MIDFIELD TUSSLE: Havelock North Wanderers striker Ben Foxall (left) and Gisborne Thistle midfielder Max Mika contest possession in Central Federation League football at Childers Road Reserve yesterday. Havelock won the game 5-2. Picture by Paul Rickard
THEY are not league champions for nothing.
Havelock North Wanderers beat Gisborne Thistle 5-2 in Central Federation League football at Childers Road Reserve yesterday.
They showed the attributes that helped them clinch the title the previous week, with two games to spare.
Havelock could have been excused for taking it easy or resting key players. They have the first of two home-and-away playoff matches against Capital Premier League winners Waterside Karori in two weeks.
The winners on aggregate go up to the Central League.
But Havelock also need to maintain the intensity of their performance. And they were facing the only team to have beaten them in the league this year . . . 1-0 in Gisborne on June 18.
So they had only two missing from their regular first team — they were absent for genuine reasons — and they played as if the league depended on it.
Overall, Havelock looked sharper, fitter and more accurate in their play, and they made those advantages pay in goals.
Nevertheless, if Thistle had finished better and enjoyed a little luck, Havelock’s last-minute fifth goal could have been the match-winner and not simply the exclamation mark to an entertaining contest.
Thistle player-coach Matt Hastings said they knew Havelock would be smart and sharp in their play, and would have worked on ways to counteract the factors in Thistle’s June victory.
“We weren’t as disciplined as we were in that first performance against them here,” Hastings said.
“And we knew we had to fix a few things from our first-half performance.
“No goals were scored on the break; they scored by breaking us down. We weren’t stopping the supply or cutting out the ball.
“We still created chances. At 4-2 we had opportunities to close it up.”
Havelock player-coach Chris Greatholder, a regular visitor to Childers Road Reserve over the years, thought his team could have made things easier for themselves if they had taken a couple of early chances, but was pleased they stuck to the task.
“We had seven teenagers out there . . . three or four 16-year-olds.”
Havelock had persisted with their youngsters, and against Thistle they stood up well against some wiser, older heads.
“We are athletic, and we like to move the ball quickly,” Greatholder said.
“Thistle’s defensive structure is quite good so we had to move it quickly to open up opportunities.
“Our movement in the final third is something we have been working on.”
Both sides had early chances. Havelock left-sided striker Ben Foxall burst free in the 17th minute but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Mark Baple.
A minute later Thistle striker Corey Adams chased a seemingly hopeless cause and hit a first-time right-wing cross that Malcolm Marfell just failed to reach at the near post.
And one minute after that, Foxall’s near-post run to a right-wing cross ended with a close-range sidefoot strike . . . 1-0.
In the 33rd, Foxall got clear on the left and passed across the goal, just beyond right-sided striker Liam Shackleton.
Two minutes later Foxall crossed from the left for Shackleton, one of the smallest players on the pitch, to nod home at the far post.
In the 37th, it looked as if Adams had missed his chance to shoot but he kept the attack alive by laying off the ball and getting into the goalmouth.
There Adams — no giant, either — found enough space to head home Marfell’s left-wing cross from five metres.
Down 2-1 at the break, Thistle were well in the contest.
A minute into the second half, Thistle man of the match and central defender Liam Ryan showed great defensive instincts when he refused to be beaten in the danger area just wide of the goal and 10 metres out. Shackleton looked to have got past him on the outside but Ryan recovered so fast that he got a block on the shot, conceding a corner.
The respite lasted six minutes. In the 52nd, Greatholder strolled on to a Thistle clearance and from 25 metres lashed an unstoppable shot that hit the net at little more than head height . . . 3-1.
Max Mika came on in midfield for Kieran Ryan in the 55th minute. Ryan and skipper Kieran Venema, along with attacking midfielders Olly Tilley and Marfell and flank players Nick Land and Jake Robertson, tried hard to impose their will on their opponents, but Havelock would not be held in check.
Mika, though, made an impact and justified the faith Hastings has shown in his emerging first-team credentials.
Havelock had class and youthful enthusiasm in their midfield, the former provided by Greatholder and Ethan Dent, and the latter by Kenny Willox and Liam Carrington.
Front-runners Foxall, Shackleton and Jared Bloor were not above tracking back to help out, either.
At the back, Stefen Kitching-Nicholson and Campbell Whitworth did the heavy lifting in the centre, while James Barclay in the first half and Tyler Anstis in the second kept things tidy on the right.
The nearest Havelock had to a leftback was Carrington, who was there when needed but spent much of the game pushing forward.
An ankle injury kept regular keeper Shaun Peta on the bench, but Fred Haidekker was a capable replacement.
At the other end, Baple was solid, if unspectacular. He foiled several dangerous attacks by being quick off his line to narrow the angle the striker had to work with.
Liam Ryan was the linchpin of the backline. On the left, Riley McMenamin made some timely tackles and looked comfortable on the ball. On the right, Mal Scammell made some important sliding tackles where his timing and execution had to be spot-on.
Havelock went 4-1 up in the 58th minute when Bloor met Shackleton’s cutback from the right byline to sidefoot the ball home from 10 metres.
Six minutes later, Adams clipped a perfectly waited pass from just outside the penalty area on the left to Marfell at the far post. He controlled the ball and finished efficiently for the second-best goal of the game — Greatholder’s was the best — and it was 4-2.
The hard-working Adams popped up again 10 minutes later, reaching the right byline to cut back for Mika, whose first-time shot was saved by Haidekker.
Tilley made way for PJ Goodlett in the 78th minute, and the former keeper put himself about trying to find a way through the Havelock defence.
In the 79th, Scammell nodded Adams’s free kick on to the far post/bar junction.
Foxall and Robertson had to be pulled apart as they wrestled following an 81st-minute clash. Hawke’s Bay referee Martin Roil showed both of them yellow cards, and Havelock immediately replaced Foxall with Sam Waddington.
Shackleton scored his second headed goal of the game when he nodded home Willox’s right-wing cross from close range to make it 5-2 almost on fulltime.
Other results: Red Sox Manawatu 0 Palmerston North Marist 2, Massey 3 Wanganui Athletic 2.