Early-season draws with Lytton High School and Wainui Sharks cost Thistle the league.
Neither United nor Thistle have looked particularly impressive in their last outings, both against school teams, but United player-coach Stu Cranswick says that will count for nothing tomorrow.
“It always will be a tight game when we play them,” he said.
“A couple of our players watched them play Lytton and said they didn’t look that flash.
“But against Boys’ High, we didn’t look that flash.
“Every time we play Thistle, it will be a battle.”
Both coaches are keen to stake their cup bid on the players who have turned out for them all seasonBoth coaches are keen to stake their cup bid on the players who have turned out for them all season, rather than rely on non-cup-tied players eligible to come down a grade.
Thistle Massive coach John Stirton is prepared to make one exception, though.
“Probably the only one I’ll call on — most likely to sit on the bench — will be Davie Ure,” Stirton said.
Ure has been a first-team regular playing in the Pacific Premiership this year, but he played the whole of last season for Massive.
“We’ve got Nic Somerton and Kieran Ryan up front and they could burn out or get injured, especially if we go into extra time,” Stirton said.
“And I’ve also got a couple of players who’ve had the flu this week.
“I don’t want to play anyone else outside our team. If we are going to win, I’d like it to be with the team we’ve had all year.”
United’s Cranswick said it would be “kind of unfair” on his players if he brought in people from outside his team for the final.
“If you stack your team to win, is that a fair contest? Not really,” he said.
Apart from one squad member on holiday, United would be at full strength.
Asked about the main threats in the Thistle team, he said it depended on who played.
Thistle’s Stirton saw the main threats in the United side as striker Cranswick and midfielders Craig Christophers and Aaron Graham.
'We’ll try to man-mark them' -Stirton“We’ll try to man-mark them,” Stirton said.
“We’ll defend when we have to, and attack as much as we can. If we win, that’ll be great; if we don’t, it’ll be because we just didn’t deserve it.”
His side had no injury worries he was aware of.
Massive had a once-a-week training regime but, as at last night, hadn’t trained since their last game, a 3-2 Bailey Cup semifinal win against Lytton High School on August 18. (On the same day, United beat Gisborne Boys’ High School 4-1 in the other semifinal.)
Stirton gave his team the week off after the Lytton game.
“A lot of the guys have kids and family stuff,” he said.
“It’s hard for them to get to two nights of training a week.
“Extra time, we don’t need.”
United and Thistle met three times in the league this year. Thistle won the first game, in April, 2-0; United won the second, in May, 2-1; and Thistle won the third, in June, 2-1.
If United win tomorrow, it will be their third Bailey Cup final victory in a rowIf United win tomorrow, it will be their third Bailey Cup final victory in a row. In 2016 they beat Thistle Massive in the final after they finished second to Massive in the league despite being unbeaten.
The year before, 2015, the league-cup double was claimed by Massive.
It seems as if the 2018 Bailey Cup final will be more of the same from these battle-hardened warhorses.
The last Eastern League game of the year was a deferred fixture between Lytton High School and Gisborne Boys’ High, at Lytton on Saturday.
Boys’ High won 2-1 to finish a point above Sunshine Brewery Wainui Sharks in third place, on 18 points.
Lytton finished fifth in the six-team league, equal with QRS Wairoa Athletic, on 10 points, but ahead on goal difference.
On Saturday, Boys’ High went a goal up in the 21st minute. Striker Seth Piper — who has played most of the season in goal for the first or second teams — met a Jack Fenn left-wing cross at the edge of the goal area and with a sidefoot shot guided the ball inside the far post.
Boys’ High went 2-0 up five minutes later when striker Jirah Wanoa latched on to a bobbling ball 25 metres out and fired an unstoppable shot into the top of the Lytton net.
Lytton came into their ownFor the rest of the half, Boys’ High went a bit flat and Lytton came into their own.
Lytton pulled a goal back through attacking midfielder Matt McVey in the 75th minute and pressed hard for an equaliser in the last 15 minutes, but Boys’ High defended well to keep them out.
Centreback Harry Win-Hewetson was Lytton’s man of the match, while others to stand out were McVey, midfielder and stand-in captain David Barker and defender Merlin Parsons.
Boys’ High had five senior players missing from their squad. Alex Larkins, Jack Woods, William Page, Jakob Brown and Adam Donaldson were away looking at university options for next year.
International student Dominik Roden, from Germany, and second-team regular Nick Proffit have been added to the Boys’ High team for the Rex Dawkins Tournament in Napier next week, and both played well in midfield against Lytton.
Fenn, on the left flank, Connor Putnam at centreback and Regan Cameron in goal also stood out, and the whole team contributed to the rearguard action that preserved their lead.
Lytton are also in tournament action next week, at the Trident tourney in Palmerston North.
Both tournaments have 24 schools taking part.
