“Matt’s sessions were great . . . fitness disguised as ball work. He kept us busy throughout the training, changing drills and giving us a good blow-out.”
Thistle now third-placedThird-placed Thistle have been forced to change the team who lost 2-1 away to Havelock North Wanderers last week for tomorrow’s game against bottom-of-the-table Wanganui.
“Jarom Brouwer is not available and we could be without Josh Harris, who picked up a groin injury in training, and Reece Brew, who rolled his ankle against Havelock last week,” Ryan said.
“We’ll give them the chance to come right but if not, we’ve got options. Kieran Higham could come in for Brew at centreback and David Salmon could start up front.
“David came on last week and showed us what a good player he is.
“We could bring Olly Tilley up from the reserves. We could also play Jake Robertson at leftback and push Ander Batarrita on to the left flank.
“With no disrespect to Wanganui, this is a game we should win.
Confident of a win“I’m confident if we play the way we should, we can win.
“We’ll be putting out our most experienced defence. We don’t want to give them any encouragement by giving away soft goals.
“There’s only a few games left and Wanganui will see this as a chance to get a win.”
Thistle director of coaching Grant Thomson said Hastings met with the club committee on Monday night and indicated he would be keen to take over the coaching reins next season.
“Matt’s just settling into a new job, new surrounds,” Thomson said.
“He’ll be travelling between Napier and here until he gets everything sorted with the job and moving his family here.
“We’re delighted that he’s keen to come on board for whatever time he can give us at this stage of the season.
“He made it clear he was not interested in a player-coaching role, which is OK with us.”
Team Taranaki are top of the table on 31 points, Havelock are on 25 and Thistle, 18.
