Thistle coach Garrett Blair said leftback Kuba Jerabek would return from injury tomorrow, which would free Daniel Venema to resume his role in the middle of the defence, alongside Ander Batarrita.
But now rightback Emerson Araya was in doubt because of a knee complaint.
If Araya could not play, Andre Riley might have to take his place, Blair said.
The youngster would have plenty of experience around him to draw on. Goalkeeper Mark Baple and centrebacks Venema and Batarrita have more than enough to go round.
Ema Martos, the Argentinian traveller who joined a football club and stayed, is expected to push forward from centreback into midfield, alongside skipper Nick Land.
That would leave Sam Patterson and Brandon Josling on the right and left flanks respectively, with Tomek Frooms and Davie Ure looking for chinks in the Port Hill defence.
With Thistle’s game against Gisborne United called off two weeks ago, this will be the Jags’ biggest test of the season so far.
Port Hill coach Jimmy Calder was Eskview coach last season but, looking ahead to promotion prospects, decided to throw in his lot with Port Hill this year. Some of his players followed him across, strengthening Port Hill’s player stocks.
The coaches know one another.
“We did our coaching C licences together this year,” Blair said.
“They will play structured football and will try to play a possession-based game.”
Blair has coached teams to “a couple of draws” against Calder-coached sides, but never a win. He reckons the Jags are in the frame of mind to turn that statistic around. The match, at Childers Road Reserve, starts at 2.30pm.
Gisborne United had their first training session in two weeks last night, under cover on artificial turf at Lytton High School.
Coach Corey Adams has to make some adjustments to cover for the absence of midfielder/striker Jarom Brouwer, who will be out of the district tomorrow.
It’s not all bad news, though. The break has given Josh Harris more time to recover from a groin injury, and Adams said he was was looking good at training.
The probable line-up would be Seth Piper in goal, Kieran Higham sweeping behind Mal Scammell and Dane Thompson, Steven Husband and Malcolm Marfell as right and left wingbacks respectively, skipper Kieran Venema as the holding midfielder with James Bristow and Harris waging midfield war behind strikers Campbell Hall and Josh Adams.
Jake Robertson, Matt Adams and PJ Goodlett would be waiting in the wings.
The match, at Park Island, Napier, starts at 3pm.
Football fans with the constitution to watch two games in succession on a winter’s day could do a lot worse than watch the curtain-raiser to the Thistle-Port Hill game. Carpet Court Thistle Massive play United’s Eastern League 1 side at 12.30pm on Childers Road Reserve No.1. This fixture is always a cracker.
