Sharks on the fringe of title race

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

Wainui Sharks stay on the fringe of the title race after a hard-fought 3-0 win against Gisborne Boys’ High School in Eastern League Division 1 football at Wainui on Saturday.

Damian Archdale now has a personal tally of six goals in six games after he netted twice against Boys’ High, in the 30th and 86th minutes.

Evergreen striker Ricky Boyd also scored, in the 35th minute.

Sunshine Brewery Wainui player-coach Michael Smith said Archdale’s second goal was a pearler.

“Damian was out to the left and from 25 metres he curled it into the top right-hand corner,” he said.

Smith was pleased his side recorded their first clean sheet of the year, and said Boys’ High were competitive all the way.

Matt Smith at centreback and John Hill at sweeper kept the middle of defence solid, and Noel Amor at rightback continued to be one of the first names he put on the team sheet.

Jordan Anderson, on the right flank, had his best game of the season so far, Michael Smith said.

“He attacked well, showed more confidence, got over crosses, tracked back and made the right decisions.”

Shane Hooks and Mal Furlan were coming along well as a central midfield combination.

Goalkeeper Andy Daubé didn’t have much to do, but made one important save where he had to backpedal to tip the ball over the top.

Some heated moments during the matchThe match had its heated moments. Boys’ High striker Jirah Wanoa will rue kicking the ball away at a stoppage early in the second half. It cost him a yellow card, his second of the game, which meant an automatic send-off.

Wainui players Hill, Matt Smith and Hooks were yellow-carded.

Boys’ High coach Richard Mulligan said the game had a bit of needle in the first half and his players tried to combat it with a physical approach.

“We stopped playing football,” he said.

In the second half he put an extra man up front, leaving three at the back.

“We settled down, went really well and could have had two or three goals with a bit of luck,” Mulligan said.

“You wouldn’t have known we were playing with only 10. Late in the game we got caught pushing forward and they got a third. We’ll put the first half down to experience.”

Double centrebacks Connor Pitman and Jack Woods were Mulligan’s joint players of the day.

Adam Donaldson shouldered a big workload in central midfield alongside Brad Clark, who also played well.

Others to shine for Boys’ High were leftback Jacob Brown, left midfielder Alex Larkin and striker Josh Blair.

In other matches, Heavy Equipment Services United beat Lytton High School 6-1 at Lytton and Carpet Court Thistle Massive beat QRS Wairoa Athletic 6-1 in Wairoa to stay first and second respectively.

Damon Husband put United ahead after two minutes against Lytton, and player-coach Stu Cranswick made it 2-0 after four.

Three more goals came before halftime, when United led 5-0.

The second half was more even, both sides scoring — Cole Bava for Lytton and Cranswick (completing his hat-trick) for United. Cranswick’s striking partner, Aubrey Yates, scored the other two goals for United.

Merlin Parsons was Lytton’s best player, continuing the good form he has shown all season. A right-footer, he is “taking one for the team” by playing at leftback.

Overall, it was a much-improved performance by Lytton in the second half.

United central midfielder Ben Hansen had to go off less than a minute into the game when — with no apparent contact from any other player — he had a recurrence of a knee injury.

That brought on Zane Destounis, who played on the right flank to good effect, and Jack Feyen moved from the right side into the middle.

Cranswick said that Yates up front and Husband on the left flank also shone, and the defence as a whole — centrebacks Kim Perano and Jonathan Purcell, rightback Jimmy Holden and leftback Matt McFatter — played well.

In Wairoa, Thistle Massive had to fight hard to quell the challenge of an enthusiastic Athletic side.

Midfielder Dave Watson put Thistle ahead after seven minutes but Wairoa equalised midway through the half through striker Teahu Munro.

Thistle struck again through Nic Somerton in the 30th minute and a Kane Stirton penalty (for a foul on Somerton) in the 33rd to lead 3-1 at halftime.

After the break, Thistle found their stride and increased their lead with goals to midfielder Jason Scott in the 47th minute, Watson in the 59th and Somerton in the 63rd.

Coach John Stirton said Somerton was man of the match for scoring two goals and setting up two more.

Simon van Haandel played well at rightback in his return from injury, and Stefan Faber had another sound game in defence.

Wairoa’s man of the match was midfielder Marek Schirnack. Goalkeeper Paul Kavanagh made several outstanding saves, Tim Howard and Eliki Ravosai were strong in midfield, and defenders Jason Smith and Tim Gledhill broke up many Thistle attacks, particularly in the first half.

In Division 2, the match between Boys’ High (2) and Thistle Vintage was marred by a serious knee injury to Thistle player-coach Dudley Meadows.

Boys’ High won 3-0 to move into second place, behind Riverina, who beat Coates Associates Wainui Demons 3-0. Heavy Equipment Services United (2) drew 0-0 with ShipWreck Bohemians.

In the Brott Family Cup competition for Division 3 teams, Heavy Equipment Services United (3) beat Campion College 3-2 and Three Rivers Medical Bohemians beat Smash Palace Shockers 4-3.

In the Judy O’Rourke Memorial Cup games for women’s teams, Heavy Equipment Services United beat Top 10 Holiday Park Bohemians 3-0 and Gisborne Laundry Services Riverina beat Gisborne Girls’ High School 9-0.