League winners Havelock North United had already finished their programme, nine points clear of the rest of the field.
Gisborne United player-coach Josh Adams gave game time to squad members who had made themselves available to travel and sit on the bench.
United lined up with Andy McIntosh in goal, Kauri Holmes at right back, Malcolm Marfell at left back and Kieran Higham and Ryan Anderson as double centre backs.
Aaron Graham, Daniel Torrie and Matt Hills were in midfield and the forward line was Jacob Adams on the right, Sam Royston on the left and Campbell Hall down the middle.
Fifteen minutes in, Royston rolled his right ankle and had to go off. Hills moved to left wing and Dane Thompson came on in midfield. In the 72nd minute, Josh Adams came on for Hills.
Experienced hands Jonathan Purcell and Kieran Venema had volunteered to warm the bench unless someone was injured.
Port Hill opened the scoring through Josh Driver after eight minutes.
United equalised in the 14th minute when Malcolm Marfell crossed from the left to the far post and Jacob Adams scored with a first-time shot.
Port Hill regained the lead with James Mason’s 22nd-minute goal, but that was it for the Napier side.
Marfell scored from the penalty spot in the 34th minute after Hall was brought down, Hall added his own goal a minute into the second half, finding space for a powerful shot into the top left corner from 20 metres, and Anderson gave United a two-goal cushion in the 66th minute. He met Marfell’s left-wing corner with a header from a metre out. The ball hit the crossbar, then Anderson’s body and crossed the line.
Holmes was named player of the day for sound defensive play, his marking and the cover he provided for the centre backs.
Josh Adams said United’s performance was lethargic to start with, but the players responded to the halftime call for more energy.
He hoped United would be able to compete at this level again next season. Some players had indicated they wanted to “settle down and play local football” next year.
“We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for new players so we’ll be able to keep a travelling side and have another team in local football,” he said.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of United’s first season. Plans are being made for a celebration, probably around the weekend of Waitangi Day (February 6).
Thistle were their own worst enemies against Maycenvale.
They started well enough and led 1-0 at halftime, Jimmy Somerton the scorer from the penalty spot.
Somerton ended the game on 39 goals for the campaign – an astonishing haul for a lone striker in a team halfway down the table. He had chances to pass the 40 mark, wriggling clear in the third minute but blasting over the top with his right foot, and jinking this way and that in the final stages but being denied by the outstretched leg of goalkeeper Tom Pettit.
Maycenvale played a fast, high-energy game with slick passing and darting crossfield movement from their frontrunners.
They had pace at both ends of the pitch and plenty of craft and endeavour in the midfield.
Jono Marshall, a defender who put on the gloves when the team lost their established keeper early this season, played well until his presence in the back four was required. Then, in the 66th minute, he swapped shirts with Pettit who, with 56-year-old Dion Andrews, had come up from the club’s Strollers team to sit on the bench.
Shaun Newland and Tyler Jones formed a mobile and uncompromising central defensive pairing.
In midfield, Dylan Simo and Jonathan Arrell provided a shield in front of the defence, while Dylan Cozens won a lot of midfield high ball and linked well with speedy strikers Dakota Lucas, Ethan Rideout and Liam Shackleton. Lucas, in particular, was a handful: fast, skilful and belligerent. His goal was the game’s best.
Maycenvale equalised in the 60th minute, when Shackleton took a free-kick from just outside the penalty area. Goalkeeper Alex Shanks tried to draw the ball in but it bounced down behind the goal-line.
It was the only mistake of the game for Thistle’s stand-in keeper, who had an outstanding match. Several times he dived bravely where the boots were flying to block or parry goal-bound shots.
In the same vein, Daniel Venema was quick to put his body in the way of a few piledrivers, and left back Oliver Aldridge was strong in the tackle.
The speed at the back came from centre back Kaden Manderson, whose covering was exceptional, and right back Charlie Harvey.
Thistle looked at their most solid when Nick Land and Cory Thomson patrolled in front of the defence. They were on hand to support the relatively inexperienced trio of Gavin Derr on the left, Leroy Hill in the middle and Jay Houthuijzen on the right.
Derr managed to get in some telling balls from the left, and Hill and Houthuijzen lacked for nothing in effort, but the Maycenvale defence and midfield screen smothered them as soon as they got the ball.
After Maycenvale’s equaliser, Thistle coach Tam Cramer rang the changes. Off came Houthuijzen, Venema and Hill; on went Te Kani Wirepa-Hei to left back, Carlos Guerra to midfield and Sam Patterson to the right wing. Land moved into the back four.
The turning point of the game was Maycenvale’s second goal. In the 66th minute, second-half substitute Ridha Chilab made ground through the middle before sending the ball wide right, where Shackleton chased it and sent an early cross in to Lucas who burst into the goalmouth, swung his right leg and connected with his shin. It was in the net before the keeper could move.
Thistle were now chasing the game, and Maycenvale were bursting with confidence.
Shanks made three goal-saving interventions in five minutes, and Maycenvale’s Pettit blocked Derr’s effort well.
Then Thistle gave the ball away in their penalty area in the 85th minute and Shackleton pounced: 3-1.
The Jags surged forward with renewed vigour and Pettit was called on to make his match-saving deflection to Somerton’s right-footed effort from close range.
Euan Cramer, on for Aldridge eight minutes earlier, sent the 90th-minute left-wing corner into a packed goalmouth. Thistle, in what looked to be football’s equivalent to a rugby ruck, forced the ball over the Maycenvale goal-line in a jumble of bodies. Thomson got the decisive touch to score.
With time almost up – a win inconceivable but a place-saving draw still possible – the ball went astray inside the penalty area again. This time it was Simo, the defensive workhorse, who cropped up to take advantage.
Cramer had railed against the risky stuff at the back.
Sometimes the best lessons are those that hurt, but don’t do lasting damage. Thistle will recover from not finishing fourth.
