United excited about Pacific Premiership football league

IN GOOD NICK: Thistle skipper Nicky Land (left) is one of the fittest players in the district. Picture by Paul Rickard

FOOTBALL

HEAVY Equipment Gisborne United will make their debut in Pacific Premiership football when they play Maycenvale in Hastings tomorrow.

But player-coach Corey Adams will have plenty of premiership experience to call on as he leads the side into action.

Adams, his younger brother Josh, skipper Kieran Venema, Mal Scammell, Kieran Higham, Malcolm Marfell and Josh Harris have played at this level or higher.

Making their debuts are goalkeeper Jack Faulkner, rightback Lucian Nickerson, and midfielders Dane Thompson and Noy Paull.

“We’re all excited about playing this weekend,” said Corey Adams, whose father Chris will manage the team.

“I love the club; it’s a family club and we’re all good mates.

“Having Dad and KV (Venema) there will take a lot of pressure off and allow me to concentrate on playing up front.”

United warmed up with a 5-3 win against their second team.

“We played well; it was a good workout for us.

“We don’t know much about Maycenvale. It’s been a couple of years since we played them but our focus is on our own performance and not the opposition.”

Gisborne Thistle coach Garrett Blair said he was looking forward to an exciting weekend.

“Our match has been moved to Bluewater Stadium, so the boys are excited about playing on one of the best pitches in the country,” said Blair, whose team take on Napier City Rovers.

“I’m very happy with how our pre-season went. We started training in late January and focused quite heavily on our fitness.

“The squad have a good understanding of the system we will play this year. Ensuring we have the physical capacity to deliver that philosophy is key.

“This showed in the three games that we’ve played, beating Kawerau 5-2, beating Massive (our reserves) 2-1 and getting a 1-1 draw with Eskview, who came third in the Pacific league last year.

“We’ve lost six players to United but to fill the gaps we have players like Cole Devonport (NZ police team captain) and Jake Theron (who has played national and central league football).

“Chris Spurr and Davie Ure have lots of experience at this level, and Hector Araya is one of the most exciting players in the region.”

Blair said Liam Ryan, Nicky Land, Ander Batarrita, Olly Tilley and goalkeeper Mark Baple would form the spine of the squad.

“Nicky will captain the side. He’s a natural leader, an excellent footballer and he already has the respect of the other lads.

“We also have good young players, such as Sam Patterson and Jake Robertson, who will be important as the season goes on.

“Tim Hofman, Sam Hogan and Matias Ree wil be on the bench this weekend.

“Napier City Rovers are always a quality team, and we know that their central league team have acquired lots of overseas players, so we expect their reserves to be quite strong. They finished second last year and will be the favourites tomorrow, but the boys are ready.”