A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
GISBORNE United came from 2-0 down to salvage a point for a 2-2 draw with Gisborne Boys' High School in Eastern League 1 football on Saturday.
The result kept Heavy Equipment Services United at the top of the competition table and Boys' High in third place, three points back.
Sunshine Brewing Wainui Sharks beat Thistle Reserves 2-0 at Childers Road Reserve to stay in second place, one point behind United.
Carpet Court Thistle Massive beat Lytton High School 4-1 at Lytton, but the students made a game of it, fighting back to equalise at 1-1 before Thistle scored again before halftime and then pulled away after the break. The win kept Thistle in fourth place, still only three points below the league leaders.
United and Thistle Massive meet in the curtain-raiser to the Pacific Premiership match between the clubs at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday. Both games should be thrillers.
At the Rectory field on Saturday, United missed some early chances to score, then found themselves down by two well-worked goals from Boys' High.
United coach Dean Wrigley said he resisted the temptation to change the formation in search of goals.
“We didn't panic,” he said.
“We knew we could score a couple of goals. I didn't want to change the shape. We could have ended up conceding another one.”
Midway through the second half, United striker Stu Cranswick ran on to a long ball, rounded the goalkeeper and scored to close the gap to one.
Five minutes from time, Aaron Graham smashed a free-kick in from 20 metres to save a point and preserve the gap to the chasers.
Wrigley was pleased with the way his side applied themselves in the second half. Boys' High kept going hard and fast, so it was an achievement to come back and earn a point.
United were without Jonathan Purcell, Kim Perano, Carl Shaw, David Glassford, Andrew Bristow and Kerryn Pegram.
It meant fullback Jimmy Holden and midfielder Aaron Graham were pressed into service as centrebacks, although they'd both played there before with no ill-effects. They did well this time, too.
Aubrey Yates did some sterling work up front in support of Cranswick, and keeper Al Knight made some good saves.
Wainui found the wide open spaces of Childers Road Reserve No.1 to their liking when they played Thistle Reserves.
In the 20th minute, midfielder Jimmy Walker's well-weighted pass found winger Jaiden Ibbetson, whose clinical, far-corner finish gave the keeper no chance.
Wainui almost went two up when Olly Tilley hit the post with a well-struck free-kick, and 10 minutes before halftime it was “nothing but net”. Leftback Dan Torrie played the ball in to striker Jake Theron, who turned and passed to winger Steffan John, who had made a good run into the penalty area. John took a touch and squared the ball for Ibbetson to sidefoot home.
“We're building momentum,” Theron said.
“And our keeper, Paddy Pierard, had his second clean sheet in a row.”
Ibbetson was Wainui's man of the match for his goals, and others to shine included rightback Korbi Schallinger, centreback Mal Furlan and central midfielder Simon Blaker.
Best player for Thistle was Charles Morrison, who worked tirelessly in the midfield for little reward.
Lytton stayed in touch with Thistle Massive for the first half of their game.
Hardworking midfielder Josh Blair opened the scoring for Thistle. He latched on to the ball around the edge of the penalty area to the right of the goal and hit the ball low and hard into the far corner.
Lytton equalised through Ryan Anderson's strong header from a Jamil Weiss Dos Santos corner, but striker Nic Somerton restored Thistle's lead with a typically efficient turn-and-shoot goal.
Matt Smith — who did a power of work in central midfield — eased Thistle's nerves with a goal 15 minutes into the second half.
Somerton effectively put the game to bed with a penalty 20 minutes from the end.
Thistle coach John Stirton gave his side's man-of-the-match award to Kieran Ryan, whose play on the right side of the attack always posed problems for the Lytton defence.
Stirton was also impressed with the performance of Blair, who started the game in midfield but ended up at leftback after Daniel Contreras got injured.
Craig Stirton moved from his left-side attacking role into midfield to fill the gap left by Blair's move into defence, and Matias Pincini came on up front.
Pincini had been ill most of the week but his skilful contribution to the latter part of this game hinted at better things to come.
Centreback Chris Spurr and fellow defenders Stefan Faber, Michael Rogers, Contreras and Blair combined well to keep the Lytton attack at bay.
For Lytton, Tasman Gurau played well in a wide attacking role and Kyle McVey tackled hard at centreback.
In Eastern League 2, the top three teams have a small break on the rest of the field.
Coates Associates Wainui Demons lead with 15 points, followed by Tatapouri Bohemians on 14 and Thistle Vintage on 13. Next come United (3) on 10 points.
On Saturday, however, United (3) caused an upset with a 3-2 win against Wainui Demons at Wainui. Thistle Vintage beat Smash Palace Shockers 6-1, Campion College drew with Gisborne Pro Roofing Bohemians 3-3, Wairoa Athletic beat ITM Thistle 3-2, and Tatapouri Bohemians beat Wainui Sports Club 2-0.
In the women's competition, Gisborne Laundry Services Riverina lead on 21 points, with Heavy Equipment Services United second on 18. Campion College are third on 10 points.
On Saturday, Riverina beat Campion College 5-0, United beat Gisborne Girls' High School 8-0, and Bohemians beat Tatapouri Marist Thistle 3-1.