‘COMETH the hour, cometh the man’ is a famous English proverb, but for Jersey Bulls is should be changed to ‘cometh the hour, cometh Fraser Barlow’, as the club legend saved the day once more for the team in red.
Eastbourne Town 0
Jersey Bulls 1
Barlow 76’
HT Score: 0-0
Attendance: 216
JEP Player of the Match: Jamie Watling
He scored Bulls first-ever competitive goal, he got the St. Helier side over the line to ensure promotion last season, and when Elliot Powell’s side were desperate to break the deadlock at Eastbourne Town on Saturday, the number seven came on in the second half to score the winner.
Barlow’s impact at The Saffrons, the Sussex team’s traditional ground on the south coast, was almost immediate, as the returning centre-forward added some much-needed drive to an attack bogged down in difficult conditions before finding the net on the 76th minute.
While Bulls win felt worthy and assured by full-time, whether the Isthmian League South East division game would go ahead was anything but, as south-east England endured a gruelling weather mix of heavy winds, torrential rainfall, flooding, rising water levels and damage due to falling trees and other knock-on effects.
After two pitch inspections, the game was cleared to go ahead at 8:30am on Saturday morning, but some were wondering if that should have been the case as Town striker Ollie Davies kicked-off by laying the ball back for goalkeeper Chris Winterton to send the ball deep into Jersey’s half.
That kick led to the ball becoming a victim of the swirling wind overhead, leading to a throw-in at the sloped southern end of the ground, in front of the small Roger Addams stand, and that set the tone for what became a very attritional and tricky game of football.
With Bulls missing several key figures due to either suspensions or injuries, there was three changes to the side that earned a 2-2 draw with Margate – and were unlucky to not get a winner – at Springfield the previous week.
With defensive midfielder Luke Watson and attacking midfielder Adam Trotter suspended, and Lorne Bickley rested after picking up a knock; Luke Campbell, Joe Kilshaw and Rai Dos Santos came into a heavily rejigged XI that resembled a 4-3-3, but became a 4-5-1 when Eastbourne were attacking.
It took Bulls a while to adjust to the changes and settle down, with the bright-yellow-shirted home side dominating the ball early on.
After a number of sub-standard plays with the ball bobbling aimlessly around amid the whistling wind and the bumpy natural grass surface, the number of throw-ins was tallying up at an impressive rate while it took until the 15th minute before there was a clear goal-bound chance.
That came the way of the youthful ‘Townies’, as a free-kick by Harvey Greig led to right-winger Jaydon Fuller cutting inside and running past several red shirts into Bulls box, laying it off to left-back Jack Murphy, whose chip led to Fuller shooting at Evan Van Der Vliet. After the keeper parried the shot, another one came from Davies that went across the face of the goal and wide.
Bulls then got down the other end, and after captain James Queree pressed up from right-back, he set-up Rai Dos Santos for the centre-forward’s first shot in the box on the 17th minute, but it lacked any pace or power and was dealt with easily by Town’s captain, Winterton.
Bulls got another chance a few minutes later, after a pause in play when winger Miguel Carvalho was checked over.
A long free-kick by Jay Giles from near the halfway line found Luke Campbell’s silver-glinted head on the right, and the veteran laid the ball on for James Sunley, but the midfielder’s shot from the edge of the box was easily dealt with by the home side.
Left-winger Marcin Ruda had a shot blocked by Queree in the 23rd minute, with the skipper needing a breather but still being able to head away the following first corner of the whole game two minutes later after centre-half Jamie Watling dealt with the initial ball in the box.
While several of the advertising hoardings around the ground – which is squeezed into a complex with a cricket green on one side, and bowls lawns on the other – promote a business as “deliciously gorgeous”, the same couldn’t be said for the match which continued in a stop-start fashion with few standout features until half-time.
Just before the break, as the rain begun to lash down once more, Bulls returnee Luke Campbell was yellow-carded for bringing Alfie Rogers to the floor as he dispossessed the forward near the far corner.
The rain relented at the start of the second half, and with Bulls playing down the slope towards the Meads Road end, Powell’s men seemed rejuvenated and begun to dominate possession and territory.
While there was little to be excited about, Kilshaw was now looking assured in Watson’s usual deep-lying role, setting the tempo while the Bulls back line appeared impregnable, with returnee Campbell highlighting what they missed in the second-half at Hastings and last week against Margate, while also offering an aerial threat at set pieces.
Jonny Le Quesne hit the post with a long-range shot on the 55th minute, and Town’s Leon Greig had a half-chance covered by the quick back-tracking of Queree and Watling straight after before Powell rolled the dice and wrung a few changes.
It was well timed, as the pitch looked ever-boggier, and Barlow replacing Carvalho just before Bulls first corner of the game, which seemed to freshen things up.
Bulls continued to press high, and it pad off in the 76th minute when the hosts failed to get the ball out of their box, Dos Santos stole it in a messy – but necessary – challenge to lay it off for Barlow, and the substitute struck it to Winterton’s bottom right to break the deadlock.
Bulls looked comfortable at 1-0 up and tried to shut out the game, with several players being cautioned while Eastbourne tried desperately to find a goal.
Several corners, a shanking wide by Murphy, and a long shot from sub Anesu Sisimayi to Van Der Vliet’s hands in the last minute of normal time was the best Town could do as Bulls sealed their first win for three weeks.
FRASER Barlow exclaimed that Bulls hopes of pushing for the play-offs were back on the table after scoring the winner in a 1-0 tough affair at Eastbourne on Saturday.
The popular figure came off the bench to score the winner late on the 76th minute to give Bulls their first away victory since beating Hassocks four weeks ago.
Tanned from a winter break in Dubai, Barlow’s goal was his first since the winner against Sevenoaks the week prior, and it gave Powell and co something to celebrate ahead of their Christmas night out in Brighton.
The 29-year-old said: “I’ve just come back from a ten-day holiday, so I was struggling even with just playing 25-plus minutes, that pitch is heavy, the wind was tough and I appreciated the lads’ efforts far more once I got on, as the surface looked far more easier to play on than it actually was.
“We changed shape after I came on. I was at right-mid, then we moved to a 4-4-2, and that seemed to work.
“I was able to give Rai some support and when he nicked the ball I was on hand to drive at the defence and toe-poke it into the bottom right of the net.
“Thanks to Rai, too, as his work-rate was huge for us today.
“I always back myself to perform, and some of the guys say these grass pitches suit me. Certainly, they are softer on the knees, but I hope my goal today give Elliot a good headache to have as I want to play as much as possible.”
In terms of what the win against fellow midtable outfit Eastbourne means for the side, who have had a positive turnaround since a miserable loss to Hastings two weeks ago, Barlow was upbeat.
He said: “Goals change games – that’s what’s important, that’s what got us three points and has given us something to celebrate for our Christmas night out.
“Football’s a funny old game – 1-0 at Hastings, and people are writing us off, we’re on the other side of that today.
“We need to stay level headed, and we need to remain ambitious, that means we’ve got to go for it and we can push for the play-offs.
“That said, this league is new to us, we’re adjusting to the better quality, how you have to change your style and formation for each team.
So, it’s difficult and all we can do is see where we end up at the end of the season, certainly the gaffer is taking it game by game, but there’s no reason why we haven’t got the quality to go for it.”
Eastbourne Town: Chris Winterton (c), Alfie Simmons, Jack Murphy, Harvey Greig, Jimmy Holman, Nathan Hover, Jaydon Fuller, Leon Greig, Ollie Davies, Aaron Capon, Marcin Ruda Substitutes: Ngezvashe Sisimayi (for H.Greig 83), Gerson Cachimuel (sub GK, not used), Sonny Walsh (for Fuller 83), Theo Aiguobasimwin (for Ruda 72), Austin Pugh (for Simmins 87)
Jersey Bulls: Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, James Carr, James Queree (c), Luke Campbell, James Watling, Jay Giles, Joe Kilshaw, James Sunley, Rai Dos Santos, Miguel Carvalho Substitutes: Fraser Barlow (for Carvalho 56), Sam Devy (sub GK, not used), Stan Dunne (for Sunley 83), Francis Lekimamati (for Carr 72)
