JERSEY BULLS boss Elliot Powell labelled his side’s first-half performance “pathetic” after watching them fall to a 1-0 loss at Hastings United in the Isthmian League South East on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulls manager was also heavily critical of his own decisions after the match against the relegation battlers, as well as being apologetic to any travelling fans who had to witness a very underwhelming showing.
It was the Bulls first visit to one of the league’s most historic grounds, and the manner of the loss, which severely dents their hopes of making Step 4’s play-offs, was only matched by the conditions.
With the natural amphitheatre of The Pilot Field under thick grey cloud and chilly conditions with specks of rain amid 8°C for the 12:45pm start the home-side kicked off towards the clubhouse and Steve Smith Stand end of the ground.
Hastings United 1
Asike 17’
Jersey Bulls 0
HT: 1-0
Attendance: 552
Referee: Joel Lamping
JEP Players of the Match: Sam Pidgeon (HU) / Adam Trotter (JB)
A long ball forward in the opening seconds by the claret and blues put the home-side in front of Bulls goal, and the early play was all Hastings.
While Bulls had comfortably defeated the U’s 3-1 at Springfield Stadium in the FA Trophy first qualifying round – Bulls first ever game in the competition – back during early September, this was a very different Hastings outfit with a new coaching set-up and a completely different playing personnel bar three exceptions.
Both teams had changed from formations from previous weeks. Hastings played with a 4-2-3-1, with debutant Jack Saunders – who only signed for the club the night before – and captain Freddie Legg sitting deep in front of the back four.
Meanwhile Jersey Bulls moved away from their usually staggered 4-3-3 to a flat 4-4-2 and it meant the islanders were overpowered in the middle of the park and forced deep by U’s high press.
Hastings’ dominance saw Euan van der Vliet forced to save well from attacking midfielder Jordan Mase’s 13th minute lob.
The U’s had several early corners and at the third time of asking, the whipped-in ball from the far side saw Bulls goalkeeper flap with it rebounding off the crossbar to centre-half Eugene Asike, the No.5 blasted it over the while line from close range to put the home-side 1-0 up.
Hastings had a couple of half-chances for a second-goal, and with the partisan crowd shouting their delight, things got worse for Bulls as centre-half Luke Campbell limped off injured five minutes before half-time after trying to stop a James Stone attempt.
The islanders struggled to deal with another Hastings corner and Joe Kilshaw saw yellow for a hard tackle on Freddie Legg as Bulls continued to chase.
Powell made three changes at half-time and completely changed formation to a 4-1-4-1.
That appeared to lift the white and pink clad Bulls with one of the subs – James Sunley – having their first serious effort as his shot was cleared off the line 12 minutes after the restart.
Miguel Carvalho curled an effort over the home bar with 15 minutes left while James Carr forced a good save soon after, but the island side could not find a breakthrough and the game became very stop-start in the final minutes.
The defeat keeps the islanders in mid-table and continues question marks over their away-form, while Hastings move away from the relegation places.
The lads’ attitude “wasn’t good enough”
A clearly angry Elliot Powell told the JEP: “We didn’t do enough in that first half.
“Our physicality was nowhere near where it needed to be and we got ran over the top of. We got bullied and that’s the result.
“I think to start with we’ve probably got the wrong shape, so as a management team we apologise to the players on that front and apologise to the fans on it. They spend good money to come and support us and deserve to see a better account of ourselves.
“But after the changes there was still plenty of opportunities for the lads to have dug themselves out of the hole. We had chances, we didn’t defend well enough at times either and the attitude from our lads at times wasn’t good enough.
“If Campbell hadn’t got injured it would have been a quadruple substitution at half-time. We wanted to leave one back in case there was an injury but it was a pathetic performance in that first half.”
Attacking midfielder Adam Trotter was one of Bulls better performers, but equally labelled it “a disappointing day”.
He said: “We didn’t deserve anything out of the game. It was always going to be difficult to play in, the pitch is tough going, Hastings are fighting near the bottom of the table and trying to get every point they can get.
“Going one-nil down meant it was always going to be difficult. The second-half we made lots of changes and dominated territory but we didn’t create too much and we certainly didn’t work well enough off the second ball so it didn’t feel like we were going to score at any point to be honest.
“Hastings battled us hard; they pushed us around in the middle and weren’t scared to try and play. If felt like we pinched it to have a couple of efforts, and if we got a goal in the game then that does change things as come the second-half they were happy to sit back and let us do the running, which was difficult on a heavy pitch.”
Looking at the defeat in context, the 29-year-old added: “Our form is not too bad, we want to be as consistent as possible. When we play some of the better teams in the league we cede possession to them and play on the counter-attack, which does suit our personnel.
“But you’re not going to play those games every week, so it’s about finding a way to beat teams like Hastings that play in a low block and utilise balls in behind or second-balls and have a different style of play at times.
“Ultimately any of us could have been pulled off at half-time, and deserved to, so we’ve got a lot to think about before the Margate game.”
Hastings United: Harry Howes, Alfie Hilden, Sonny Causton, Jack Saunders, Eugene Asike, Sam Pidgeon, Freddie Legg (c), Jordan Mase, James Stone, George Taggart, Finley Chapman Substitutes – Jamal Lubanga (for Chapman 90+5), Walter Figueira (for Stone 74), Noah, Agbinone, Joe Clifford (for Hilden 74), Hayden Skerry (for Taggart 80)
Jersey Bulls: Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, Jay Giles (wore 14), James Queree (c), Luke Campbell, Adam Trotter (wore 12), Francis Lekimamati (wore 21), Joe Kilshaw, Lorne Bickley (wore 19), Rai Dos Santos, Miguel Carvalho
Substitutes – James Carr (for Lekimamati 46), Toby Ritzema (for Campbell 43 inj), Luke Watson (for Kilshaw 46), James Sunley (for Dos Santos 46), Harry Mackenzie (for Carvalho 75)
