United stay top but coach not satisfied

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

Gisborne United stay at the top of the Pacific Premiership table following their 3-1 victory over Havelock North Wanderers Reserves at Guthrie Park, Hawke's Bay, on Saturday.

Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United opened the scoring in the 15th minute.

Midfielder and skipper Dane Thompson played a nice ball to right-winger Sam Royston, who crossed the ball low for attacking midfielder Corey Adams to sidefoot home from about the penalty spot — a high-quality finish to a good move.

Five minutes later, Josh Harris put in a cross that Adams contested but a defender got to it first and put it into the net for an own goal.

Ten minutes after halftime, Corey Adams put younger brother Josh through one on one with the goalkeeper, and Josh Adams scored to make it 3-0.

With 10 minutes to go, Havelock North won a free-kick 30 metres out on their left flank. A glancing header directed the ball in at the far post.

United player-coach Kieran Venema said standout players for United were goalkeeper Seth Piper and centreback Mal Scammell. Piper made some excellent saves, often holding on to the ball, while Scammell had a strong tackling game and also won a lot of loose ball.

Venema said he was a little disappointed in United's performance.

“Wanderers made it hard for us to play but we made it hard for ourselves at times by not offering options to the player with the ball, not moving in support of the pass and not giving information with the pass.

“It seems to be every second week . . . one week we play really well; the next week, not so much.”

• The match preview on Friday gave the wrong name for the scorer of the last-minute league-winning goal against Eskview in 2019. Kieran Venema, not Josh Harris, scored the goal.