympic to level things at 1-1 by halftime and then take a 2-1 advantage in the second half.
"Overall I'd say we probably deserved the draw," said Keinzley. "We did do a lot of attacking in the last 15 minutes, but we couldn't finish things off, it was pretty frustrating."
Keinzley, back on deck after a neck operation midweek, said some of the Wairarapa United players also fell into the trap of bitching about things which were out of their control, and that had an adverse flow-on effect to the team performance.
"You need good discipline to have good structure and we suffered in that respect," he said. "Keeping the composure is important at this level. We could have done a lot better there."
Outstanding for Wairarapa United was Miroslav Tvaroh, playing at right fullback rather than in his normal midfield role. He was strong on the tackle and generally accurate with his distribution. Fellow fullback Waisake Sabatu also stood out for the solidness of his defence while Rabo and skipper Nathan Cooksley were typically industrious in midfield.
The pick of the attack was striker Seule Soromon. He scored his team's opening goal - reportedly his 100th in Wairarapa United colours - and consistently posed problems for the Olympic defence with his speed off the mark and clever ball skills.
Wairarapa United were scheduled to meet third-placed Napier City Rovers next weekend but with NCR being involved in a Chatham Cup match then, the game will be played later.
Central League results on Saturday were: Wairarapa United 2, Olympic 2; Western Suburbs 4, Wellington United 0; Lower Hutt City 1, Tawa 0; Napier City Rovers 2, Petone 1.
