Reserves to make premiership debut

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne Thistle Reserves open their Pacific Premiership football campaign in Napier tomorrow, underdone but impatient to start.

Reserves coach Craig Stirton says a combination of Covid-19, injuries and wild weather has denied them the opportunity for pre-season match practice.

They are scheduled to face last season’s fourth-placed team, Port Hill United, at Marewa Park at 3pm tomorrow.

“We haven’t had much in the way of a pre-season,” Stirton said last night.

“The Geoff Logan Memorial Tournament was postponed because of Covid and injuries, and we were going to play our first team but the weather packed in.

“A lot of our guys have been training since January. They’re fit and hungry for a game.”

With Gisborne United’s withdrawal from the Pacific Premiership because of the difficulty in getting enough players to commit to the travel, ALH Ltd Thistle Reserves will be the only Gisborne team in a league dominated by Hawke’s Bay clubs.

Last year Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United won the premiership; the year before, Port Hill won it. Both clubs declined to seek promotion to the Central Federation League. Thistle’s first team filled the vacancy left by Port Hill’s decision not to go up.

Now Thistle Reserves, with a playing strength boosted by the targeted addition of Gisborne Boys’ High School first 11 members, are filling the gap left by Gisborne United.

Sebastian Itman, Boys’ High teacher in charge of football, says the higher standard of football in the Pacific Premiership — against teams with some of the best young Hawke’s Bay players — will help Gisborne do better at interschool tournaments.

Stirton says the students will make up about half the team tomorrow. He intends having a sprinkling of experience throughout the season, but with some of his youngsters out with injury he has added an extra dollop of football nous — first-teamers Cullen Spawforth, Daniel Venema and Ash McMillan are likely to play some part in the game. Venema could line up with Brad Hill in a double-centreback combination.

Spawforth, Venema and McMillan are available because the Federation League doesn’t start till April 9.

Midfielders Reece Brew and Raydon Semmens have experience at this level, as have strikers PJ Goodlett and Davie Ure.

Just out of isolation, Ure trained well last night, Stirton said.

“The intensity from everyone was really good.”

Left-winger Lukas Rickard was one of those to impress in training, while midfielder Cory Thomson was in the first-team squad but would probably get significant game time in the Pacific Premiership, Stirton said.

Tom Talbot would be in goal, where he had impressed in Thistle Reserves’ up-and-down season last year.