Western Suburbs given fright by United

Wairarapa United gave holders Western Suburbs one hell of a fright in their Chatham Cup fifth round soccer match at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton yesterday.
The star-studded Western Suburbs line-up scored what was to be the winning goal in their 2-1 victory on the tick of the halfway point in extra time after the teams had been locked together at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.
And they were fortunate not be forced into a penalty shootout when early in the second spell of extra time a powerful shot from Wairarapa United substitute Blair Thompson rocketed against a post and rebounded back into play.
Despite going into the game as rank underdogs, Wairarapa United gave every bit as good as they received in a match which was both physical and entertaining.
The physicality of it was marked by both sides being reduced to 10 men during the second spell of ordinary time, Western Suburbs losing Adam Birch for dissent and Wairarapa United Lai Gataurua for a tackling offence.
Interestingly enough Birch and Gataurua had both starred on attack for their respective sides and their absence did make an obvious dent in the strike power of the two combatants.
Wairarapa United played with the wind in their favour in the first spell and after a nervous start which saw Western Suburbs spend most of the first five minutes deep in their territory the locals settled into a pattern which mixed solid defence with strong counter attacks.
It was no surprise then when Wairarapa United came up with the first goal of the match.
Gataurua burst into a ball in the Western Suburbs circle but before he could get his shot in he had his feet taken from under him.
Referee Jamie Cross immediately pointed to the penalty spot and while Pita Rabo's effort from there lacked real sting it was enough to rebound away from Western Suburbs goalkeeper Phil Imray and into the back of the net.
Stung by that setback Western Suburbs launched a series of attacks of their own with Birch always looking dangerous.
Several times Wairarapa United goalkeeper Tony Jamieson was called on to make saves and he was always equal to the task, constantly impressing with both his positional play and safe hands.
Wairarapa United had other scoring opportunities too with Petero Dauniseka, Sakeo Valevou, James Oxtoby and Guiseppe Cugliari all linking well with Rabo and Gataurua.
But generally they were thwarted by the solid defence of Imray and his co-defenders Michael Mckinley and Alex Chiet.
At halftime then Wairarapa United led 1-0 but with Western Suburbs having the elements in their favour in the second spell it was too early to even consider the likelihood of upset win to the locals.
The second half of ordinary time was very much similar to the first with both sides creating about the same amount of scoring chances.
As it happened the only goal was that scored by Western Suburbs's Jon Rowe with a well-timed header which gave Jamieson no chance.
Jamieson did, however, continue to cover himself in glory with a number of brave saves in front of a bevy of converging attackers and Dauniseka and Oxtoby were outstanding in defence as well
Both periods of extra time were marked too by the evenness of the teams with what turned out to be the winning goal coming the boot of Western Suburbs's Rupert Ryan with just seconds remaining before the whistle sounded to end the first 15 minutes.
Just minutes beforehand Ryan had found the net with a header only to be ruled offside.
Thompson's poster was by no means the only time Wairarapa United threatened to grab the equaliser with Rabo and Tvaroh, in particular, always looking likely but their defence held and the holders survived to fight another day.
For Wairarapa United it was a case of close but no cigar but none of the good-sized crowd which lent them plenty of vocal support would have gone away disappointed with their efforts.
They did themselves proud, no question of that.