It was a loss to Napier Marist in this year’s Federation Cup that caused the United players to take stock and make the most of the rest of the season.
At the Tuesday night training session following the 2-1 loss to Napier Marist, the team down sat down and set some goals for the remainder of the season.
“We set four goals, and our chances of hitting all of them look promising,” player-coach Josh Adams said.
“The first was to win the Eastern League and Bailey Cup double; we’ve achieved the first leg of that one.
“The second was to have no yellow cards for dissent for the rest of the year; it’s 10 minutes in the sin bin for every one of those. We’ve managed to avoid them so far.
“The third was to score an average of four or more goals a game. We’ve done that and then some.
“And the fourth was to concede an average of one or less. We’re bang on with that.”
Adams said another highlight was that every squad member who had played more than one game had scored a goal.
Goalkeeper Andy McIntosh had scored two — one was a penalty that he came out of goal to score, and the other came in a game against Wainui Demons, when he played in an outfield position.
The Federation Cup loss was a disappointment — they had hopes of retaining it.
“We didn’t have the greatest build-up to the game and we were caught a bit by surprise at the level they brought on the day,” Adams said.
“The boys felt it. I think they were a bit gutted.
“It set us back in a way but also helped us knuckle down and set our goals for the rest of the season.”
Asked about plans for next year, Adams said they would love to go back to out-of-town competition but he didn’t think they had enough players willing to do the travelling required.
“We are at a high enough standard
. . . we’d love to see some young players coming through to build on the development we’ve got with Matt Hills, Kaden Manderson and Jacob Adams. They’re all 15 and have come on really well this year.”
Hills plays in midfield, Manderson at leftback and Adams on the right wing. All three go to Gisborne Boys’ High School and Josh Adams hopes they’ll be back next year..
“If we had more youngsters coming through, with the support of a few experienced players, we could look at outside competition.
“But as players get older they have families to think about.”
Last Saturday, United finished their league programe with a 9-1 victory over 1st Class Decorators Wainui Salty Dogs.
A hat-trick to Josh Adams brought his league tally to 20 goals and among the other scorers were younger brother Jacob and experienced hands Jimmy Holden, Damon Husband and, in his third game back from an early-season broken leg, Dane Thompson.
United have a Bailey Cup bye this Saturday.
Josh Adams said it had been a tough season because of the weather. In one six-week stretch they had one game and a bye.
“We had the use of a school turf, but it’s hard to maintain match fitness when you’re not playing.”
Players who stood out over the year were the midfield trio of Corey Adams, Aaron Graham and Matt Hills, and Jacob Adams and Kaden Manderson.
“A couple of times we switched off, but the players jogged their memory . . . they had those goals to keep their standards high.”
Eastern League 1 runners-up were Sunshine Brewing Wainui Sharks, on 30 points from 10 wins and three losses.
On Saturday they beat clubmates Coates Associates Wainui Demons 4-1, while Thistle Youth beat Draggnett Thistle Vintage 3-1.
