STAND-OFF: Thistle’s David Salmon (left) takes on New Plymouth Rangers’ Callum Bourgoise in a Central Federation League game at Childers Road Reserve yesterday. Rangers won 3-2. Pictures by Liam Clayton
IT wasn’t pretty or perfect, but New Plymouth Rangers beat Gisborne Thistle 3-2 in a ripsnorting Central Federation League football match at Childers Road Reserve yesterday.
The game was worth six points to the winners in a makeweight arrangement to give every team the opportunity to contest the same number of points.
It added a hint of desperation to some of the challenges, and Hawke’s Bay referee Andy Parker booked one player from Thistle, and six players from New Plymouth.
That’s not to say Thistle behaved like choirboys. It’s just that New Plymouth were caught more often crossing the line between rugged play and foul on a greasy pitch that tempted recklessness.
New Plymouth opened the scoring in the 11th minute when striker Samuel Adeyinka ran on to a ball from the right and hit a crisp first-time shot past goalkeeper Ryan Majstrovic into the far corner.
Thistle equalised four minutes later when striker Corey Adams crossed from the right to Kieran Ryan, who controlled the ball and lobbed it over keeper James Burroughs into the net.
Adams almost put Thistle ahead in the 16th minute when he outpaced New Plymouth skipper and centreback Peter Kelbrick, who struggled with a hamstring injury for much of the game. Burroughs, out around the penalty spot, managed to block Adams’s shot but it spun goalwards. Kelbrick had made a beeline for the space behind his keeper, and cleared the ball off the line.
In the 30th minute, New Plymouth went 2-1 up when midfielder Sam De St Croix received the ball 25 metres from goal, turned and fired a low drive into the far corner.
De St Croix is a 22-year-old Englishman on holiday from his American scholarship placement and is keen to play national league football in New Zealand. He looked the goods yesterday, working tirelessly and supporting his strikers well.
Eight minutes later, Thistle’s Adams put attacking midfielder Josh Harris away. Keeper Burroughs brought down Harris outside the penalty area, wide on Thistle’s left flank.
With players scurrying back to cover, Burroughs was spared the ruling that he was last man, and escaped with a yellow card.
New Plymouth centrebacks Kelbrick and John Sigurdsson lacked the pace of Adams and Harris but they had defensive nous and plenty of support from their teammates. Kelbrick organised the defence and Sigurdsson won everything in the air. Much of the time, New Plymouth defended with eight men in and around the penalty area.
Fullbacks Isaac Bailey and Niall Leggett, with help from wide midfielders Anmol Shergill and Callum Bourgoise, coped pretty well with Thistle’s hard-working flank players, David Salmon on the right and Malcolm Marfell on the left.
And in central midfield, Thistle’s Olly Tilley and Nick Land went hammer and tongs with their opposites, Lee Conley and De St Croix.
Land made one defensive run in the 41st minute that helped keep his side in the game. With the defence stretched, he made a diagonal run to Thistle’s far post for a cross from New Plymouth’s right wing. Adeyinka found his strike partner James Graham with the cross, but Land got goal-side, kept his head and defused the danger.
Three minutes later, though, De St Croix made it 3-1 with a free-kick from 30 metres. He hit it straight at teammate Conley, who opened his legs for the ball to go through and into the corner of the goal. Majstrovic was wrongfooted by the expected deflection.
Down 3-1 at halftime, Thistle would have been poleaxed by another goal, but they withstood early second-half pressure and surged forward.
Ander Batarrita, in the middle of the back three, was a doubtful starter but had an outstanding game, stopping shots, intercepting passes and clearing his lines with calm precision.
Jake Robertson, on the left, was also in the thick of the action and had one of his best games of the season.
Mal Scammell, on the right, had less to do but was not found wanting when, in the 76th minute, he shadowed Adeyinka into the goalbox and got the block on the shot at the moment Adeyinka let fly.
Behind them, Majstrovic coped well with some awkward contested high ball, and punched clear when necessary.
The match threatened to boil over in three incidents in a five-minute spell.
In the 51st minute, Graham shoved Thistle keeper Majstrovic as he was about to clear the ball. The referee booked Graham and talked to Majstrovic.
In the 52nd, a midfield melee developed but was dispersed with a few handshakes and no cards.
And in the 56th, Tilley and De St Croix were booked in an incident that started with a borderline challenge or two. Referee Parker got the captains to talk to their teams.
Kelbrick was perhaps unlucky to get his yellow card. He didn’t know much about the sweetly hit Nick Land volley that struck him on the hand in the 60th minute. Batarrita scored from the penalty spot and it was 3-2.
Three minutes later, Kelbrick — by now hobbling — was replaced by 17-year-old Ethan Bird, who went to left back as Leggett moved into the centre.
In the 65th, Thistle’s Kieran Venema, whose plane arrived about kick-off time, came on for Ryan, and in the 74th, New Plymouth’s Carl Parkinson-Payne came on for Shergill.
Thistle continued to press. In the 82nd, Adams bustled clear in the penalty area and, going for placement, sidefooted his shot past the post.
The yellow cards kept coming. Adeyinka was booked for a challenge on Tilley, and Bailey, for one on Harris, who took the free kick and hit the bar.
Land came off in the 86th, having run himself into a bad case of cramp, and PJ Goodlett came on up front.
A minute later, Tilley hit a rasping shot from 25 metres just past the post.
In stoppage time, Marfell guided Goodlett’s goalmouth pass towards the net, only to see Burroughs get a hand to the ball and a defender clear the danger.
New Plymouth deserved the win, for the spirit and game sense they showed. But Thistle were just as deserving of a draw, for refusing to give up.
With yesterday’s six points, New Plymouth move from third place to second, passing Wanganui Athletic, whose 5-1 win against Red Sox Manawatu was worth a mere three points, taking them to 23.
New Plymouth move from 19 points to 25, and their goal difference is improved by two, as yesterday’s 3-2 scoreline is counted as 6-4.
Thistle remain in fourth place on 15 points, with a goal difference two goals worse than before. The team immediately below them, Palmerston North Marist, stay on 10 points following their 5-1 loss (or 10-2 for goal-difference purposes) in the six-point match against league leaders Havelock North, who are six points clear on 31.
It means Thistle are still in the running for the top-four playoffs but the best finish they can realistically hope for is second.
Thistle coach Matt Hastings was pleased with the “heart” his team showed to come back strongly in the second half.
“At the end of the day, it’s about putting the ball in the back of the net . . . it wasn’t our day,” he said.
New Plymouth coach Domenico Squatriti said the extra points at stake probably contributed to some of the conflict among the players.
He was particularly pleased with De St Croix and with the two young substitutes who fitted into the team without a hitch.