Scored . . . and sent off

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A goalscorer’s celebration was judged to have gone too far and caused the player to be sent off in Eastern League first division football last Saturday.

Xavier Priestley, a central midfielder with Gisborne Thistle Youth A, scored five minutes before halftime to give his side a 1-0 lead in the match against Shockers Gold at Childers Road Reserve.

As he celebrated the goal — a

well-struck shot from just inside the penalty area — he pushed an opponent in the chest. Referee Chris Niven showed him a red card for striking a player.

Thistle Youth coach Matt Harvey said the contact was not malicious and part of an over-enthusiastic celebration.

“He knew the other kid and shoved him in the chest as he passed.”

The rest of the team dug in and scored a second goal through striker James Talbot 10 minutes from the end for a 2-0 win. Talbot’s first-time strike from 20 metres took a deflection that wrongfooted the goalkeeper.

Shockers were the competition’s early leaders but now lie fourth, on the same number of points as third-placed Thistle Youth but with a worse goal difference and having played one game more.

Neighborhood Pizzeria Wainui Sandbar top the table with seven points from three games, while Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United are second, with six points from two games.

Thistle Youth coach Harvey said he was pleased that his side did not go into their shell after going a man down, but kept playing constructively.

Talbot worked hard throughout and was Thistle’s player of the day. Goalkeeper Mark Baple kept out Shockers when they had good chances to score, while utility player Brad Hill and holding midfielder Euan Cramer also put in good shifts.

Shockers player-coach Cullen Spawforth said skipper Fletcher Honey was outstanding at centreback for his side, while others to shine were leftback Luke Low, midfielders Ash McMillan and Bradley Clark, and deep-lying striker Jackson Donovan.

Spawforth watched the action from the sideline and does not expect an early return to playing. He suffered a knee injury in his first game back from a three-match suspension after he was sent off in the 90th minute of what turned out to be Thistle’s last Federation League game of 2023.

Jags coach Garrett Blair described it at the time as an attempt by Spawforth to free himself from an opponent who was holding his legs as he tried to get up from a tangle in the penalty area, and said all the referee saw was the latter part of the exchange.

Thistle beat Palmerston North United 4-2 in that match, costing their opponents a chance of winning the title.

Spawforth said he moved to Shockers this year to try to look after himself a bit more.

“I had moved back to Gisborne to recover from a series of head injuries, and playing for Thistle was just prolonging it,” he said.

“I was hoping to have a bit more of a step down in football and travelling.”

He found three years of first-team football at Thistle was not helping his long-term recovery.

“This is the best I have felt . . . this is probably the year I should try to look after myself a bit more.”

The head injury that brought on his trouble was from an assault in 2020.

He had come back to Gisborne from Auckland for a mate’s 21st. He and friends were walking home after the party when they met four youths he said were looking for a fight. Spawforth took a severe beating to the head.

“It cost me my job in Auckland.

“I thought it was a good time to come back and live in Gisborne.”

He had to put an apprenticeship as a light automotive motor mechanic on hold for two years because of his head injury, but over the past 18 months he has picked it up again with Gisborne Honda and says life has improved for him in that time.

In Auckland he had played for North Shore United in the Northern Federation League Division One (a level below the premiership) and then Fencibles in the same division.

Shockers are the first men’s team he has coached, although he has coached junior players as he has come through the grades. With his 26th birthday coming up in June, he hopes for plenty of football in the years ahead. But with his knee injury keeping him off the pitch for a while, he is enjoying influencing the game from the sideline.

Shockers midfielder McMillan was one of Spawforth’s teammates at Thistle last year. Ongoing back issues influenced McMillan’s decision to step back into local club football.

“That’s why I played only half the season last year,” he said.

“The Shockers guys are all mates from a long time ago . . . it’s just a difference in culture, a bit more social.

“I didn’t mind the travel with Thistle when we were flying (to away games), but it’s a lot harder when you’re missing a bit of work and getting home early on a Sunday morning.”

At 26, he is not ruling out a return to outside competition, but he has been impressed with the way his Shockers Gold teammates have handled the step up from Eastern League second division to first division football this year.

“Last year the Shockers had one team with a lot of players but not quite enough for two,” he said.

“This year we’ve got two men’s teams and a women’s team. It’s testament to how they deal with things and not take stuff so seriously.”

Gisborne Thistle’s Central Federation League side have no game this weekend, as several of the teams in the league are playing Chatham Cup preliminary-round matches.

Local club football will be Bailey Cup and Chris Moore Cup games for the men today, and Eastern League games for the women tomorrow.

Best matches of the weekend should be United versus Thistle Youth A in the Bailey Cup at Harry Barker Reserve at 2.30pm today, and Wainui Riverina versus Thistle in Eastern League women’s competition at Wainui at 10.30am tomorrow.

Eastern  League  RESULTS

Division 1: Coates Associates Wainui Demons 0 Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United 3, Sunshine Brewing Wainui Sharks 0 Neighbourhood Pizzeria Wainui Sandbar 3, Gisborne Thistle Youth A 2 Smash Palace Shockers Gold 0.

C & G Plumbing High School Old Boys had the bye.

Division 2: 1st Class Decorators Wainui Salty Dogs 0 Versatile Thistle 1, HSOB Sports Club 1 HES United Seconds 4, C & G Plumbing HSOB Eels 2 Tatapouri Bohemians 2, Thistle Vintage Masters 1 Gizzy Bobcat Services Thistle 3, SP Shockers Green 1 QRS Wairoa Athletic 1.

Women’s Eastern League: YMCA Thistle 2 Smash Palace Shockers 1, Bohemians 5 HES United 0, Tatapouri Marist Thistle 0 Gisborne Laundry Services Wainui Riverina 6.

Bailey Cup draw

TODAY — 12.30pm: Wainui, Wainui Sharks v HSOB.

2.30pm: Harry Barker Reserve 1, Gisborne United v Gisborne Thistle Youth A; Wainui, Wainui Demons v Wainui Sandbar.

Shockers Gold have the bye.

Chris Moore Cup — 12.30pm: Childers Road Reserve 1, Versatile Thistle v Bohemians; HBR 1, United Seconds v HSOB Sports Club.

2.30pm: CRR 1, Thistle Vintage Masters v HSOB Eels.

GBS Thistle, Wairoa Athletic, Thistle Youth B, Shockers Green, Wainui Salty Dogs and Ngatapa have byes.

Women’s Eastern League, TOMORROW — 10.30am: Wainui, Wainui Riverina v Thistle; HBR 1, United v Shockers; Nelson Park 1, Bohemians v Marist Thistle.