Coach apologises to Thistle fans after ‘embarrassing effort’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Napier City Rovers Reserves came to Gisborne with a part-time goalkeeper and no substitutes and beat Thistle 7-2 in Central Federation League football on Saturday.

They led 5-1 at halftime as ALH Gisborne Thistle floundered about in a tragicomic mess of bad luck and silly mistakes.

Sixteen-year-old striker Ethan Spencer scored four times and hit the shot that led to an own goal — all in the first half. He also figured in the build-up to Napier’s two second-half goals.

Eight of the Napier players were in the club’s under-19 side.

Napier were generally faster around the pitch and in their ball movement. Their passing was consistently more accurate than Thistle’s and when they lost possession, they regained it faster.

Thistle looked good in patches and in Jimmy Somerton and Campbell Hall they had the game’s most dangerous attacking combination.

Their return was a goal apiece, while Napier’s Spencer scored four mainly by being there to make the most of his chances  . . . showing up, as they say.

Thistle coach Garrett Blair said he wanted to apologise to supporters for “an embarrasssing effort”, but the Napier City Rovers effort deserves acclaim.

Coach Stu Wilson was their goalkeeper. He’s not tall but he made a good fist of the aerial stuff. His handling was fine and his shot-stopping even better. This was his third game in goal since he took the gloves at short notice for  regular ’keeper Ben Graney, who has had glandular fever.

“We had the bare 11 today . . . the club was stretched, Wilson said. “The Central League team had a few injuries so took three of our starting 11 from last week, and the three teams below us had only 11 or 12 players. The way the boys stood up today was absolutely outstanding. Coming to Gisborne, we knew it would be a physical game. We thought, ‘Let’s not bring physicality into it. Let’s move the ball’.

“With 15 to 20 minutes to go, I looked around and saw people hobbling, but with no subs they stayed on. Everyone put in such a shift. They’ve given their all today and I’m proud of them.”

Blair said his side were “very flat”.

“It looked as if we’d come off a three-day bender . . . no energy, no real effort.

“From a defensive viewpoint, we didn’t clean up what we needed to clean up. The front three stood high too often and didn’t come back and do the defensive work. The midfield were overrun.

“Full credit to Rovers. They came here with a drop-in-the-water’s chance and turned it into a really well-rounded performance that was thoroughly deserving of the result.

“For us, it’s a wake-up call. We didn’t play simple football, we didn’t knock it around, and that’s the result.

“All we can do is reflect and grow, and start again on Tuesday. We have five more games, four of them at home.”

Thistle had the first clear-cut chance on Saturday, in the 11th minute, when Somerton got clear inside the penalty area but wide of goal. Wilson beat away his shot.

Two minutes later, Napier midfielder Tom Speers hit a crossfield ball to right-winger Harry Anderson, who cut past leftback Nick Land and shot. But Land got a touch that deflected the shot away from goalkeeper Mitchell Stewart-Hill and straight to striker Spencer, who finished for 1-0.

Stewart-Hill saved well at the feet of striker James Redman in the 20th minute, but in the 22nd, Speers again supplied Anderson, who passed to Spencer. His shot missed centreback Ryan Noon’s outstretched boot, hit the foot of rightback Daniel Venema and rolled into the goal for 2-0.

In the 26th minute, Noon injured his left leg as he intercepted a pass to Spencer, and was still on the ground as Napier rebuilt their attack. Spencer shot from 20 metres. Stewart-Hill, six metres out, jumped up to palm the ball over the bar, but the ball didn’t carry. It came to rest inside the net for 3-0.

In the 32nd minute, Andre Baple came on for Noon. Venema shifted to centreback and Baple went to rightback.

It was Anderson again in the 40th minute, shooting from just outside the penalty area. Mitchell-Hill took the ball above his head and pushed it up so he wouldn’t step back over the line with it. Except the ball hit the bar on its way down and went in off the body of Spencer, who had followed up, for 4-0.

Somerton got one back in the 45th minute, getting clear on the left, making the byline and cutting back to score with his right foot from an acute angle.

But 15 seconds after kick-off, Napier went 5-1 up. Venema covered Spencer’s run for the long pass through the defence, but overran the ball and Spencer pounced.

Three minutes after the break, Hall bounded on to the ball just inside the Napier half, fed Somerton wide on the left and continued his run.

Somerton made ground and passed inside to Hall, who took a few strides and left fly into the bottom right corner of the goal for 5-2.

Hopes of a revival wilted in the 51st minute. A misdirected pass from midfield into the left side of the penalty area was hurriedly cleared and an attacker managed a partial block. Within seconds, the ball was in the Thistle net, courtesy of Napier midfielder Aiden Doran, for 6-2.

Somerton took on the Napier backline from just outside the penalty area in the 58th minute. Having got through them, he was denied a goal by leftback Jack Sanko’s covering block. Four minutes later, Somerton was through again. This time Wilson saved. It could easily have been 6-4.

Davie Ure came on for Thomson in the 70th minute, and Alex Shanks came on up front for Sam Royston in the 82nd.

The last goal came in the 88th minute, a misdirected pass back from midfield allowing Spencer to be put clear on the right to cross low for Speers to finish from out in front.

Gisborne’s midfield were outnumbered. David Salmon, Cory Thomson and Cullen Spawforth seemed isolated from each other, while Napier’s Speers, Connor Doran, Davies, Aiden Doran and Anderson formed a shape-shifting midfield that adjusted to meet each challenge. And defenders Shae Bauerfeind, Matthew Harvey and Jack Sanko coped well with the Hall-Somerton threat.