A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Striker Davie Ure came off the bench after an hour had already been played, and was instrumental in three of the goals in Gisborne Thistle’s 6-0 win against Port Hill United at Childers Road Reserve on Saturday.
It was a quiet start, with the teams getting the measure of each other. Despite some end-to-end play, neither goalkeeper was tested in the first 15 minutes.
But in the 16th minute, right winger Brandon Josling floated in a cross to the back post that found skipper and left winger Nick Land unmarked. He volleyed the ball goalwards, but it struck the Port Hill rightback in the shoulder and flew clear.
Four minutes later, striker Liam McMenamy ran at the defence and was brought down inside the box. Referee Martin Royale had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped centreback Ander Batarrita, who made no mistake.
Eight minutes later, Josling ran on to a long pass into the box and the Port Hill keeper made a lunge at the ball but brought down Josling instead and once again Royale pointed to the spot, showing the keeper a yellow card in the process.
Up stepped Bataritta again, but the keeper was up to the challenge and redeemed himself by pulling off a magnificent save.
It was a very quiet end to the half with a couple of minor shots that worried neither keeper. Thistle had dominated the first half but had only a 1-0 lead going into the break.
It took nine minutes after the resumption of play for Thistle to double their lead. Leftback Jakub (Kuba) Jerabek found himself in space on the left flank to receive a peach of a pass from centre midfielder Matt McVey.
From just inside the box, Jerabek buried the ball into the top left corner of the goal.
It was Jerabek’s maiden Thistle goal and what a beauty it was.
Tireless Port Hill player-coach Mark Saunders finally succumbed to injury in the 58th minute when he came off second best in a tackle with rightback Jay Matthews. Having brought only 12 players, Port Hill had to use their only substitute so Saunders could leave the field.
Cometh the hour cometh the man — Matt McVey was replaced by Ure, and this is where the whole game changed for Thistle. Ure dominates the middle of the park, just sitting in behind McMenamy and linking up well with all players around him.
It was like Thistle were an orchestra missing their conductor and with the arrival of Ure they now played to perfection.
Josling, who had worked tirelessly all day, was substituted on 71 minutes, and speedster Sam Patterson came on.
It took 15 minutes of total Thistle domination for them to add their third goal when McMenamy beat the offside trap and laid the ball inside to Ure who knocked the leather off the ball and into the top left of Port Hill’s goal, once again leaving the keeper with no chance.
Three minutes later, Batarrita sent a through-ball for Mcmenamy to latch on to. He cut back inside the defender and drove a low ball into the path of Ure, who made no mistake, finding the bottom right corner of the goal.
The hard working McMenamy was subbed in the 78th minute for Brad Reynolds.
One minute later, Ure received the ball just over the halfway line and ran five steps and decided to have a crack. The ball flew like a bullet and smashed into the Port Hill crossbar leaving the goal frame shaking for five seconds after.
Three minutes later, Ure became the provider. He went around two defenders to the goal-line and dinked the ball over the centreback to find the head of Patterson, who was free in the box. He made no mistake, adding Thistle’s fifth.
In the 90th minute, centre midfielder Fabio Senna put Land through and he placed the ball into the bottom left of the goal and six of the best were served to Port Hill.
Thistle head coach Garrett Blair was serving the first week of his four-week technical ban, which will see him watch the remainder of the season from the sidelines. Thistle manager Fletcher Stewart-Hill was the voice of the team from the dugout and did a stern job.
Coach Blair said after the match: “We played great football today. We dominated possession and played a much more direct game in the second half.”
“We just need to keep winning our matches to keep the pressure on Gisborne United.”
Blair gave the man-of-the-match award to Batarrita, who had an outstanding game at centreback and also got on the scoresheet.