PAUL Renton had “no complaints about the boys application,” after his Jersey Bulls U18s exited the FA Youth Cup, falling 6-1 away from home at the hands of Rising Ballers Kensington U18s.
Played at Church Road, the home of Jersey Bulls’ first team rivals AFC Whyteleafe, Renton and his charges travelled to the mainland hoping to continue their love affair with the famed competition.
In an already difficult fixture, the Islanders suffered a major set back early, and faced a giant mountain to climb when they were reduced to ten men after just 18 minutes.
A calm through ball from the Kensington back line cut the Bulls defence open and Kyle Wilson, tracking back, attempted the last-ditch sliding tackle, but caught his man and was deemed to have stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity as last man and received a straight red card.
Renton, commented: “I didn’t think there was any malice in the challenge.
“It was a genuine attempt to play the ball and he [the opposing player] maybe just nicked the ball first.
“But I do think it was the correct decision from the referee.
“It was just unfortunate for us. Certain moments can decide games and that one made it incredibly difficult for us.”
RB Kensington made the advantage count immediately, as the resulting free-kick was unceremoniously thumped into the top corner of Tiago Duarte’s goal – a strike truly of the highest quality from the Rising Ballers.
The young Bulls pushed admirably, sharing exchanges despite the numerical disadvantage, however the Ballers’ lead was doubled after 34 minutes following a deflected shot, which left Duarte stranded.
After some excellent footwork from the Ballers frontman, Duarte was once again in the way, but his parried save was smashed home to make it 3-0 after just 38 minutes.
Credit to the Bulls, who continued to show magnificent fight despite the odds, fully deserved their goal when it came courtesy of the superb Fergus Boyle.
A free-kick wide on the edge of the box was poorly managed by the Kensington defence and, as the ball pin-balled around in the box, Boyle latched onto it and fired it in to give his side a glimmer of hope.
The fight continued until the 80th minute, when the UK side finally sealed the win with their fourth. A fifth and sixth quickly followed in the final ten minutes including a hat-trick for star striker, Chester Isaacs.
Renton concluded: “Despite the early sending off, I thought we played brilliantly to stay competitive.
“I don’t think the boys deserved the final scoreline, the game was closer than that reads.
“In the second half, I thought we had a really strong 15-20 minute period where we earned our goal back, you could feel that made them a bit nervous.
“We grew in confidence from that and continued to attack, but they opened us up in the final ten minutes to finish with that scoreline.
“It wasn’t to be, but I have no complaints at all about the boys application, they showed outstanding character.
“The teams we faced in this season’s competition were way stronger than last season and we performed really well in each game. I’m incredibly proud of the group for their efforts.”
Jersey Bulls U18 squad: Tiago Duarte, Ewan Brodie, Sonny Cassidy, Fergus Boyle, Tomas Goncalves, Kyle Wilson, Will Yates, Stanley Dunne, Callum Gilroy, Joey O’Toole, Conor O’Keeffe. Substitutes: Evan Lees, Maksymilian Stefanski, Paul McCafferty
