The province's premier football club have high hopes for a successful 2012 campaign to at least rival that of last year, when their premier side captured the country's highest-profile knockout trophy, the Chatham Cup, and finished third in the central league.
But the paucity ofspecialist goalkeepers available to them is threatening to create a problem that could eventually scuttle the Wairarapa club's lofty aspirations.
Right now the only keeper United have on their playing staff is Phil Imray, who has joined them from central league champions Miramar Rangers.
Problem is, however, Imray is also part of the Team Wellington combination who have won through to the semifinals of the national league. That means he will miss at least the first two matches of United's central league campaign.
Tim Schaeffers and Darren Cheriton, two other recruits from Miramar Rangers, are in exactly the same boat as Imray but Wairarapa United have cover for them. It's just a suitable replacement for the keeper the club are so in need of.
No wonder, then, that United coach Phil Keinzley is starting to feel "pretty jittery" about finding a back-up goalkeeper for the premiers, someone who would also play regularly for the club's second team in the Capital 3 series.
"It's not like we have been sitting on our backsides expecting someone to come out of the woodwork, we have had a lot of people asking around to see what is available out there," Keinzley said. "But so far all we have drawn is blanks and time is starting to run out. It's not quite a crisis yet but it's certainly heading that way."
