Trust House Wairarapa United player-coach Adam Cowan says only one result will be acceptable for his team from the two central league football matches they will play at home during Easter weekend.
On a player-to-player basis Cowan sees Wairarapa United having a definite edge on Napier City Rovers tomorrow and Petone
on Monday and, consequently, he believes anything less than maximum points won't be good enough.
"Clearly they are winnable and it's up to us to make it happen," Cowan said. "If we play well we win, really it's as simple as that."
Not surprisingly, Cowan was delighted with the continuing improvement shown by Wairarapa United when they beat Olympic 3-1 at Queen Elizabeth Park oval last Sunday.
He said the pre-game message was to attack Olympic right from the word go with the idea of getting into their heads and creating panic.
"We knew that if we started well and got a goal or two ahead they would probably go to pieces," Cowan said. "Obviously they are a very good side but they can lose the plot and that's what we were working on."
All three of the Wairarapa goals came during a first half.
From the sidelines the impression was that Wairarapa United were deliberately sitting on their lead but Cowan said: "Actually I was keen to see us keep attacking but I think the three goals got everyone thinking in the back of their minds that we should protect the lead."
That Wairarapa United did not go to the bench for fresh legs wasn't part of the planning process either, with Cowan admitting it was a case of him and co-coach Pita Rabo being so involved with their own games they had overlooked the possibility.
"I guess it was a learning experience for us in that respect. We've got some very good players on the bench and, yes, we will be using them from now on."
Injuries aside Cowan expects the starting line-up for both Easter weekend matches to be the same as it was for the Olympic encounter with the one exception for tomorrow. Dale Higham will be taking part in a national under-21 training camp and will be replaced by Argentinian Martin Pareyra.
