“The first time we played United, it was nil-nil at halftime and they scored five goals in the second half,” he said.
“This time they scored five goals in the first half and we drew the second half 3-3. We played better in the second half and scored three goals . . . at least we know we can score against them.”
He would not give away his plans for the Bailey Cup final, which has a midday kick-off at Childers Road Reserve, but said this would be the time for Boys’ High to go “all in”.
After this weekend, he would experiment with different combinations in preparation for the schools tournament in September.
“We have eight games in five days so we need a strong squad,” he said.
On Saturday, Boys’ High will be without several players who have performed well since coming into the first team from the seconds. Paul Stewart, Seth Piper, Noah Collier and Joey Kwak are all cup-tied, having played in a lower-graded local cup competition.
On top of that, influential defender Jirah Wanoa is still out injured.
The combination of cup-tied players and injuries means Boys’ High will have four substitutes — one short of the number they are allowed.
On the plus side, Itman Bocchi has recruited brothers Matt and Nic Proffit, who have played plenty of football but this year played rugby for Boys’ High. With their rugby over for the year, they are available for the rest of the football season, including the schools tournament.
Nic is earmarked for defensive midfield duties, while Matt is likely to play in a more attacking midfield role.
Gisborne United, meanwhile, should be close to full strength for the final.
United’s Pacific Premiership team will play Napier Marist Reserves in Hawke’s Bay on Saturday, but Stu Cranswick — player-coach of the Gisborne Championship team — is not expecting reinforcements from his side to be needed.
He has been in underdog teams who have prevailed, so he is not counting out Boys’ High ahead of the match.
“In the last 15 minutes of our game on Saturday we went to sleep and they got three goals,” he said.
“They have the confidence to score.”
He was pleased with the way his team played at the weekend.
“We’ve been trying to stop playing needless long balls and instead try to keep the ball,” Cranswick said.
“The game on Saturday showed we’re making progress. For a couple of games in a row, we’ve been stringing passes together and everyone is getting in on the act.”
On Saturday, Cranswick set things going with the first two goals, and Boys’ High contributed the third with an own goal.
Others to score were Aubrey Yates, Craig Christophers, Jonathan Purcell, Aaron Graham and PJ Goodlett.
The Christophers and Graham goals came by way of powerful shots from 22 and 25 metres respectively.
United went 6-0 up before Boys’ High scored. From there the scoreline went 7-1, 7-2, 8-2, 8-3.
The Boys’ High goals came from Jack Fenn, who cut in from his position on the right flank and drove the ball hard into the goal off the far post; defensive midfielder Matt McNeil, who pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and hit his shot just inside the right-hand post; and striker Oscar Ruston, who latched on to the ball on the edge of the area and struck it into the top right corner of the goal.
This weekend’s Bailey Cup final is the curtain-raiser to the Pacific Premiership game between Gisborne Vehicle Testing Thistle and Hastings Western Rangers, which starts at 2.30pm.
In FA Cup finals, Sunderland beat Leeds United 1-0 in 1973, Southampton beat Arsenal 1-0 in 1976, Wimbledon beat Liverpool 1-0 in 1988 and Wigan beat Manchester City 1-0 in 2013. None of them had been given a hope of victory.At 12.30pm on Saturday at Wainui, Championship Division 1 sides Carpet Court Thistle Massive and Sunshine Brewery Wainui Sharks will play a semifinal of the Chris Moore Cup, a trophy traditionally contested by second-tier local-league teams. The winners will play Lytton High School in the final.
