Some woeful defending meant Dave Matthews’ team left Lancing with their tails between their legs after going down 5-0 to Sussex.
Said a bitterly disappointed Matthews: ‘It was a cruel lesson.
At this level you can’t afford to make mistakes at the back and we defended poorly for the whole game.’ Despite the scoreline it was never a thumping.
Each Sussex goal was a result of Jersey errors.
But for those errors at the back – and a couple up front – the story could have been so different.
And each Sussex goal seemed to arrive at a critical time for the visitors.
The Jersey defence was caught cold after just three minutes when, from a throw-in on the left, the ball reached an unmarked Matt Duffield, who buried the ball beyond goalkeeper James Styles from nine yards.
But the Island side seemed to recover from this setback as they settled, had more possession and might easily have scored twice as Jed McConnell and Ross Crick missed good chances.
Then, on the stroke of half time, Sussex grabbed their second after a mix-up between ‘keeper Styles and Craig Ferey allowed Gavin Jones to nip in and score.
After the break Jersey again seemed to have recovered their composure and put Sussex under real pressure.
But in the 65th minute Sussex broke on the right and the cross eluded three defenders to reach Duffield at the back post.
That heralded a change in tactics from Matthews as he brought on striker Jimmy Reilly for Chris McNab and changed his formation from a five to a four-man midfield with two men up front.
It almost paid instant dividends as Jersey again came close to pulling a goal back when Crick raced through past the goalkeeper but didn’t get enough on his shot and a defender cleared off the line.
James Hayward was forced to come off with a knee injury to be replaced by Alan Brown and soon afterwards Jersey were 4-0 down when Alastair Russell gave Styles no chance after the visitors had again failed to clear their lines.
Almost on time came another goal as Leon Legge took advantage of yet more sloppy defending.
Then, almost as the final whistle sounded, there was more bad news for Jersey as Craig Ferey suffered an injury to his ankle ligaments.
Matthews was honest in his assessment.
‘They caught us cold and then got another on half time – that really was a killer.
We kept on coming back at them but then we kept giving goals away – we defended badly through the whole game.
Every chance they got they took and every chance we had we missed – and all their goals came at crucial times.
‘After the game I had a real go at them – it’s the first time I’ve done that as Island manager – and they accepted it.
‘We’re playing at a higher level than they’re used to.
But they can do it, we are capable of it – we did it against Devon.
‘All the lads have got to go away and look at their individual performances.
As a team they didn’t play well, and not just in defence.
The work rate wasn’t there right through the side.
‘The problem is that they just don’t get enough competitive football over here so they’ve got to work all the harder to keep up their individual standards.
There’s only them who can do it and I think they will.
‘We’ve now got three points from three games and if we had to have a bad game then this is the best time for it.
I wouldn’t have wanted it just before the Muratti.’ Jersey: James Styles, James Hayward, Craig Ferey, Stuart André, Jon Fitzmaurice, Dave Le Roux, Chris Andrews, Ged McConnell, Lee Harvey, Chris McNab, Ross Crick.
Subs: Craig Leitch (for Crick), Jimmy Reilly (for McNab), Alan Brown (for Hayward), Casey Hickling.
