A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
ANY suspicion that Thistle’s two Eastern League Division 1 football teams might go easy on one another was laid to rest on Saturday.
Carpet Court Thistle played out of their skins to beat table-topping clubmates Thistle Massive 2-1 at Childers Road Reserve.
Massive had players missing or injured, and two of their best — man-of-the-match defensive midfielder Dave Raggett and stand-in goalkeeper Brad Reynolds — had already played for Thistle Vintage in a Division 2 game on the next pitch.
But Carpet Court Thistle made the most of their opportunity to gain club bragging rights. They were 2-0 up after 30 minutes and led 2-1 at halftime.
In the second half, Massive swarmed all over them but could not score against a desperately committed rearguard.
That first-half advantage owed much to the willingness of midfielders Jason Scott and Dave Watson to shoulder the tackle-fetch-and-pass role against a numerically superior Massive midfield.
Scott and Watson kept front-runners Riva Crosbie, Olly Tilley, Kory Thomas and Lief Keown supplied with ball and they, in turn, kept the Massive defenders on their toes.
Crosbie opened the scoring after 15 minutes. He made a crossfield run from the right wing into the penalty area and, level with the near post, he met Watson’s pass from the left.
Fifteen minutes later, leftback Sam Hogan made it 2-0. Coach Ron Young pushed him up for a corner and when the ball came to Hogan on the edge of the penalty area, he steadied himself and drove it low and hard into a corner of the goal.
Massive were without Nic Somerton up front and Chris Spurr in midfield, and after 15 minutes they lost central midfielder Kieran Ryan with a knee injury. Ryan’s usual midfield partner, Kane Stirton, was limping around at leftback after standing on a nail during the week.
That left Mitchell Turner having to move from his usual left-flank role into the centre of midfield. When Ryan went off, Raggett topped off his day’s work with 75 minutes in the Massive engine-room.
Despite these difficulties, Massive reacted to their two-goal deficit by piling pressure on their clubmates, and five minutes before the interval they scored. A corner came in, an overhead kick sent the ball clattering against the bar and in the scramble that followed Jason Burgess got in the telling shot.
The passing gameAt halftime, Massive coach John Stirton told his players to get back to their passing game.
With Kane Stirton warmed up and a little more mobile, he moved back into midfield, allowing Turner to revert to the left flank.
“We were all over them in the second half and were unlucky not to score,” John Stirton said.
Raggett, Reynolds, Kane Stirton and rightback Emerson Araya were standout players for Massive.
For Carpet Court Thistle, it was a terrific team effort, Young said.
They had all 11 players back for every Massive second-half corner. Centrebacks Tim Hofman and Daniel Venema put their bodies on the line to make tackles and stop shots, and were well supported by fullbacks Stefan Faber and Hogan. Behind them, Raymond Rickard was sound in goal.
Halfway through the second half Hogan left the field with an ankle injury and Tilley filled in admirably at leftback. Up front, Tilley’s place was taken by reserve keeper PJ Goodlett to good effect.
Referee Peter Stewart kept it all running sweetly.
An own goalAt Anzac Park, an own goal, two penalties from Josh Baty, and goals to Eli Batten and player-coach Stu Cranswick gave Heavy Equipment Services United a 5-1 victory over Bohemians.
The own goal followed a corner 10 minutes in, and Cranswick made it 2-0 10 minutes later when he controlled a Damon Husband cross from the left and drilled the ball in from 12 metres out, level with the far post.
Five minutes later the Bohs counter-attacked and striker Caleb Jacobs ran with the ball from left to right before angling his shot back across the keeper into the far corner.
Just before halftime, Batten made it 3-1, finishing off a passing movement with a hard, low shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Right-flank midfielder Baty completed the scoring with penalties midway through the second half (for handball) and 10 minutes from time (for a challenge from behind).
Batten and Husband stood out for United, and keeper Cody Keepa made some crucial one-on-one saves. Baty and defenders Andy McIntosh and Jack Notting made an impact coming on as substitutes.
Bohs player-coach Matt Feisst said it didn’t feel like a 5-1 game: “We thought we were well in it at halftime when the score was 3-1.”
Bohemians’ best were Jacobs, left-winger Caleb Craig, midfielders Steve White and Warren Muir, centreback Jim Craig and leftback Jeremy Ion.
Referee Ben Chisholm controlled the game well.
Also in Division 1, Gisborne Boys’ High School beat United (2) 4-0 and the Riverina-Wainui Sharks game was postponed.
In Division 2, ninth-placed Bohemians (3) caused the upset of the day, beating fifth-placed Campion College 3-1 at Nelson Park. Co-coach/striker Anthony Littlejohn grabbed a brace and central midfielder Henare McGhee scored a goal to cap a fine game.
Thistle Vintage beat Boys’ High (2) 4-3 at Childers Road Reserve, United (3) and Smash Palace Shockers drew 1-1 at Anzac Park, Wairoa Athletic beat Ngatapa 6-1 in Wairoa, Bohemians (2) beat Liquid Thistle Allsorts 7-1 at Nelson Park, and Lytton High beat Boys’ High (3) 9-1 at Lytton.