Either of these Hawke’s Bay sides could cause an upset.
Taradale have been a thorn in the side of Gisborne teams for decades, often managing to get a result against form. And two years ago, a young Napier Marist outfit turned on the magic to beat United 5-0 at Harry Barker Reserve.
Thistle coach Garrett Blair says he will field a similar line-up to the one that started against Western Rangers. The major difference will be that English Pulse Academy import Charlie Morris will start in central midfield, in place of Ashley McMillan, who will be out of town.
McMillan, by the way, did not play for Gisborne Boys’ High School last year. In fact, he was at the University of Waikato for environmental planning studies. Before that, he was at St Peter’s School, Cambridge. He was at Gisborne Boys’ High for two years earlier in his schooling.
Sorry about the incorrect information in Monday’s report, Ashley.
McMillan, 22, and Morris are two of a bunch of promising young players in Thistle’s ranks. Others include English imports Tomek Frooms and Brandon Josling, and local players Sam Patterson, Janai Randall, Travis White, Andre Riley and Merlin Parsons.
Pacific Premiership teams are allowed to use all five of their substitutes this year, so the youngsters should get chances in the first team.
Some are already in the starting line-up, but Blair wants them all getting regular game time, and that was the idea behind the formation of the reserve team, with Davie Ure as player-coach.
Ure won’t be playing for the reserves tomorrow, though. The understanding was that he would be available for the first team when required. After Ure’s performance last Saturday, where he set up many of Thistle’s most promising moves from just behind the forward line, Blair is calling on him again.
Blair expects Taradale to be tougher opponents than Western Rangers. Taradale had inquired about filling a vacancy in the Federation League, which indicated to him that they felt they were good enough for the step up.
Centreback Regan Cameron and striker Matt Single are among their more established players.
Gisborne United coach Corey Adams says his squad will be about the same as last weekend for the trip to Napier.
He is particularly happy with the form of his defence and is making “more clean sheets” one of his priorities for the season.
“Clean sheets win titles,” he said.
The shift of Dane Thompson from midfield into the centre of the defence, alongside Mal Scammell, had been a success, Adams said.
Against Port Hill, Thompson and Scammell won most of the high balls knocked into the goalmouth, and Kieran Higham was on hand to cover.
Left wingback Malcolm Marfell was playing well and did not get the credit he deserved, Adams said.
Campbell Hall had a great turn of pace, but Adams wanted to make more use of that speed in attack. It was something they would work on in training.
James Bristow had come on for Nicola Sannevigo and made some massive, crunching tackles, Adams said.
It was a welcome change to have a big squad where nearly every posititon could be covered by the substitutes on the bench.
Napier Marist had been a fit young side with a few older players sprinkled among them, Adams said.
He thought skipper Kieran Venema would be a key player for United this weekend.
Adams, meanwhile, is accepting that time on the sideline is necessary as he recovers from knee surgery.
He has been off work since the middle of last August and it could be September before he is back working as a builder.
In the meantime, he is enjoying being part of the team effort and is prepared to rest the knee, confident in the knowledge that he will be back on the park when it has healed.
