Jersey Portuguese 2
Davide 53, Silva 74
St John 1
Grills 68
It was a win Portuguese deserved; they were more comfortable in possession on the 3G surface and central defenders Jorge Marques and Ricardo Davide restricted the Saints to just one effort on target throughout and that was Dan Grills’ headed effort to make it 1-1.
Grills found rare space in the heart of Portuguese’s defence and goalkeeper Marcio Caldeira may well have prevented the goal but the ball went under his right hand as he dived to his right.
Minutes after Grills was unable to get a touch to a fine ball across the face of a penalty area following a tidy run and ball in by Marco De Ascençao.
| Jsy Portuguese | St John | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Shots | 4 |
| 7 | On target | 2 |
| 8 | Corners | 5 |
| 15 | Fouls | 7 |
| 0 | Yellows | 1 |
Portuguese punished St John almost immediately as Clife Silva, the Championship’s leading marksman, scored what turned out to be the match-winning goal.
Silva’s fine first touch, from Fabio Pestana’s curling free kick, took him away from his marker before he stroked the ball past advancing goalkeeper Bradley Rolland and into the bottom left-hand corner.
Pestana’s delivery into St John’s area caused the Saints problems throughout and Silva was busy too, forcing Rolland into a parried save early on while Silva raced clear only for Luke Bichard to slide in and clear the danger.
Rolland made an excellent block to deny Reuben Legg and from the rebound Silva crashed the ball against the crossbar.
It was certainly not one-way traffic as St John won several corner kicks but they failed to attack the ball in the penalty area. They also had two shots blocked while Steven Phelan’s goal-bound nodded effort hit a colleague.
Portuguese went ahead after the resumption with a powerful acute angle shot from Davide after he controlled the ball well before firing home into the top left-hand corner from twelve yards.
St John increased their pace late on and a precision pass by Callum Tingley put substitute Jack Marques clear but, as he went to round Caldeira, the goalkeeper took the ball away from the junior player’s feet.
Tingley and Charlie Payn worked tirelessly in midfield while Marcio Rodrigues and Victor Cardoso provided good protection in front of the Portuguese defence.
Portuguese manager José-Manuel Vieira said: ‘Our attitude was excellent; we were compact and strong as a unit and we deserved a couple more goals. I’m happy, it’s been a good season winning a cup and gaining promotion.’
Portuguese: Marcio Caldeira; Carlos Silva, Ricardo Davide, Jorge Marques, Ricardo Perreira; Marcia Rodrigues, Victor Cardoso; Ricky Figueira (Diogo Abelha, 90), Reuben Legg (Nelson Castro 77), Fabio Pestana; Clife Silva (Y, Elson Delgado 90).
St John: Bradley Rolland; Jonathon Schilliday (Jack Marques, 46), Jon-Joe Hill, Luke Bichard (AJ Taylor, 87), Carl Duncan; Dan Grills, Stephen Phelan, Callum Tingley, Charlie Payn, Marco De Ascençao; Arthur Illingworth (Y).
Referee: Steve Kermin.
