JERSEY Bulls’ Under 18 Academy side emerged triumphant in a magnificent clash over Kinetic AFC Whyteleafe – equalling their previous best result in the FA Youth Cup.
Paul Renton, the Bulls’ U18 manager, was full of praise for his young charges, saying: “I’ve got to say, it really was a fantastic team performance from all 14 players who were involved.”
The “Young Bulls” replicated their senior counterparts’ success over the weekend as they also claimed a win in their Premier Division South league game against The Leafe’s first team.
Kinetic AFC Whyteleafe is a side comprised of talented students from the Kinetic Foundation charity’s flagship programme, Kinetic Academy.
The programme focuses on helping young people achieve their educational goals, while also pursuing their football dreams.
As a registered charity, Kinetic are limited in what competitions they can enter under their own name, so they form partnerships with football clubs, such as AFC Whyteleafe, so theirplayers are able to compete with the best.
The boys representing Whyteleafe flew out of the changing rooms, almost immediately putting one into the Young Bulls’ net.
Will Yates was needed to clear a shot off the line, as his ‘keeper Tiago Duarte was beaten off the first corner of the game.
After that, both teams traded solid attempts on goal until midway through the half when calamity struck for the Islanders.
Duarte miskicked a bobbling back-pass from Tomas Goncalves, which enabled opposing attacker Samuel Ayolie to pick up the ball on the left corner of Duarte’s box and strike one past Duarte with a thunderous finish at his near post.
Twenty minutes later, The Leafe controversially doubled their lead off the back of a corner which Duarte struggled to hold. The ill-fortuned attempted clearance found the head of captain Nadwane Harris, who did well to nod the ball on target from five yards out.
Sonny Cassidy appeared to save Duarte’s bacon, however, clearing the ball off the line, but the match officials did not come to the same conclusion and, much to the disbelief of the defenders, Jersey were left two goals down at the interval.
“They had some patterns of play that were causing us problems,” Renton continued, electing to switch from a 4-1-4-1 formation to a 4-4-2 for the second half.
“They were playing out a little bit too easily, so I wanted us to be more dynamic and to have more presence up the top of the pitch.”
Following the changes, the Caesareans managed to hold off the ever-present threat of Ayolie and, with 20 minutes left to play, Renton’s side had settled into their new shape.
Cassidy had the first breakthrough as he rampaged down the left, only to be thwarted by an excellent last-ditch tackle, after which there followed an amazing five minutes in which the match was completely turned around.
A quickly taken throw-in by Conor O’Keeffe let Fergus Boyle maze into the box, where the opposing captain left out a trailing leg to concede a penalty.
Joey O’Toole stepped up to take the penalty and, unfazed by the gamesmanship of the man in front of him, composed himself and sent the ‘keeper the wrong way.
Shortly afterwards, a long clearance from Goncalves down the right flank was flicked on inside by Callum Gilroy, where O’Keeffe read it much quicker than the defender and burst clear.
He duly advanced and astutely curled the ball into the net for a wonderful equaliser.
The golden spell was completed when Gilroy himself netted the winner in spectacular fashion.
What should have been a fairly innocuous clearance for the opposing keeper turned into a horror moment for the young gloveman.
Similar to Duarte’s misfortune earlier, the Leafe’s shot-stopper succeeded only in plonking the ball straight into the path of the pressing Gilroy who, unfazed by the lacklustre pitch conditions, sent the ball straight over the back-pedalling keeper’s head on the half-volley.
The wondergoal completed the Bulls’ 193-second trifecta and justifiably sent his teammates into delirium.
Quite understandably, the heads of the Whyteleafe contingent had dropped and the remaining minutes of the game saw no further changes to the scoreline.
Renton concluded: “If you think at half-time we were 2-0 down, we made three substitutions as well as three positional changes.
“It really was quite a lot for players to take in, and full credit to them all for taking the information on board and then going out to execute the plan.”
Rising Ballers Kensington now stand in the path of the Jersey U18 side’s record-equalling run.
“Teams have gotten tougher on each occasion,” said Renton and, on paper, the upcoming clash appears no different.
Kensington are another Kinetic Academy side. However, this time, instead of being first-year scholars like those representing AFC Whyteleafe, the upcoming challenge sees players a year senior.
Renton added: “We’ve done well this year. This type of competition is always a great opportunity in terms of learning, playing different players and different styles of football.
“Obviously it would be nice to go a step further than we did last year, but what we’ve done so far is something to be really proud of.”
Jersey Bulls U18 Academy – Tiago Duarte, Ewan Brodie, Sonny Cassidy, Fergus Boyle (c), Tomas Goncalves, Kyle Wilson (14. Eddie Rothwell 46’), Will Yates (15. Harry Davy 46’), Stanley Dunne (12. Evan Lees 46’), Callum Gilroy, Joey O’Toole, Conor O’Keeffe
Staff – Paul Renton (Manager), Mike Teruggi (Coach)
Scorers – Joey O’Toole (penalty) 74’, Conor O’Keeffe 75’, Callum Gilroy 77’
