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TWO goals by Josh Adams kept Heavy Equipment United ahead of the pack in Eastern League Division 1 football on Saturday.
United beat Carpet Court Thistle Reserves 2-1 at Childers Road Reserve to stay four points clear of their closest rivals, Thistle Massive, who beat Wainui Sharks 10-1 at Wainui.
But victory came at a cost for United, who finished the game with 10 men after goalkeeper Timoti Weir was sent off for bringing down an attacker five minutes from the end.
United player-coach Stu Cranswick said Weir spread himself in front of Thistle’s Agustin Lastagaray, who tripped over the keeper’s legs as he changed direction to go past him.
As Weir was last man, he was red-carded, and Adams took his place in goal for the penalty.
United breathed a collective sigh of relief as Lastagaray hit the ball over the bar.
United second-team regular Kim Perano then went in goal for the rest of the game.
Perano, a defender or midfielder who also has goalkeeping experience, was kept busy for the rest of the game without being seriously tested.
Cranswick needs a stand-in keeper for Saturday’s game against Wainui Sharks, as Weir is likely to be suspended.
United are still without injured midfielder Craig Christophers, and Jack Notting will be missing from the defence, as he is returning to university.
United’s opponents this weekend, Sharks, were keen to get an earlier kick-off so they could use players from Division 2 clubmates Wainui Demons, who are due to play Wairoa Athletic at Wainui at the same time as the Division 1 clash.
Sharks lost two more key players — Matt Smith and player-coach Michael Smith — to injury on Saturday, and for half the game the injured Warren Veall played in goal as Wainui were reduced to 10 men. In coming weeks, they also have other players out of town.
But it looks as if the kick-off against United will not be brought forward.
Cranswick said he had players who could not get away from work in time for an early kick-off, and his team had to draw from their second and third teams, who were playing early games.
Against Thistle Reserves, United went ahead after 15 minutes, when Cranswick put Josh Adams away with a through ball, and the youngster’s pace and finishing ability did the rest.
Lastagaray was Thistle’s man of the match, and United struggled to contain him. Thirty minutes in, he was brought down in the penalty area, and Max Mika equalised from the spot.
Adams scored his second goal courtesy of a through ball from his father, Chris, 20 minutes into the second half.
Chris Adams had come off the bench late in the first half to help in central midfield, where Jack Feyen and Aaron Graham again had solid games.
With Cranswick and Josh Adams getting to know each other’s play better week by week, United were always dangerous on the break.
They were also well served by their back four. With defensive linchpin Jonathan Purcell serving a one-week suspension after being sent off the previous week, Andy McIntosh and Notting stepped up to keep the middle secure. Rightback Jimmy Holden and leftback Matt McFatter were also outstanding.
Thistle Reserves coach Garrett Blair said he was proud of everyone who played.
“It was a good game of football.”
He felt that for the majority of the match, Thistle were the better side.
“Our boys played good constructive football.
“Unfortunately, we failed to take our chances when it counted.”
Had Thistle scored from the second penalty, the draw would have been well deserved, he said.
At Wainui, Sharks led 1-0 at halftime after Veall played a ball through for fellow striker Ricky Boyd to finish with a firm low drive from inside the penalty area.
But almost immediately, Veall tweaked a leg muscle and was unable to run freely.
Wainui had already used their only substitute, when Mike Vita came on in central midfield for Matt Smith, who rolled an ankle 10 minutes into the game.
Sharks held their own in the first half, even without Smith.
With Andy Daubé in goal, Blaise Houston-Amor at rightback and Jimmy Lawrence at leftback, and Tristan Bannink and Jeff Allen in the middle, they looked solid in defence.
Defender/midfielder Greg Judd and striker Damian Archdale were away, but player-coach Michael Smith, Zane Destounis and Vita were busy in midfield, Veall added craft to the attack and Boyd was always likely to pull something out of the hat.
But injuries put a spanner in the works. Rather than play, in effect, one man short in the outfield, Wainui put Veall in goal and Daubé up front . . . not a bad idea on the face of it. Daubé was one of the Eastern League’s most effective strikers for more than a decade.
Five minutes into the second half, though, Michael Smith pulled a muscle and had to go off.
Down to 10 men, and with a goalkeeper restricted in his movement, Wainui had little chance against a team as polished as Massive.
Thistle scored early in the second half and never let up.
Nic Somerton was the goalscoring star, with six, player-coach Davie Ure got three and Hector Araya, one.
Shannon Dowsing in central midfield and Davie Sluter at leftback were also outstanding.
Massive are four points behind United, but now have a better goal difference. With seven games still to go, that could become important.
The game between Shipwreck Bohemians and Gisborne Boys’ High School was postponed to allow Boys’ High to focus on their Super 8 tournament in Hastings this week.
In Division 2, Wairoa Athletic retained the Bosmann-Stassen-Gillies Cup when they drew 2-2 with Three Rivers Medical Bohemians Development in Wairoa.
The Bohs — with help from first-team players grateful for the contribution of their feeder team — came from a goal down twice to snatch a creditable away draw.
Marek Schirnack and Eliki Ravosai scored the goals that kept the cup in the Athletic trophy cabinet, but Bohemians had the consolation of pushing the Division 2 title contenders to the limit.
In other Division 2 games, Riverina beat Gisborne Boys’ High School (2) 2-1, Wainui Demons beat Bohemians Social 5-2, and Thistle Vintage stayed at the top of the table — two points ahead of Wairoa — with an 8-1 victory over United (2).
In Division 3, Ngatapa Silkies stay seven points clear of Smash Palace Shockers and United (3).
Ngatapa beat Liquid Thistle Allsorts 7-4, Shockers beat Lytton High School 2-1 and United (3) beat Boys’ High (3) 5-1.