United on brink of greatness

Wairarapa United are heading into their Chatham Cup football semifinal match with Bay Olympic in Auckland on Saturday in their best ever form.
Their 2-1 win over Olympic of Wellington in the capital on Sunday continued a marvellous record that has seen them go 10 successive games without defeat - something they have never achieved before. Eight of the games, including four in the Chatham Cup, have been won and there have been two draws.
The impressive sequence stretches all the way back back to Queen's Birthday Monday, when Wairarapa United defeated Lower Hutt City 2-1 in a Chatham Cup fixture after having been beaten 3-1 by them in a central league match just two days earlier.
The next nine games resulted (central league unless otherwise specified): drew with Palmerston North Marist 1-1, beat Manawatu Red Sox (Chatham Cup) 6-0, beat Napier City Rovers 2-1, beat Wellington United (Chatham Cup) 1-0, drew with Western Suburbs 3-3, beat Tawa 3-0, beat Waitakere City (Chatham Cup) 4-1 beat Maycenvale United 3-0 and beat Olympic 2-1.
Remarkable as this record is, the icing on the cake for Wairarapa United will come if they can win the four matches they can still be involved in this season, because that would guarantee them the Chatham Cup-central league double. It is a scenario which even coach Phil Keinzley admits seemed unlikely not so many weeks ago.
"It's always been the dream but we were so inconsistent early on that you couldn't really see it happening," he said.
Keinzley believes the golden run of success is a prime example of what can be achieved by self belief.
"It's the old story, the more wins you string together the more confident you become. We always knew we were potentially good enough to have a big season and once the confidence came we were away."
Keinzley believes the willingness of the players to buy into "tinkering" with positional changes has had a positive effect too. Changes such as moving Adam Cowan from midfield to striker, Carl Shailer from fullback to the outside of the midfield, and Nathan Cooksley from fullback to central midfielder.
"You can never be sure how changes like that will be accepted or how they will actually work out. We've been lucky to come up trumps in both respects."
Travel arrangements for Wairarapa United to Auckland have been completed, with much-needed sponsorship from Trust House helping defray the costs, along with a subsidy from NZFA.
A full squad of 16 will travel north but Chatham Cup rules mean only three of the five subs will be able to take the field.
For at least a handful of the players, form at the two training sessions planned this week could have a big say as to whether they are part of the starting line-up.
At fullback, for instance, there is keen competition between Pablo Moya and Adam Milne, and the same in midfield between Nobuyishi Ishi and Dale Higham.
Just where Adam Cowan plays will be dictated by the tactical approach, with Keinzley still to decide whether Wairarapa United will start with two strikers (Cowan and Seule Soromon) or just one, in which case Soromon would probably be the front runner. Cowan would then join a five-strong midfield.
Guaranteed a place on the reserve bench is Rathkeale College pupil Josh Mann, who will be the understudy to goalkeeper Matt Borren.
Interestingly, Bay Olympic played Waitakere City in a northern regional league match on Saturday, with Bay Olympic winning 2-1.The result meant little in the race for the league title, though, as Bay Olympic had assured themselves of that the weekend before.