Park will be ‘perfect’ for match

With Cyclone Debbie wrecking all local football this weekend only the Palmerston North Marist Central League side will venture onto the sodden grounds when they host Lower Hutt City on Memorial Park on Saturday.

In the only other game featuring Palmerston North sides this weekend, the Marist women’s team travel to Masterton for their Capital W League game with Wairarapa United.

Central Football operations manager Donald Piper met with referee Mark Rule at Memorial Park on Friday to decide whether the ground would recover for the game to go ahead.

‘‘The pitch was under water on Wednesday and with all other games postponed in the Manawatu I just wanted to make sure it would be up to scratch before making a decision,’’ Piper said. ‘‘It shows the tremendous quality of Memorial Park that although a little damp in places, it will be perfect for the game.’’

Piper said the decision to cancel all other games was about the longterm preservation of the grounds for the entire season.

‘‘I didn’t want us playing on grounds that have a lot of water on them this week, only for us to pay for it later in winter.’’

Happy with his side’s defending in their 1-0 loss to newly promoted Team Taranaki in New Plymouth last Sunday, Marist coach Shane Rufer will surely be looking for his side to be a bigger threat on attack.

‘‘I’m pleased with the way we went defensively in a game played with constant rain making the pitch slippery,’’ Rufer said. ‘‘It was just the first game of the season and everyone did what I expected of them.

‘‘We’ll definitely improve from our effort against Taranaki.’’

It’s a positive that Marist, whose defence leaked a lot of goals last season, was tight last weekend, as they’ll struggle to have the same impact up front with the loss of the Central League’s golden boot last season, Jerram Tuck.

Tuck was an instant success on his debut for Tawa, last week scoring two goals.

The Marist defence will be tested more this week, with Lower Hutt scoring three goals in their draw with one of the competition favourites, Napier City Rovers, last week.

Two of Lower Hutt’s goals were scored by Nathanael Hailemariam, who has caused Marist plenty of headaches in the past.

Rufer will be looking for his side to get the ball quickly out of defence and catch Lower Hutt on the break with the pace he’s definitely got with regulars Ashish Sahayam, Lucian Armstrong, Fraser Eddowes and newcomer Bart Rimnongrua.

Rimnongrua, who made the move from Red Sox-manawatu in the off season, will have few peers in pace in the Central League.

The Marist women’s side was beaten 2-1 at home by Upper Hutt last week in a game they should have won and will be looking to step up in their away game with newly promoted Wairarapa United, a side they’ve struggled against when facing in the women’s national knockout cup in previous seasons.

Marist coach Simon Lees was disappointed his side didn’t make the most of their dominance in the second spell, particularly down the right where Tilly James ran through her opponents at will.

Marist need to get more players forward quickly enough to support striker Torijan Lyne-lewis.

If Marist can get more players into the goalbox and James can get her crosses in their air more often, Marist are going to be a real title threat this season.

Defensively Marist need to settle down quickly and not gift opponents early goals.