In a clash between two of the top three Premiership sides from last season, Wanderers made better use of their pre-season preparation at Les Quennevais, scoring twice in three first-half minutes through Ruben Pestana and Chris Andrews before Calvin Weir responded after the break. Jamie Savory was sent off following his second bookable offence, but his colleagues withstood late pressure to secure safe passage.
| Scottish | Wanderers | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Shots | 7 |
| 5 | On target | 5 |
| 6 | Corners | 4 |
| 8 | Fouls | 13 |
| 5 | Yellow | 1 |
| 0 | Red | 1 |
The game got it’s first goal in the 21st minute through Pestana when he robbed opposing fullback James Scott of possession, cut inside and finished via a deflection and the far post. And one became two just 90 seconds later, with Andrews pouncing on a poor clearance from defender Luke Campbell to fire past ‘keeper Craig Fletcher.
Nothing less than Wanderers deserved, that’s for sure, but their night was far from over as the Scots sparked into life following the introduction of former professional Jack Boyle.
The half-time substitute, who has been struggling with injury, had work to do when manager Pat Brennan gave him the nod, and it didn’t take him long to influence the game.
As the contest heated up Wanderers were pushed onto the back foot, and Weir halved the deficit on 48 minutes with a scrambled effort following Boyle’s left-wing cross.
Chances came thick and fast for the Scots in the minutes that followed but none provided reward, and even with a one man advantage late on they were unable to undo the damage suffered in the opening stages.
‘We were confident we could get it back, but fair play to Wanderers, they defended really well,’ said Brennan. ‘Sometimes when you’re running out of time you start panicking and we didn’t use the last ten to 15 minutes as well as we should have.’
Wanderers manager, Andrew Johnstone, said: ‘The boys have all worked hard in pre-season and this shows the rewards you can get from that.
‘We’ve had a ‘fortunate’ draw with Scottish in the first round, St Paul’s in the second and then St Paul’s again in our first league game, but it gives us an opportunity to see where we are early on.’
St Paul’s progressed to Thursday’s last-eight showdown (Springfield, 8 pm) thanks to a 4-2 home victory against St Lawrence, with Kieran Lester and Zeljko Martinovic both bagging a brace (Michael Donoghue and Michael Ruane replied for St Lawrence), and eight other clubs will hope to join them tonight when they start their 2015/16 campaigns. U21 Muratti cap Charlie Petulla will be looking to make a mark on his St Peter debut against his old club, First Tower, while Beeches meet Grouville, Sporting Academics face Grouville and St Clement host St Ouen.
Jersey Scottish: Craig Fletcher, James Scott, Calvin Weir, Max Thompson (Y), Luke Campbell (Y), Jordan Rea (Y), Kyle Rea (Y), Rob McBey, Darryl Wilson, Elliot Poole (Y), Ian Doyle (Jack Boyle, 45).
Jersey Wanderers: Jamie Brewster, Kamen Nafkha, Tommy Buchanon (Evan Nobes, 68), Fraser Barlow, Jamie Mourant, Ruben Pestana, Chris Andrews, Paul McLoughlin (Lorne Bickley, 73), Ollie Thompson, Bradley Stratford, Jamie Savory (YYR).
