Tough lessons for young players in 10-goal beating

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

Call them the Cramer Kids, if you like. It doesn’t have the ring of, say, the Busby Babes, but it gives you an idea of the nature of the team.

They’re young, inexperienced and the best rebuild option available to Electrinet Gisborne Thistle coach Tam Cramer at the moment.

Thistle lost 10-0 to defending champions Palmerston North Marist in a Central Federation League football game on the artificial surface of the Arena Turf in Palmerston North on Saturday.

Numbers were not a problem this time. Thistle had 16 travelling players, but a lot of them are still green at this level and they are thought to be the youngest first-team squad Thistle have assembled.

“We had three 15-year-olds on the bench and one 15-year-old in the starting line-up,” Cramer said.

“We’re still missing a couple of pieces of the jigsaw.”

Experienced campaigners David Salmon and goalkeeper Mitchell Stewart-Hill, and new recruit Isaac Bush have yet to join the playing group. Stewart-Hill is nursing a knee injury and the other two are expected to become available soon.

“The first half on Saturday was a horror show,” Cramer said.

“We made a lot of basic errors, coughed up possession, didn’t track runners and were a bit disorganised.

“We were three down after 15 minutes and it was 6-0 at halftime. Nicky Land hurt himself in a tackle that led to a penalty and the third goal. He had to come off with a knee injury and is probably out for this weekend’s game.”

Daniel Venema came on for Land in the heart of the defence and put in a solid performance, Cramer said.

“The second half was better. We didn’t concede for about 20 minutes.”

When the seventh goal went in, Cramer decided to give his young subs a taste of football at this level. After those substitutions, centreback Jirah Wanoa found he was barely able to walk due to a hamstring tweak.

“We conceded three goals in the last 12 or 13 minutes,” Cramer said.

“No one played really badly. We made mistakes all over the park and got punished.”

The artificial surface was also a factor.

“We overhit a lot of passes and the boys took a long time to get used to the surface,” Cramer said.

“No one threw in the towel . . . Matt McVey worked hard in midfield, Ziggy West-Hill had another good game at the back, Aiden Armstrong played well in goal and pulled off some great saves, and Matt Hills had his debut at this level, playing wide on the right, and did a good job.

“We have injuries galore. Eleven of the boys were limping after the game.

“But the guys are positive. They know it’s a big-picture situation.

“They have a ton of improvement in them, but it’s not going to be a quick fix. Every game is a learning experience.”

Scorers for Palmerston North Marist were Luke Minshull (3), Adam Cowan (3), Paul Awa (2), Mason Charlton and Cam Wallace.

Thistle’s next game is against Palmerston North United at Childers Road Reserve on Saturday.

Other Central Federation League results (home team first): Palmerston North United 1 Havelock North Wanderers 1, Whanganui Athletic 1 Taradale 3, Western 2 Peringa United 0. New Plymouth Rangers had the bye.