Team patterns, set-piece organisation and familiarity with the play of teammates are all enhanced by regular training together and the camaraderie of the changing room.
And fringe players might resent having to give up a hard-won place to someone who has been absent from or only occasionally present for training sessions.
But it’s also tough on the player whose job demands attendance at courses or whose hours can stretch at a moment’s notice.
Police work immediately comes to mind.
Thistle first-team squad members David Salmon and Matt McVey are policemen. Salmon is a detective in Gisborne and McVey is stationed in Ruatoria.
McVey has been recovering from injury for much of this year but Salmon has put in a string of polished performances in midfield. He came off the bench in the second half of last weekend’s game against Taradale because he had not been able to train for the past two weeks, and he will probably be missing from this week’s team. (Cullen Spawforth also started from the bench because he had not been able to train.)
Thistle coach Garrett Blair says the police have been supportive of the players’ sporting endeavours.
“Matt’s boss lets him off an hour early so he can get to training in town twice a week,” Blair said.
Last year another policeman, Jarom Brouwer, also ran into the work-versus-sport dilemma. This year he is playing Eastern League football.
No easy answers spring to mind. Thistle management have made a call in the interests of the team, but it’s tough on those affected by the reasonable demands of their work.
Let’s hope the course work dries up and crime takes a holiday . . . at least until October.
Tomorrow, Thistle take on Napier City Rovers Reserves in a Central Federation League game at Childers Road Reserve at 2.30pm.
“They’re a ball-playing team who like to shift the ball quickly and pop in and out of holes to stretch teams,” Blair said. “We have to try not to give the ball away because they will punish us if we do.”
The likely make-up of the team, subject to training mishaps, is Mitchell Stewart-Hill in goal, Ryan Noon and Finn McAuley in the middle of the defence, Nick Land at leftback and either Andre Baple or Daniel Venema at rightback. Hugo Elwood has Covid-19 so will not be playing. That will leave Cory Thomson, Cullen Spawforth and possibly Davie Ure in the midfield. The likely front three are Sam Royston on the right, Campbell Hall down the middle and Jimmy Somerton on the left.
“Campbell and Jimmy are forming a good partnership,” Blair said.
“Campbell has good vision on the football field, and has relished the shift from the flanks to the middle of the forward line.”
Oh, and a few words about that disallowed goal last week. If you look at the Rangai coverage, don’t focus on Jimmy Somerton, whose header was exemplary. Look at the Thistle players nearby. One shunted a player sideways as the ball came in, and the other just about got a piggy back on a defender. Somerton might still have scored had the defenders not been impeded, but they were, and the referee got it right.
ends
