Premiership title beckons

READY TO HELP: Gisborne United centreback Kieran Higham clears from Napier City Rovers Seconds skipper Shae Bauerfeind as United skipper Dane Thompson (left) and Malcolm Marfell prepare to give support. Higham and Thompson expect to be recovered from injury in time to play Maycenvale tomorrow. Picture by Paul Rickard

FOOTBALL

BY 4.30pm tomorrow, Gisborne United could be Pacific Premiership champions. But first they’ll have to rise to the challenge of Hastings football club Maycenvale.

Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United lead the premiership by a point. Maycenvale are in second place, and tomorrow’s game is their last league fixture of the season.

Gisborne United finish their premiership campaign on July 17 with a home game against bottom-of-the-table Western Rangers.

United could lose tomorrow and still win the league by beating Rangers the following week.

They won’t want to win the competition that way, though.

Player-coach Kieran Venema says they want to win it undefeated. A win or even a draw tomorrow will take care of the title aspiration, leaving only the “undefeated” part of the ambition to be realised the following week.

Going into tomorrow’s game at Harry Barker Reserve, Gisborne United carry a few typical end-of-season injury concerns.

The only player definitely out is left-winger Josh Harris. He fell awkwardly and had to leave the field in United’s 1-0 victory over Taradale in Hawke’s Bay last week. He has been found to have a hairline fracture at the top of the tibia (the larger of the two bones in the lower leg).

It means his season is over, but he has been told the fracture will heal itself over the next month or so and he won’t need to undergo surgery.

The other players affected by injury last week expect to be fit to play.

“(Right-winger) Sam Royston thinks he will be sweet with a good warm-up,” Venema said last night.

“(Centreback) Kieran Higham didn’t train tonight to give himself as much time as possible to be right for the game.

“And (holding midfielder and skipper) Dane Thompson was sore on Sunday after getting cramp in both calves on Saturday. But he’s confident he’ll be all right for the game.”

Venema said United’s Eastern League Division 1 team had a bye this weekend, so he had asked striker Stu Cranswick and midfielder Aaron Graham to give the premiership team a hand.

“Instead of changing everything, I will just bring in Stu for Josh Harris, and go back to having Adam Simpson at rightback, with Sam Royston on the right up front and Josh Adams in the middle.

“I’ll be on the bench with Corey Boocock and Aaron.

“I don’t want to split the midfield three (Corey Adams, James Bristow and Thompson). They have been doing the job and they’re gelling.”

Those changes will leave United with a forward line made up of three strikers faster than most at this level, a midfield able to be both creative and destructive, and a defence with the best goals-against record in the competition.

Venema said Maycenvale were a big, physical team who were quite fast and played some good football.

One of their key players was holding midfielder Ben Foxall, who had played a lot of Federation League football with Havelock North Wanderers.

“Corey (Adams) played well against him when we played Maycenvale in Hastings in May, and that was a big factor in our 2-1 win,” Venema said.

The match starts at 2.30pm.