By Ian Anderson / asbpremiership.co.nz 

HAMILTON - Of the concerns Waikato FC coach Willy Gerdsen has ahead of Saturday's ASB Premiership match against Youngheart Manawatu, making it to the ground on time should be the least.

Gerdsen's troops have had travel problems on both of their away trips to date this season - to Dunedin and Wellington - resulting in delayed kickoffs.

But unless Manawatu are tardy for their 2pm kick-off at Fred Jones Park, Gerdsen and his charges should be free to concentrate on collecting their first three home points of their campaign.

Waikato have played just twice at their tidy new home venue - with only one of those being a league encounter. They opened their campaign what now seems like an eon ago when two stunning David Mulligan freekicks gave Auckland City a 3-2 victory, but the hosts did get their first home success recently when they beat the Wellington Phoenix A side 2-1 in the ASB Challenge.

In those two matches, plus a 1-0 away win over Otago United and in last weekend's somewhat unfortunate 3-1 defeat by Team Wellington in the capital, Waikato have shown enough to indicate that they could be genuine playoff contenders.

To push their case further however, a win on Saturday is a must against a visiting side yet to score a point or even find the net in three matches.

The hosts are likely to be short of full strength, with Joe Bresnahan suspended after being sent off last weekend while a number of players are under injury clouds, including skipper Daniel Peat and fullback Tewi Te Pou, while the home side also has a handful of long-term injury absentees.

Gerdsen has promoted Youth Academy duo Eugene Heerschap and Michael Kramer to the squad which will again be looking for standout performances from the likes of defender Nick Branch, midfielder Jason McKeown and the versatile Maksim Manko.

They should be too strong for the struggling Manawatu, who will rely heavily on two of the competition's most experienced performers to guide their young team-mates.

Captain Adam Cowan has made more appearances in the domestic competition since its inception than any other player while the well-travelled Jason Hayne is a regular goalscorer that the visitors will hope can break their early summer drought.