Realistically, ALH Gisborne Thistle would be thrilled to come away from Palmerston North tomorrow with a draw. Massey are six points ahead of them, with a three-win/two-loss record. Thistle have had one win and four losses.
For some reason to do with this being a rescheduled game, Thistle have to travel by road rather than by air, although this needn’t be a disadvantage.
They leave Gisborne at 4pm today and could be asleep in Palmerston North by 11pm, with a lie-in and leisurely breakfast to follow. It could be just the preparation they need.
And with so many players unavailable, those stepping up are likely to have the siege mentality of an outgunned defensive line willing to withstand all comers.
This is football . . . you just never know.
Last night after training, Blair said that striker Cullen Spawforth had a knee injury that would keep him out of tomorrow’s game and possibly for as long as three weeks. But he left open the possibility of Spawforth playing on Monday.
Holding midfielder Ash McMillan also has a knee problem, but he trained last night and Blair hoped he would be OK to travel.
Attacking midfielder Matt McVey has work commitments that make him unavailable, and striker Jarom Brouwer is still on a work-related course in Wellington.
Holding midfielder Kieran Venema is unavailable, but the rest could do him good as he looked to be in pain when he came off against Levin two weeks ago.
Centreback Ander Batarrita is being rested from the first team tomorrow to keep him fresh for Monday. But Thistle’s oldest first-team player — he’s in his 40s — will play significant minutes for ALH Thistle Reserves in their Pacific Premiership game against Port Hill United at Childers Road Reserve at 2.30pm tomorrow.
I’d bank on his being ready to perform on all cylinders on Monday.
Rightback Alex Davies will play in Palmerston North tomorrow but will be away for Monday’s game.
As at last night, Blair had not settled on who would play in goal. Mitchell Stewart-Hill is back from a one-game suspension.
“Baps (Mark Baple) has not done anything wrong, but neither had Mitch,” Blair said.
“I’ve yet to decide on what I do there.”
Davies would be rightback, Andre Riley would be leftback and Daniel Venema and Kuba Jerabek would be centrebacks, Blair said.
Regular centreback Ryan Anderson would be pushed forward to be a holding midfielder alongside Nick Land.
Sixteen-year-old Cory Thomson would probably get his first-team starting debut as an attacking midfielder.
“We’ll probably go with three up front,” Blair said.
“Personnel changes mean we have to go back to a 4-3-3 system, with Leo Maisey on the left, PJ Goodlett through the middle and Sam Patterson on the right.”
On the bench would be Reserve team player Levi Julies, one of the goalkeepers, possibly McMillan and probably youth team player Shai Avni, a 15-year-old centreback who had impressed.
For Monday’s game against Heavy Equipment Services United, McMillan — if he hadn’t already returned to action — should be fit to play.
Batarrita, McVey and Kieran Venema should be able to come straight back into the side.
Blair said speedy winger Oska Smith had completed his international surf lifesaving commitments until September, when he would go to the world championships as a beach sprint specialist. He would be back in the reckoning for Thistle from Monday.
Thistle might start with three central defenders and two wingbacks to counter the pace of United’s attack. In this event, Anderson would drop from midfield into one of the centreback spots.
But Thistle also had pace up front, and they would keep things simple this weekend, particularly tomorrow.
“We’ll maybe just sit in, absorb the pressure and use pace on the counter,” Blair said.
Thistle Reserves coach Craig Stirton has had to make changes to his line-up but has plenty of players to call on because no Eastern League football is being played this weekend.
That line-up, though not set in stone, is likely to be something like: Tom Talbot in goal; defenders Brad Hill, Lucian Nickerson, Batarrita (for at least part of the game) and Tim Hofman; midfielders Alex Shanks, Reece Brew, Gee Gaurav and Shehab Altour; and attackers Noy Paull, Davie Ure and Travis White.
Possibly coming into the game from the bench will be defender Max Kume, who has just turned 15 and has impressed in training.
The Reserves’ opponents tomorrow, Port Hill United, are a Napier team lying third in the league, with the same number of points as the second-placed team but with a game in hand.
They beat Thistle 5-2 in Napier at the start of the campaign, when the Jags had played minimal pre-season football because of Covid-19.
In the Pacific Premiership, Port Hill have had four wins, one draw and one loss. Thistle Reserves have had one win and six losses and lie in seventh place out of eight teams.
