This was a flawed yet entertaining match between sides keen to play expansive football but making mistakes that killed promising moves or put defences under pressure.
The first touch that sent the ball bobbling too far away, the pass that was inaccurate or easily intercepted, the attacking run not tracked, the lapses in concentration – they were all there, from both teams.
Thankfully, the good stuff was on show, too.
Thistle went ahead in the third minute. An unlucky handball – the ball ricocheted off the foot of Whanganui right back James Satherley and hit his hand – gave the Jags a free kick on the left flank about 40 metres out. Midfielder David Salmon’s delivery found centre back Jirah Wanoa in space eight metres out and his header gave goalkeeper Tyler Turner no chance.
Both Turner and Thistle keeper Mitchell Stewart-Hill had exemplary games.
In the eighth minute, striker Jimmy Somerton almost put Thistle two up. His shot from the edge of the penalty area skimmed the top of the bar. Twenty minutes later, Somerton pressured the receiver of a long pass from Athletic’s left flank back to a central position. Somerton emerged with the ball and headed for goal.
Holding midfielder Charlie Meredith slowed Somerton’s progress and cleared the danger. Meredith and David Garner shared the defensive duties and Jordan Joblin-Hall was free to roam and create, which he did to good effect.
The real thorns in the sides of Thistle’s defence were wingers Tre DeJohn and Jordan Gilmore.
Particularly in the second half, they found space on the flanks and made good use of it, whipping in low crosses between the keeper and his defence.
Thistle played with a back three, with wide players expected to help by marking at the far side of any attack.
Jags flank players Sam Hotas on the right and Matt Hills on the left shone going forward and fought for the ball when it was there to be contested. Sometimes, though, they started a few metres forward of where they needed to be when the ball was coming to their man, and that caused problems.
Five minutes before halftime, Whanganui drew level. Joblin-Hall showed tenacity inside the Thistle penalty area and crossed from near the left-flank byline. DeJohn came steaming in beyond the far post and his header went across the goalmouth, hit the post and bounced out to Gilmore, who nodded it in from a metre out.
Whanganui coped well with most of what Thistle produced. Centre backs Ryan Donaldson and Benjamin Huijs were determined in the challenge and both caused problems with raking long balls that put the Jags on the back foot. Fullbacks Jack Ashby-Payne, on the left, and Satherley, on the right, were similarly rugged and effective.
That spurred Whanganui to renewed efforts. In the 60th minute, left back McRae hit a great ball across to DeJohn, whose shot struck the post. A minute later, DeJohn shot wide under a desperate challenge from the chasing Hills.
Two minutes into the second half, DeJohn started his streak of dangerous deliveries. He got on the end of a Gilmore left-wing cross that beat everyone, then contorted himself to get in a cross-cum-shot that drew a desperate tip over the bar from Stewart-Hill.
Two minutes later, in the 49th, a long ball from Satherley found DeJohn, whose cross to the far post found striker Neihana Kahl. Stewart-Hill closed him down and the shot went wide.
In the 50th, DeJohn was clear down the right and crossed. Gilmore couldn’t control the ball and Stewart-Hill gathered it.
Seven minutes later, Thistle regained the lead. Hotas won the ball in midfield, fed deep-lying attacker Travis White and he played a through-ball to Somerton, who slipped it past Turner.
That spurred Whanganui to renewed efforts. In the 60th minute, leftback McRae hit a great ball across to DeJohn, whose shot struck the post. A minute later, DeJohn shot wide under a desperate challenge from the chasing Hills.
In the 63rd minute, Stewart-Hill saved bravely at the feet of DeJohn, who had been set free by a lovely pass from Meredith. In the 66th minute, it was DeJohn again, crossing from the right. Kahl got to the ball first but couldn’t connect well and Stewart-Hill gathered.
Napier referee Ryan Todd cautioned three Thistle players – centre back Junior Jimmy in the 74th for delaying the restart of play, White in the 78th for persistent infringing, and Hills in the 83rd for a reckless challenge.
The Jags went further ahead in the 80th minute after a move that started from the back. Centre back Wanoa passed to left back Kaden Manderson, who passed to holding midfielder Cory Thomson, who then fed central midfielder David Salmon, whose 40-metre ball put Somerton in the clear, and he finished clinically.
Two minutes later, it should have been 4-1. Centre back Jimmy fed Somerton down the right and he played the ball in to White, whose first-time shot cleared the bar.
Whanganui hopes were raised in the 87th minute when the Jags’ defence was short-handed, Wanoa and Jimmy were both drawn from the middle, and Kahl fed Joblin-Hall, who lobbed the ball over the keeper into the goal.
Ruben Garcia, from Uruguay, replaced White for the last few minutes and showed eagerness to make an impact.
Jags coach Cramer praised the efforts of Jimmy at the back, Matt McVey in midfield and Somerton up front, but was disappointed his side didn’t press home their advantages. That said, he had players missing: “On Tuesday I had 16 players; last night I had 12.” Illness and competing commitments were the cause.
Athletic’s Czerwonka said his side were still “gunning for that top three”. They, too, had players missing but he did not want to detract from Thistle’s win.
“This trip is pretty legendary for our club; we love it,” he said.
“We use it to bring the team together. We stay in Napier on Friday and Saturday nights. You have to embrace the challenges, and we respect Gisborne and the amount of travel they have to do every second week.”
