Football
Marquis Wairarapa United travel over the hill to take on Lower Hutt City at Bell Park tomorrow.
United will be buoyed by last Sunday's comprehensive 6-0 victory over Wellington United which has put their season back on track after a stuttering start.
It is hard to envisage coach Phil Keinzley making too many, if any, changes to the starting lineup after Sunday's performance. In skipper Adam Cowan, Waisake Sabatu, Esava Naqeleca and Carl Shailer, the back four were rarely troubled and coped comfortably with whatever a mediocre Wellington threw their way.
Cowan playing at fullback raised a few eyebrows among fans earlier in the season but he appears to have licence to move upfield and support attacks which uses his attacking tendencies. Shailer is an honest, down-to-earth player who invariably leaves nothing on the pitch. He is strong in the tackle and able to support attacks with intelligent runs from the back.
Sabatu and Naqeleca are emerging as a solid centre back pairing. Sabatu is a seasoned campaigner for United, a commanding presence in the air, a formidable tackler and a hard man to knock off the ball.
Naqeleca is emerging as being in much the same mould and between them they are forming a tight barrier in front of keeper Matt Borren.
The midfield trio of Nathan Cooksley, George Jermy and Aaron Spierling were major contributors in last weekend's result. Cooksley and Spierling were singled out by Keinzley for their "huge" contributions in that game and he will be demanding the same level of effort and commitment again against Lower Hutt.
Cooksley is a familiar face in the United line-up and his ability to break up opposition attacks through clever reading of the game and strong tackling are well-known strengths.
Spierling has been used more sparingly by Keinzley but never fails to put in a full shift when called upon, covering a lot of ground, distributing the ball to telling effect and generally making things happen, all factors which have seen him force his way in to the starting XI.
Jermy is an energetic playmaker with leadership qualities and is rapidly emerging as the successor to Pita Rabo.
Up front, Seule Soromon looked visibly relieved to get off the mark with his first goals last weekend, the first of which was a searing drive from the edge of the box in to the roof of the net which left Wellington keeper Jamie McKay grasping at thin air.
Soromon played a wider role than usual and along with Dale Higham stretched the Wellington defence to allow central striker Jonatan Almendra room to operate.
Without doubt Almendra knows his way to goal and did his, and his team's, cause no harm by netting twice but his overall contribution to the side will be enhanced further when he ups his work rate off the ball. Forcing the opposition in to making early errors is a key part of a striker's role, a part of his game Almendra has yet to fully utilise. Fitness levels appear to be a factor and his ability to last the full 90 minutes has to be questioned at this time.
United will be hoping the spell of warm, dry-ish weather continues as Bell Park doesn't rate among the top playing surfaces in the Wellington region.
United have come unstuck at the venue on previous occasions, in part due to the heavy conditions encountered which has inhibited their desire to play a passing game along the ground.
Keinzley and United will go in to the game knowing that table leaders Wellington Olympic will be travelling to a potential banana skin fixture at Upper Hutt.
Olympic are on a roll but Upper Hutt are unbeaten and if they were to secure a home win, plus United picking up the spoils against a Lower Hutt side yet to register a victory, then the points gap will be reduced significantly.
Meanwhile in Capital 2, Douglas Villa take on Wellington United at Park Sportsground.
Villa are second on the table and will be encouraged by their narrow 3-2 away victory at Tawa. Wellington lie mid-table but have only lost once so Villa will need to be at their best to secure the points.
In Capital 3, the pick of the games is the top of the table clash between Wairarapa United seconds, who hold down top spot, and White Swan Greytown, in second place, at Howard Booth on Sunday at 2pm.
United seconds have the tighter defence though and this may be the deciding factor in this fixture.