Both teams hurled themselves into challenges, sometimes recklessly, and referee Niven was kept busy.
He yellow-carded Thistle central midfielder Tommy Peterson in the 29th minute and Shockers centre back Connor Putnam in the 32nd.
In the second half, he cautioned Shockers players Cullen Spawforth (83rd), Jackson Donovan-Monteith (88th) and Isaac Bush (90th) as fatigue and excitement hindered timing and judgment.
Tempers flared, too. In the 70th minute, Thistle centre back Mohammed Ali was shown yellow for dissent and sin-binned for 10 minutes.
In the 75th, Thistle Athletic coach Matt Harvey was yellow-carded for dissent. Thirty seconds later, he was again shown the yellow card for dissent, and that meant the red card followed.
The match-winning goal came in the 43rd minute ... Turza was powerless to stop Shockers left winger Bush’s curling 30m effort.
Donovan-Monteith almost increased the lead when he hit the underside of the crossbar from 35m in the 62nd minute.
Shockers played typical cup-tie football. If a ball could be contested, they burst a gut to reach it first. If that wasn’t possible, they made it as hard as they could for Thistle to create anything.
At the back for Shockers, Laykin Beuth was sound in goal, centre backs Connor Putnam and Clark covered each other well and quickly closed down danger, and fullbacks Oscar Daube (right) and Matt Void (left) never gave their wingers a moment’s rest.
Thistle striker Sannevigo worked tirelessly but was often isolated and outnumbered. Wingers George Ure (left) and Leo Starck (right) had their moments, but Shockers were suffocating in defence.
Shockers midfielders Spawforth, Ash McMillan and Donovan-Monteith were outstanding. They had a capable trio against them in Shehab Altour, Peterson and Alex Shanks, Peterson having a hand in much of the Jags’ attacking build-up.
Up front, Shockers had the ideal target man in the tenacious Max Harris, with Blake McMillan and Bush chipping in from the right and left respectively.
Matt Low, Jack Fenn and Alex Larkins also played a part for Shockers as replacements for tiring players.
Thistle were well served at the back by Ali, who read play well and cleared his lines effectively. Alongside him, Daniel Robinson was quick to the breakdown and fullbacks Cory Land (on the right) and Josh Charles (on the left) battled hard.
Sief Altour, Davie Ure, Aiden Norris, Kobe Donnelly and Anton Merkushev were called on as Thistle tried to peg back the deficit.
Spawforth said Shockers set out to control the midfield and everyone put in a shift.
“We were up for it and we left it all out there today,” he said.
Harvey was pleased with the effort of the whole team.
“Our lads fought well,” the Thistle coach said.
Smash Palace Shockers Gold are the “descendants” of a group of mates – largely from a rugby background – who got together about 25 years ago and formed a team to play in the lower reaches of local football.
They were fit and tough, and some had a bit of skill, but they were rough around the edges – like rugby players playing football. They knew long-time footballers might dismiss them as “shockers”, so took the term as their team name.
Over the years, their camaraderie and on-field competitive spirit drew players with more of a football background.
Having initially been part of the Thistle club, Shockers decided to go their own way and continued to expand.
Last season, they had a team in the Eastern League first division for the first time. This year, they pushed Thistle Athletic all the way in the renamed competition, the Tairāwhiti Men’s Championship, and finished runners-up – three points back.
Shockers had two teams in Division 2 this season and one of them, Marist Shockers, won the Top 6 division by four points from Thistle Vintage-Masters.
These teams meet on Saturday in the Chris Moore Cup final. In Saturday’s semifinals, Marist Shockers beat Coates Associates Wainui Demons 4-1 and Thistle Vintage-Masters beat QRS Wairoa Athletic 5-1.
In the Tairāwhiti Women’s Championship, Shockers have two teams – Black and Red. Black are running second to local women’s football powerhouses Gisborne Laundry Services Wainui Riverina.
