Logan was a class act for Wainui. For one of his goals he took on his chest a ball that was clipped in to him, and then chipped it into the net.
Jaiden Ibbetson shone out wide on the left and Mal Furlan was solid at centreback.
Sharks had the bare 11 of their own players but had the services of three players from 1st Class Decorators Wainui Salty Dogs who came on as substitutes.
Gonzalez played 25 minutes up front and Connor Findlay played 40 minutes in midfield after both had put in significant shifts for Salty Dogs.
Just two weeks earlier Carrizo had turned out for OBM at lock — and scored a try — in the Poverty Bay club rugby final won by Waikohu.
Thistle Youth were even harder hit by players being unavailable. They had the bare 11, and some of those were carrying injuries. Right midfielder Cory Thomson, central midfielder Brett Dempster and centreback Leo Maisey each put in a good shift for them.
These teams are drawn to meet again this Saturday in the first round of the Bailey Cup knockout competition. The other three Division 1 teams have byes into the semifinals.
Gisborne United finished their league campaign with an 11-4 victory over Gisborne Vehicle Testing Thistle Reserves, but the first half was keenly contested.
United scored first; Thistle equalised. United went 2-1 up; Thistle equalised. United went 3-2 up; Thistle equalised.
At halftime, United led 5-3. Early in the second half they stretched that to 6-3. Thistle got one back to make it 6-4 and in the 53rd minute United went 7-4 up.
By this time, some in the Thistle line-up were on their last legs. They had no substitutes and several players were having their second game of the day.
In the last 10 minutes, United scored four goals to blow out the scoreline.
Stu Cranswick scored four goals, three of them in that late 10-minute rush.
His strike partner, Aubrey Yates, got a hat-trick. In the first half he scored twice with headers, one of them an outstanding aerial strike where he climbed high to reach the flight of the ball. His third goal was the 53rd-minute effort that restored United’s three-goal margin. From 25 metres out, to the left of the goal, he curled a right-footed shot into the far corner of the goal.
Others to score were midfielders Ben Hansen, Aaron Graham and Damon Husband, and first-team striker Josh Adams, who came on for the last 20 minutes and scored the last goal, five minutes from the end.
In a good team performance, outstanding efforts came from Cranswick and Yates up front, Graham and Hansen in midfield, and Kim Perano and Lucian Nickerson in the centre of defence.
Thistle Reserves player-coach Davie Ure scored his side’s first two goals, the second one a 30-metre driven chip from the left side of goal into the far corner.
First-team skipper Nick Land and Development team regular Brad Hill scored Thistle’s other goals. Land was hampered by a first-half pulled muscle, while Hill started at centreback and was pushed forward in the second half.
Ure said the Reserves were so hard up for players they drew them from every team in the club, from the Federation League to Eastern League Division 3.
Midfielder Reece Brew had already played 90 minutes for Thistle Vintage, and Tom McPhee, usually an ITM Thistle player in the third division, did well at rightback before moving to centreback to help out there in the second half.
Massive player-coach Craig Stirton shone on the right flank and set up two goals, while centreback Shannon Dowsing battled the odds bravely at centreback.
In Division 2 action this weekend, Wainui Salty Dogs need only a draw from their game against Coates Associates Wainui Demons to beat Thistle Vintage to the title.
