Gisborne teams in league’s box seat

BACK IN LINE-UP: Gisborne Thistle’s English striker, Liam McMenamy, will be back in the starting line-up for the Pacific Premiership game against Maycenvale at Childers Road Reserve tomorrow. Maycenvale beat Thistle 1-0 in Round 1 of the competition.File picture

FOOTBALL

Gisborne football sides United and Thistle are in the box seat to win this year’s Pacific Premiership. A slip-up from either side could close the door on their title ambitions.

Tomorrow, Gisborne Vehicle Testing Thistle will play at Childers Road Reserve against the side that beat them 1-0 in Round 1, MaycenvaleUnited.

Meanwhile, in Hawke’s Bay, Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United will face the side they thrashed 9-1 in Round 1, Napier City Rovers Reserves.

The big news for United is that they will play without striker Josh Adams. He is heading to Auckland to celebrate a friend’s milestone birthday.

Coming back from injury will be Josh Harris, who will be in player-coach Corey Adams’s starting team.

Adams will have to adjust his line-up and tactics to accommodatethe absence of his younger brother.

He knows that in Napier, City Rovers are a totally different outfit and will be a lot tougher than the team from Round 1.

Napier are a young side who have been developing over the season and their results have been improving lately.

“The boys are pumped for the last five games,” Adams said.

“We all know the three points on offer tomorrow are vital to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

“If we stick to our game plan and keep the football, the result should go our way.”

Thistle coach Garrett Blair is putting to bed the nightmare that his side suffered last week at the hands of Eskview United, and is looking to move on and keep the pressure on Gisborne United.

“It’ll be a true test of the team’s character to see how they bounce back,” he said.

“We’re a good footballing side and that’s what we have to remember. I’m confident we can do the business.”

Blair wants to make sure the players focus on the game at hand and play good possession-based football that’s attractive and wins games.

Blair has a few tweaks to make in his starting line-up, with Max Logan out with injury, Brad Reynolds a 50/50 prospect because of with illness and Davie Ure away.

Coming back into the side will be Liam McMenamy, Andy Brott and Fabio Senna. Blair decided on his starting line-up after training last night.

Both games will kick off at 2.30pm.