Northerners FC stopper Tom Newbold, a replacement in his team’s 9-0 Upton hammering by St Paul’s at Springfield just week earlier, pulled off some fine saves to prevent St Peter drawing level after the Jersey side had fallen two goals in arrears.
One stop from Neal Crowell’s goal-bound effort was particularly impressive while Newbold later superbly denied Scott Welsh and Dave Cox.
North therefore bounced back from their Upton woes to book a date with Combination Premiership runners-up Jersey Scottish in three weeks’ time following goals by Scott Bougourd, Kyle Smith and substitute Brandon Harrison.
Bougourd hit the target in the second minute when Bougourd steered home from close range.
North had much of the early play, but St Peter gradually grew into the contest and were they were unlucky not to get a goal back when Cox’s header was kept out by Newbold.
And at the other end, Newbold’s efforts were matched in some style by his young strike colleague Kyle Smith, who doubled the lead spectacularly in the 16th minute when his curling effort gave St Peter junior goalkeeper Ciaran Pack no chance as the ball flew into the goal off the underside of the crossbar.
Soon after Newbold made a fine stop to deny Josh Franco and after half time Newbold was was in the thick of the action again to produce a brilliant stretching fingertip save to keep out Crowell.
Newbold was finally beaten 13 minutes from the end when Welsh turned in a low cross and Welsh was then denied by Newbold who saved in a one-on-one situation.
Young substitute Harrison made the game safe for North with a tidy low finish to complete the scoring.
ST OUEN and St Peter will play-off for the Jersey Football Combination’s Division III title (for C teams), after finishing their league programmes on Saturday level on 30 points from their twelve games.
St Ouen won 3-2 at Le Boulivot against Grouville while St Peter trounced St John 17-1 at St Peter.
Jason Byrne and Scott Kelly netted for Grouville and Pedro De Abreu and Danny Craven for St Ouen whose other goal was an own goal.
Harry Edge bagged St John’s consolation while St Peter registered through Barry Hardisty (six), Mark Stewart (three), Joe Davies (two), Jamie Drummond, Ed Mehigan, Steve Murray, Mark Oliver and Lee Turner, together with an own goal.
The play-off is a 4.30 pm start at Springfield on Saturday 23 May.
Relegated Rozel Rovers Reserves earned a draw against champions St Paul’s in their final Division I fixture at St Saviour on Saturday afternoon.
At St Saviour, it was doubles all round as Glen Durrans and Paul McGinness both scored twice for the Saints and Tom McAllister and junior Ben Timms likewise for the Rovers.
A hat-trick by David Streets ensured St Brelade a third place finish in Division II after the Westerners won 4-2 against the home team at Trinity.
Championship parade
JERSEYMAN Brett Pitman and his AFC Bournemouth colleagues lifted the Championship title on Saturday after they won 3-0 away to Charlton Athletic, coupled with previous leaders Watford drawing at home against Sheffield Wednesday. Pitman, who was an unused substitute, celebrated with his team-mates and fans yesterday in his home town where around 50,000 people turned out to cheer on Bournemouth’s squad who have gained the club a place in the Premier League for the first time in their history.
Cup final date booked
EX-ISLAND junior footballer Jamie Burrows and his Rangers FC colleagues booked a Scottish Youth Cup final place for a second consecutive year at the weekend. The former St Paul’s FC forward played 78 minutes in Rangers’ 1-0 semi-final win against Ayr United and they now face Celtic or Hibernian in the final at Hampden Park on 21 May.
Martinovic brace
TWO goals from Zeljko Martinovic and one from Jake Baker helped Jersey defeat the Essex and Suffolk Border League 3-0 in a Muratti Vase final warm-up game at Springfield on Saturday afternoon. All three goals were well taken with Jersey having another game on Saturday against the RAF, starting at 3 pm.
Wembley missed
FORMER Jersey footballer Kurtis Guthrie and his Forest Green Rovers team-mates have missed out on a trip to Wembley Stadium after they were defeated in their Conference League play-off over two legs. Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Bristol Rovers resulted in a 3-0 aggregate score overall.
