Those instructions were to get the match won ‘early’ and although it took 20 minutes to pierce Alderney’s hard-working defence, Jersey were four goals to the good at the interval before adding another on the hour.
| Alderney | Jersey | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Shots | 17 |
| 2 | On target | 11 |
| 6 | Corners | 15 |
| 14 | Fouls | 7 |
| 2 | Yellows | 1 |
New cap Karl Hinds scored Jersey’s fourth and fifth goals after earlier scores by Craig Russell, Jack Boyle and Jack Cannon helped Jersey gain a place in the Muratti Vase final in Guernsey on Saturday 16 May.
Jersey manager Jimmy Reilly said: ‘I wanted to get the job done early and we did that well. I told the guys to go for it from the start and although it took a while to break through we scored some cracking goals and it was as good as over at half time.
‘Our attitude and approach was fantastic and although the second half was scrappy it was a good performance overall.
‘Alderney put up a good fight and they were much better than I’ve seen them before. They closed us down quickly and second half they were quite physical but we still managed to pass the ball around confidently in difficult conditions.’
Reilly dedicated the victory to the late Paul Docherty, a friend and ex-Muratti player who died last year and who was a scorer of four goals in a 10-0 victory against Alderney during his playing career.
1 Jamie Le Bland
2 Chris Chadney
3 Stevie Concanen (Y)
4 Ross Benfield (Y)
5 Simon Bendfield (Y; Michael Crowley, 71)
6 Jason Atkins
7 Jacob Olivier
8 Chris Johns (Andrew Adamson, 68)
9 Josh Concanen
10 Josh McCulloch
11 Jamie Blackham (Ciaran Stretton, 58)
1 Craig Fletcher
2 James Scott
3 Jack Cannon
4 Luke Campbell
5 Stuart André
6 Luke Watson
7 Jack Boyle
8 Cavaghn Miley (Y)
9 Craig Russell (Rupert Murray, 78)
10 Jake Baker (Chris Mourant, 73)
11 Karl Hinds (Daryl Wilson, 73)
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Two-goal marksman Karl Hinds said: It was good to score a couple of goals on my Muratti debut and I thought the team played well.
It was difficult conditions to play in because of the strong wind and the rain but we were able move the ball about well and as a result we scored some good goals.
Alderney boss Alan Adamson said: Our central defensive pairing were outstanding; especially in the second half when Jersey had the wind.
We conceded a couple of soft goals and that knocked the stuffing out of us but we recovered to defend well and we created some chances as well.
The boys are disappointed with the score but they should be proud because second half they were excellent and well look to build on that at training ahead of the Island Games in Jersey.
[figure caption=”Craig Russell rises above the Alderney defence at Mount Hale” title=”mura1_900″ align=”center” url=”/wpmvc/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/mura1_9001.jpg” id=”1222709″ size= “100”]
Jack Boyle was very lively early on while Hinds and fellow new cap Jake Baker linked well with a lot of one and two-touch football as Jersey looked to break through.
Boyle had a couple of early efforts blocked while home goalkeeper Jamie Le Bland reacted well to beat out Boyles low shot that was arrowing towards a bottom corner.
Alderney looked to close Jersey down quickly, and often in numbers, but they were undone by some tidy work on Jerseys right by Hinds whose pass back into a penalty area from a byline was met by Russell who drove the ball past the advancing Le Bland to put Jersey ahead.
Le Bland palmed away Bakers snap-shot from 20 yards before Boyle doubled Jerseys advantage following a powerful shot into a far top corner from a corner of a six-yard area.
Minutes later Ross Benfield, who was cautioned, conceded a free kick by holding Russell back and Cannon made it 3-0 from 25 yards with the ball bouncing in front of a diving Le Bland who could only help the ball into the goal.
[figure caption=”Jersey’s captain Luke Watson hurdles a challenge” title=”mura5_900″ align=”center” url=”/wpmvc/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/mura5_900.jpg” id=”1222727″ size= “100”]
Alderney had a good chance to pull a goal back but Josh Concanen and Josh McCulloch got in each others way and the opportunity was lost.
With half-time approaching a lovely cushioned pass by Luke Watson back to Hinds resulted in Hinds getting through Alderneys defence to score Jerseys fourth goal from twelve yards.
Jersey had played well against the wind but the expected bombardment of Alderneys goal with the wind in Jerseys favour did not materialise.
Alderney defended stubbornly as a unit and although they gave Jersey goalkeeper Craig Fletcher more to do than in the first half, Fletcher was not troubled.
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Baker was denied but Le Blands strong left hand diving at full stretch to his left while Russell nodded the ball narrowly over Alderneys crossbar following a corner.
Goal number five came in the 59th minute when Hinds, who had exchanged passes with Baker, tried his luck from a corner of a penalty area and with Le Bland diving over the the ball it resulted in Hinds second goal.
McCulloch had a goal-bound effort blocked by Jerseys defence and after Chris Mourant came on for his Muratti debut, the visitors kept possession well to see out the remaining time without any mishaps.
[breakout title= “GALLERY: Jersey beat Alderney to reach Muratti final”]
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