Three cards puts coach in 'catch 22' spot

Canterbury United coach Keith Braithwaite was belting a ball on the golf course yesterday and wrestling with a "catch-22" conundrum.

The Canterbury Dragons have already qualified for the New Zealand Football Championship playoffs, but have one more round-robin game against champions Auckland City tomorrow. Braithwaite has six players – defenders Gareth Rowe and Matt Boyd, midfielders Paul Dirou, Andy Pitman and Tom Lancaster and striker Russell Kamo – sitting on three cards. One more would see them suspended for the semifinal.

Braithwaite said he will make a final call after training today but he will likely cotton-wool some of his stars for the Auckland encounter at English Park tomorrow.

"Ideally, I would like to rest them all, but obviously I can't do that because we don't have the numbers in our squad."

Braithwaite said he would probably play Rowe , who is "a sensible fellow" and invaluable as "the marshall of our defence". "But I don't want to lose people like Tommy or Russell Kamo for the first leg of the playoffs.

"It's a catch-22 situation."

Pitman, who would face a two-week ban if booked again after an earlier suspension this season, was rested for last week's 1-2 loss to Team Wellington. It would make sense to give him another break, because another yellow card would see him miss both semifinal matches and Braithwaite has an able replacement in former All White Glen Collins.

Braithwaite said it was a great opportunity for young players such as Jordan Swaney, Sam Miles, Dominic McGarr and Ben Harris to step up tomorrow.

"I've got every confidence in them. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think they were good enough to come in and do a job for us."

Canterbury could be getting to see a lot of Auckland City in the next few weeks. Auckland will take the minor premiership title and earn top seeding for the semifinls if they defeat the Dragons tomorrow.

"If we finish fourth [by losing tomorrow], we'll play Auckland again in the semifinals," Braithwaite said. "If we finish third, I'd like to think we've got a chance of playing them in the final."

"They set the benchmark in New Zealand football and it's great for us to see how we go against the very best."

Canterbury's hopes of repeating last year's 2-1 home win over Auckland got a boost with news that prolific scorer Grant Young has a knee injury and will join fellow South African sharpshooter Keryn Jordan, who retired this week, on the sideline. But Auckland still have current All Whites and former internationals to call on.

SQUADS

CANTERBURY (from): Tom Batty (gk), Daniel Burns, Gareth Rowe, Matt Boyd, Nick Wortelboer, Aaron Clapham, Paul Dirou, Andy Pitman, Darren Overton, Tom Lancaster, Russell Kamo, Glen Collins, Hue Frame, Dominic McGarr, Ben Harris, Sam Miles, Jordan Buchanan (res.gk). AUCKLAND: Jacob Spoonley (gk), Ian Hogg, Sam Campbell, Matt Williams, Ki Hyung-Lee, James Pritchett, Chad Coombes, Paul Urlovic, Daniel Koprivcic, Alex Feneridis, Ivan Vicelich, Jason Hayne, Adam McGeorge, Riki van Steeden, Adam Dickinson, Paul Gothard (gk).

- © Fairfax NZ News