Central League Thread

Imary made some magnificent saves for the Mar today; Waisake Sabutu the Wairarapa defender would have to be one of the biggest defenders in New Zealand, Sione Lauaki like size

United stung by own play against Miramar

A combination of poor finishing and slack defence cost Wairarapa United dearly in their 3-1 loss to central league football favourites Miramar Rangers at Dave Farrington Park, Miramar, on Easter Monday.

Unfortunately, it was same old story as their 2-0 defeat by Palmerston North Marist just three days previously and it left Wairarapa United sharing the bottom of the points table with Taranaki and Peton, and facing the daunting prospect of hosting unbeaten Olympic at Hullena Park, Masterton, this weekend.
Coach Phil Keinzley said the Miramar defeat mirrored that against Palmerston North Marist in that Wairarapa United had created three to four times as many scoring opportunities as their opposition but failed to capitalise.

And they had also been guilty of ''gifting'' Miramar all three of their goals by failing to provide adequate cover for crosses, with a lack of communication between defenders being the main hassle in that respect.
''It's always frustrating when you know the win was there for the taking and we didn't make it happen, there's a hell of a difference between two wins and two losses,'' Keinzley said.
Not helping the Wairarapa United cause, either, has been some ''interesting'' calls from match officials.

Against Palmerston North Marist there were two occasions _ one in each half _ where the ball looked to be over the line only for the goals to be disallowed and against Miramar a second half penalty was awarded to Wairarapa United only for the decision to be changed to dropped ball after the referee had conferred with a linesman. That latter ruling came with Wairarapa United trailing 2-1 but dominating possession and desperately needing a goal to turn the knife on a shakey-looking Miramar defence.

''If we had drawn level then who knows what the final result might have been, it might have turned things our way,'' Keinzley said. ''It's one of those annoying what ifs, isn't it?''

The Miramar match also saw Wairarapa United lose two of their key players for this Saturday's encounter with Olympic which will be coming off the back of comprehensive 7-2 thumping off Petone.
Striker Seule Soromon did score the only Wairarapa goal, but was red-carded just five minutes from fulltime for what Keinzley labelled a ''clumsy'' tackle. He will sit out a one match suspension and defender James Oxtoby will be resting a hamstring strain. It hasn't been all bad news for Wairarapa United on the playing front, though.
Against Miramar, Keinzley was delighted with the efficiency of his midfield where Miriek Tvaroh had a ''blinder'' and George Barbarouses and Ian Sandbrook were also top value. There were some neat touches up front, too, from Andrew Abba and newcomers Graeme Craven and Pablo Moya both made a positive impact. Craven might well have done enough to earn himself a starting place against Olympic, a scenario made even more likely by Oxtoby's absence.

Suburbs cause a spot of bother

ANENDRA SINGH

Striker Didier Drogba came off the bench to score a goal from what looked an offside position in the 79th minute for a 2-1 victory to Chelsea in an English premier league soccer match at Old Trafford yesterday.

"Didier Drogba was about 2m offside. There's nowhere to appeal these things. All you can do is moan and groan like [Manchester United coach] Alex Ferguson did today and that's what we're going to do," was the acrid response from Napier City Rovers manager Malcolm Wilson last night after their 2-1 defeat in Napier.

Defending champions Western Suburbs came alive in the last 20 minutes of a game that had stalemate written all over it but the Wellingtonians caught their coach back home from Park Island with three valuable points in the bag.

Like most controversial passages of play, the losers were left venting their spleen and the winners feeling vindicated about something they felt went against them earlier in the play.

Irate Rovers players stormed off the field at the final whistle, some of them remonstrating with referees' adjudicator, Peter Stiles, of Hawke's Bay, who was watching the game from the stand at the Bluewater Stadium.

Suburbs substitute striker Jake Theron tapped in the winner in during injury time, about 5m in front of the right upright after Rovers goalkeeper Kyle Baxter charged out of the 5m box to thwart Nathan Knox with the ball at his feet.

Instead, Knox pushed the ball to Theron at an oblique angle in front of him to score.

Baxter, who had run to the sideline to argue with referees' assistant Bradley Osborne, of Palmerston North, with left back Matt Hastings in tow, initially thought Theron was offside but steered away from that verdict.

'Obviously I can't see what's behind me. I can't really say [he was offside]," the former Maycenvale United player said.

Just then Rovers coach Grant Hastings barked: "Kyle, I don't want you to comment on that last goal."

Hastings, who after the Rovers' 4-2 win on Good Friday against Team Taranaki, said he wasn't going to offer post-match comments this season, then proceeded to instruct his keeper outside the changing room to focus on general play.

"I guess we got a little complacent because we were a little comfortable with the ball. It just seemed like everyone went off the boil a little bit," said Baxter, who was largely untested until the last 20 minutes of the game.

"That was disappointing but for the rest of the game it was a huge effort and we dominated big stages of the game so we'll definitely get it the next time because this time we just couldn't do it."

Suburbs coach John Kila dismissed any suggestions of an offside goal.

"No, not at all. If my player thought it was offside he wouldn't have passed it to his teammate.

"In fact my player was looking [at the ref's assistant] before he played the ball," the Dutchman countered, after referee Matt Conger sent Baxter and Hastings away before consulting assistant ref Osborne to award the goal.

Kila, whose team lost their opening match to Tawa, also argued the penalty ref Conger awarded to the Rovers in the 58th minute was debatable.

The penalty emanated from a scuffle between players in the Surburbs 18m box. It appeared as if the ref was going to signal a freekick but then turned and pointed to the penalty spot, leaving spectators bewildered.

"I think we got three big chances [to score] and Napier maybe two," said Kila in summing up the scoreless first half.

"In the second half you can talk about the penalty. There was a bit of a fight but for me [the penalty] was a bit surprising.

"It wasn't our fault. He [Knox] is still doesn't know why the penalty was awarded," he said after centre-midfielder Thomas scored his third penalty goal from two matches.

Kila felt cool customer Knox's 76th-minute equaliser after a through ball from Theron was the turning point in the game.

"We ... pushed forward an extra striker to create chances. We thought should we share the points or go for three points so that's why it became an exciting and an open game because we wanted to win it."

Both teams were guilty of not following up crosses floated to the far post as midfielders Phil Clarke, Fergus Neil and substitute Sven Exeter and striker Andy Bevin made well-timed crosses.

For the visitors, roving midfielder Corey Chettleburgh was lethal.

In the 55th minute Clarke, in almost a repeat of the game against Team Taranaki, had the crowd off their seats from a freekick over the wall that Suburbs keeper Jake Gleeson flicked over for a corner.

Midfielder Ethan Cain's passing blunder in the 71st minute to Exeter saw a through ball to Bevin, who ran around centreback Mike Smith but his educated flick from 20m out past keeper Gleeson cruelly clipped the right upright and bounced back into play for the keeper to retrieve.

Four minutes later Clarke appeared to be offside but referees' assistant Hayden Tutbury, of Hawke's Bay, thought otherwise.

Keeper Gleeson, in a high-risk ball-and-all sliding tackle inside the 18m box, thwarted Clarke's shot at goal.

In the 83rd minute, Knox again took on the sideline flag and won but an advancing Baxter, at the edge of the 18m box, prompted the striker to casually push the ball past the left upright as Bluewater faithful breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Theron then latched on to a Cain through ball but impotently struck the ball straight into Baxter's gloves.

A minute later Bevin had a chance at the other end but Smith overwhelmed him.

On the Rovers end, right back Nick Lucas made some intercepts to keep his team in the game.

Point noted, my bad