Late New Plymouth goal sinks Gisborne Thistle in Fed League football

Gisborne Thistle centre midfielder Cory Thomson in action against Western. Thistle were denied a share of the points by a late goal in a 3-2 away loss to New Plymouth Rangers in their Central Federation League match on Saturday. Photo / Liam Clayton

A two-goal second-half comeback promised much for Gisborne Thistle, but a late goal to New Plymouth Rangers dashed their hopes in Taranaki on Saturday.

Electrinet Thistle had fallen behind to a goal scored with the last kick of the first half and another scored two minutes after the restart of their match in Central Football’s Federation League.

The Jags rallied, scoring through left winger Ruben Garcia and striker Jimmy Somerton, and looked as if they could score again to take all three points.

“We had the better of the rest of the second half, but they were hitting us on the counter,” Thistle coach Tam Cramer said.

“At 2-2, as far as I was concerned, the game was ours to win. But with nine minutes to go we made a defensive mistake and lost 3-2.”

Cramer said he was happy with the team’s attitude and performance, apart from the goals conceded.

“For the first five or 10 minutes we were on fire, but they came back into it and both teams had chances in the first half. Travis White was unlucky not to score ... the keeper pulled off a great save.”

Thistle lined up with Hugo Lodewyk in goal, a back four of Te Kani Wirepa-Hei at right back, Kaden Manderson at left back, and Nick Land and Ziggy West-Hill as double centre backs.

In midfield, Samson Hotas was wide on the right, Garcia wide on the left, and Euan Cramer (making his Federation League debut), Cory Thomson and White forming the central trio. Somerton was up front.

All the subs — youth team players Jakeb Te Kani Brown, Xavier Priestley and Gavin Derr — got a run, while seven of the starting 11 (Lodewyk, Wirepa-Hei, Manderson, West-Hill, Cramer, Thomson and Somerton) are still in their teens.

Tam Cramer said the youngsters “all stood up”.

Thistle are seventh in the nine-team league, trailing Rangers by a point but with a game in hand.

“If [eighth-placed] Whanganui Athletic win their last two games, we need two points from our last three games to be sure of a place in the playoffs,” he said.

“If Whanganui were to lose next week, they couldn’t catch us.”

Thistle have 15 points and three games to play — away to last-placed Peringa United, of New Plymouth, and at home to fifth-placed Taradale and third-placed Havelock North Wanderers.

Whanganui have 10 points and two games to play — against second-placed Palmerston North United at home, and away to fourth-placed FC Western, of New Plymouth.

The top three teams in the Federation League automatically go into next year’s reintroduced Central League 2 competition, and those placed fourth to seventh go into one-game playoffs against Capital Premier or Capital 1 teams. The games are set to be played at Massey University, Palmerston North, on September 14.