Upset of the round to Lytton

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LYTTON High School pulled off the upset of the round when they beat Wainui Sharks 3-0 in Eastern League Division 1 football at Lytton on Saturday.

Bottom of the table at the start of the match, Lytton moved to seven points, one point above QRS Wairoa Athletic and two behind Gisborne Boys’ High School.

Sunshine Brewery Wainui Sharks remain in third place, on 16 points, with Carpet Court Thistle Massive second, on 20, and Heavy Equipment Services United top, on 24.

Thistle Massive beat Boys’ High 6-4 in a thriller at Childers Road Reserve, and United beat Athletic 5-3 in Wairoa.

A goal after 20 minutes from attacking midfielder Matt McVey gave Lytton a 1-0 halftime lead against Wainui.

In the 70th minute, McVey scored his second, with a free-kick 28 metres out . . . someone described it as “Ronaldo-like”.

Striker Caleb Baldacchino put the seal on the win with a goal from close range in the 85th minute.

Goalkeeping coach Cameron Cairns said the win was the result of a team effort.

“Everyone did their job and more,” he said.

Leftback Merlin Parsons got Lytton’s man-of-the-match award for the third time this season.

Baldacchino, McVey, defensive midfielder David Barker and goalkeeper Sasha Drain showed leadership qualities in the way they supported the team’s younger players.

Wainui were without regular striker Damian Archdale, but Ricky Boyd and Michael Smith are a capable duo up front. They had chances but couldn’t make them count, and late in the game Smith went to hospital for a check on a thumb that was dislocated.

Wainui right-flank midfielder Greg Judd and centreback Matt Smith had solid games, but Lytton played as if they had something to prove. That 6-1 loss to Wainui at the beach ground last month might have had something to do with it.

Ding-dong battleThistle Massive and Boys’ High had a ding-dong battle for much of their match, but school coach Richard Mulligan was disappointed in a 15-minute spell when the match got away from them.

Thistle went 1-0 up early and Boys’ High equalised, thanks to good attacking habits and a bit of planning. Left-flank midfielder Alex Larkins hit a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Thistle keeper Raymond Rickard did well to stop it but Boys’ High had runners breaking off the ends of the defensive wall and one of them, central midfielder Adam Donaldson, put away the rebound.

Thistle hit back just before and after halftime to lead 3-1.

Boys’ High striker Josh Blair broke through the middle to bring it back to 3-2, then halftime substitute Jacob Brown cut in from his left-flank midfield position and struck a right-footed drive from 35 metres into the top right-hand corner.

“It was 3-3 and we were on top,” Mulligan said.

“Then they scored two quick goals, and then another one . . . for 15 minutes we lost concentration.

“Nic Somerton did the damage. When you are up against players of his calibre, you can’t give them any room.”

Blair scored again 10 minutes from time to bring up the 10-goal game total.

Centreback Connor Pitman was Boys’ High’s man of the match. Jack Woods also did well in the centre of defence, while keeper Seth Piper showed a willingness to come for the high ball.

Larkins impressed with a spell down the middle late in the match, and Brown changed the game when he came on for the second half.

For Thistle, striker Somerton and central midfielder Dave Watson scored two goals each, and rightback Emerson Araya and midfielder Jason Scott got the others.

Somerton, Watson, Scott, centreback Stefan Faber, left midfielder/leftback Daniel Contreras and right midfielder Shannon Dowsing shone for Thistle.

Jags coach John Stirton said his players did well individually, but he felt they lacked cohesion as a team.

Four down at halftime, Wairoa fight back to close the gap 5-3United were 4-0 up at halftime against Wairoa, and player-coach Stu Cranswick took the opportunity to give his bench players a run.

Wairoa got back to 4-2 but another United goal eased the concerns, and it finished 5-3 after a late Wairoa strike.

United’s first-half goals came from a Craig Christophers header from a left-wing corner in the 15th minute, a Damon Husband header to finish off an initial Christophers header from another corner in the 20th, a tidy finish by Aubrey Yates to a through-ball from Cranswick in the 35th, and a sidefoot strike by Cranswick after a through-ball from Christophers in the 40th.

Wairoa’s Matt Webb scored with a powerful volley and Marek Schirnack hit a curving dipper of a free-kick over the United wall to make it 4-2.

Cranswick relieved the second-half pressure on United by latching on to a long, low pass from centreback Jimmy Holden and guiding it past the keeper to make it 5-2.

Wairoa man of the match Schirnack took a late, long-range shot that went in off the underside of the bar to make the final score 5-3. Tim Gledhill, Webb and Hira Campbell also shone for Wairoa.

United’s best were man of the match Matt McFatter at rightback, Dan Torrie at leftback, centrebacks Jonathan Purcell and Holden, left midfielder Husband and Kim Perano, who was in goal for the first half due to car trouble that delayed Cody Keepa on the way to Wairoa.