Wairarapa United moved into second place in the Capital Soccer premier division competition when they scored a comfortable 4-1 win over Lower Hutt City in Lower Hutt on Saturday.
The three-goal margin illustrated Wairarapa United's dominance of the game with Lower Hutt City creating very few scoring opportunities and spending long
periods on defence.
So dominant were Wairarapa United in the early stages, in fact, that Lower Hutt City hardly got a touch of the ball inside the first 10 minutes and it was just reward for effort when Wairarapa United went to the halftime break 2-0 up.
Both first half goals were scored by star striker Pita Rabo with the first of them, in particular, a spectactular effort. It came after a movement which involved as many as seven Wairarapa United players with Rabo finishing off a fine style.
Wairarapa United increased their advantage to 3-0 when Andy Robertson scored early in the second spell after some good work by Merrick Tvaroh and then Lower Hutt City had their moment of glory, scoring their only goal after Wairarapa United had failed to clear the ball from a corner.
Fittingly, however, it was Wairarapa United who had the final say, youngster Anton Ross completing another strong attack to give them a decisive 4-1 win.
Manager Phil Keinzley said the most pleasing aspect of the Wairarapa United performance was that they had produced a similar brand of soccer to that which had seen them upset central league side Stop Out in a Chatham Cup fixture seven days beforehand
"The whole aim was to maintain that standard and we managed to do that," Keinzley said. "The bar has been set and we want to play at that level week after week.".
Player of the match for Wairarapa United was Aaron Spierling, who highlighted an outstanding game by twice making robbing the opposition off possession in tight defensive situations. Tvaroh was also very impressive in midfield and Rabo was his usual dangerous self up front.
The depth in the Wairarapa United team was also evidenced by the fine displays by substitutes Anton Ross and Lai Gataurua when they entered the fray.
Queen's Birthday weekend will be a busy one for Wairarapa United with a premier division game against Island Bay scheduled for Saturday at Island Bay and then on Monday they will take on another central league side, Wellington United, in a third round Chatham Cup game at the Pugh Sportsbowl in Masterton.
