Nevertheless, United took the lead in the 36th minute through Dane Thompson, the man assigned to mark Electrinet Thistle danger man Jimmy Somerton, and United dared to dream.
Then in the last minute of the first half, referee Chris Niven showed the yellow card a second time to Thistle centre back Junior Jimmy. The red card immediately followed and the Jags were down to 10 men for the second half.
Thistle had gone from favourites to underdogs in the space of 10 minutes. Yet they came out in the second half and went toe to toe with a United side emboldened by the events of the first half.
Somerton equalised in the 63rd minute, and for about 90 seconds it looked as if he had won a last-gasp penalty. But after Niven consulted assistant referee Ben Chisholm, he reversed his decision and restarted with a drop ball.
After the game, the officials said Somerton and United keeper Andy McIntosh contested the loose ball and the keeper had palmed it away an instant before Somerton tripped over him. With the players running away from him, the referee had seen only the trip, but they were going towards the assistant, who had seen the keeper’s hand strike the ball first.
It showed the benefit of three-point control, a resource not available to the game’s other assistant referee, Gordon Williamson, when he refereed the earlier Eastern Premiership match, between High School Old Boys Gisborne Boys’ High School and Taradale Reserves.
It was played across the road at the Boys’ High back field near the school pool, and Williamson had no linesmen to help him. Offside decisions were a judgment call from wherever he happened to be when the ball was launched forward, and he had only his own view of any infringement.
Taradale won the match 5-1, having led 4-0 at halftime, and the teams played in a spirit that minimised the problems that could have arisen from the lack of assistant referees.
Spirit was not lacking in the Thistle-United game, either, but it was of the combustible kind.
Junior Jimmy was the first of six players – three from each side – shown the yellow card. His first came in the 11th minute.
A lunging, studs-first challenge that connected with the ball (thankfully) was one of a series of challenges from both teams that crossed or threatened to cross the line between robust and foul play.
These games have always had an edge, and Niven kept it within bounds by policing it firmly.
The extent of United’s injury woes had spread among the crowd before the match. Strikers Hall (out with an ankle injury) and Corey Adams have been in devastating form this season, and the pace and game sense of defender Kieran Higham (Achilles tendon) are invaluable in defence.
Player-coach Josh Adams went old school, with a back four and sweeper. Thompson picked up Somerton, Ryan Anderson was there for any scraps or support runners, Jonathan Purcell swept behind them, and fullbacks Kieran Venema on the right and Dan Torrie on the left closed down the flanks or covered when Thistle attacked down the other wing.
They reorganised when Corey Adams went off. Jake Robertson came on at left back, Torrie went to central midfield and Malcolm Marfell went to the left flank.
Aaron Graham roamed the central midfield with Torrie, Sam Royston was on the right flank and Josh Adams was lone striker.
Thistle were close to full strength, with a back four (right to left) of Kuba Jerabek, Martin Kees, Junior Jimmy and Oliver Aldridge.
Te Kani Wirepa-Hei was on the right flank, Samson Hotas on the left, skipper Cory Thomson and Nick Land were in the middle, with Travis White acting as link to Somerton up front.
Both sides were well served by their goalkeepers, Andy McIntosh for United and Mark Baple for Thistle.
United scored in the 36th minute. A free-kick on the right flank, just inside Thistle’s half, was hoisted deep into the penalty area. It dropped in no-man’s-land between the defensive line and the keeper, Thompson had made a run from the side, controlled the ball and flicked it past Baple into the net.
Three minutes later the Jags could have equalised. White hit a first-time through ball for Somerton, who attacked the right side of the penalty area. He opened his body for a left-foot shot into the far corner but it went wide.
In the 40th minute, Thompson was shown the yellow card for cleaning out Somerton as he reached a ball down the left flank. Thistle’s Land was shown the same card for a rough tackle in the 42nd, and three minutes later Junior Jimmy saw the yellow card a second time.
The pattern till then was Thistle applying pressure and United defending in depth, crowding Somerton and threatening on the break and at set pieces.
The second half opened with a foot race between Josh Adams and Kees for a ball over the top. Adams appeared to have the edge, but as he prepared to shoot Kees made clean contact with the ball for a match-saving intervention.
In the 55th, Adams got free on the right and Baple saved with his foot.
In the 61st, United had another free-kick from near halfway. Baple resolved to deal with it but couldn’t make contact and the defence scrambled to clear the danger.
A minute later, Somerton got his nose in front of Thompson in the race for a ball in behind the defence, then held him off and scored with a left-foot shot into the far corner.
Land was filling a more defensive role in the absence of Junior Jimmy, but the chances kept coming.
In the 70th, Somerton broke clear on the right but his shot was straight at the keeper.
Somerton appeared to go clear again in the 74th but Thompson recovered well and McIntosh was able to block the shot.
Marfell was free 20 metres out in the 76th but Baple saved with his legs, then in the 85th Anderson rose at the far post for a header that Baple blocked by instinct and the defence cleared in relief.
Two minutes later, Hotas hit one from 20 metres that McIntosh dived to save just inside his right-hand post.
In a hectic final 20 minutes United’s Graham and Robertson and Thistle’s White were shown the yellow card and the match ended moments after the reversal of the penalty award.
Thistle coach Tam Cramer said his side, with 10 men, outplayed United in the second half but couldn’t put them away.
“But we will take the point. It’s good that we’re still top of the league.”
United coach Josh Adams said that before the game he would have been “very happy” with a 1-1 draw.
“We know how dangerous Jimmy Somerton is, and we had to respect that and have a marker on him all day. Dane Thompson did well there.”
He was also pleased with how well Purcell and Anderson combined in the middle of the defence.
“We think Kieran [Higham] will be out for a minimum of four weeks, so Jonathan [Purcell] has come back at the right time.”
United next play Thistle at Harry Barker Reserve on July 26.
The game between HSOB Gisborne Boys’ High and Taradale Reserves was over as a contest by halftime, but Boys’ High – still searching for their first points of the season – did better in the second half.
A hat-trick by Taradale striker Josh Jenkins was the individual highlight. He scored in the 14th, 39th and 80th minutes, his last a spectacular right-footed horizontal bicycle kick that connected with a cross from the right.
Goals by Oskar Sherratt in the 37th minute and Ethan Bryan in the 45th completed the Taradale scoring.
A minute after Taradale’s fifth goal, midfielder Matt Hills scored for Boys’ High, latching on to a ball from the right and firing into the keeper’s right corner.
Boys’ High coach Garrett Blair said that debutants Jonah King up front and Nathaniel Fearnley in midfield had adjusted well to the pace of the Eastern Premiership, while right back Mako Fukushima-Hall, centre back and captain Shai Avni and right-winger Jacob Adams had continued their good form.
Matt Hills tried to get the Boys’ High midfield going, but in the Taradale engine room Logan Hutchinson, Nico Correa and Bryan were industrious and creative, while strikers Jenkins and player-coach Matt Single were prepared to come back and fetch.
Taradale fullbacks Josh Ratcliffe and Theo Munialo, and centre back Sherratt were an uncompromising defensive line that Boys’ High struggled to break.
Taradale player-coach Matt Single, 42, said it was two years since he’d played at this level. He was pleased for his young team that they’d got their first win of the season.
