East Grinstead Town 0
Jersey Bulls 5
Luke Watson 38’, James Queree 49’ pen, Miguel Carvalho 77’, Toby Ritzema 80’, Will Yates 89’
HT: 0-1 (to Jersey Bulls)
Attendance: 167
JEP player of the match: Luke Watson (Jersey Bulls)
Referee: Thomas Price; Assistants: Dylan Bailey, John Pike.
ARE Jersey Bulls in the race for the play-off places? Manager Elliot Powell couldn’t deny that it’s become a realistic possibility after witnessing his side produce a stand-out 5-0 victory against East Grinstead Town on Saturday.
After a tight first-half battle which ended with the island side’s young goalkeeper Pierce Roche crucially saving a penalty, Bulls came into their own and scored four goals in a dominant second-half showing to claim their biggest league win this season.
With Luke Watson, captain James Queree, Miguel Carvalho, Toby Ritzema, and substitute Will Yates sharing the goals during an action-packed five star showing away in Mid Sussex, it continues an impressive turnaround over the last six weeks for Bulls who now sit seventh in the Isthmian South East League.
A clearly delighted Elliot Powell told the JEP: “It was a bit of an exhibition near the end but that was because we had to work really hard for that in the first-half.
“A little lack of composure in the final-third cost us in the first-half but a key moment in the game was East Grinstead’s penalty where Pierce Roche stepped up, and if he didn’t produce the save he did then we’d go in all-level at half-time. That makes it a very different game.
“A lot’s been said about Pierce and there has been some games previous where there’s been goals he could have dealt with better, but two games and two clean sheets in a row, and with a match defining penalty save which I’m really pleased.
“It’s not easy for a young keeper, especially one that’s so eager to impress and stake a claim for the shirt, which Pierce is. We’re really happy with his performance, the penalty save, he caught a couple of crosses, made a great save by his right-hand post during the game, and got given a few whacks as well.
“It’s Pierce’s best performance of the season, set up a solid foundation, and James Queree in front of him was brilliant, and I’m really pleased with Jay Giles alongside him, James Carr on the left with Jack Lumsden on the right meant we had a really solid back-four performance from a four that hadn’t played together before.
“We were missing eight players today, so for us to come to any team in Step 4 and put in such a dominant display was really pleasing. Yes East Grinstead are struggling, but you look at the quality they’ve signed and had playing for them today, I felt we impressed.”
Despite Bulls missing eight players through injury and unavailability during the festive season, Powell was pleased at how the boys that came into the squad, and particularly young substitutes Luke Countanche and Will Yates impressed.
He said: “Missing so many players does then give opportunities to the like of Jack Lumsden, who’s back from Moneyfields for Christmas, and if everyone was available we wouldn’t be starting a lad who’s not been playing.
“But for Jack to just slot in was excellent. Coutanche and Yates are similarly young lads who have been out of it, but they’ve shown a real eagerness in taking these opportunities.
“Everyone who came off the bench made a real impact, Coutanche two assists, Yates’ scored his first goal for the club, Harry Mackenzie got an assist and Stan Dunne was brilliant in the lead up to the third goal which sealed the game.
“It was an all-round pleasing squad performance and ultimately one that we needed just to make it an even better after three points against Broadbridge and it closes the gap to the teams above us a little bit.”
The victory over the Wasps means Bulls have won four and drawn twice in their last seven games since their ignominious defeat away to Hastings United in mid-November.
Since then the St Helier side have risen from 12th to seventh, and now sit just two places and nine points below the play-off places with a game in hand.
On the subject of how well they’ve adjusted to the league since last season’s promotion, Powell said: “It’s been a good start, we have let some points slip through our fingers but we’re pleased. We’ve been learning every week and this win was a good display of us learning from the experiences at the likes of Hastings.
“The Hastings loss was a poor loss on a tough pitch, it was a difficult grass pitch again here at East Grinstead but we were a lot more effective.
“Toby Ritzema was key to that. He was playing out of position but still led the line really well, run unselfishly all afternoon and is my personal man of the match. It was excellent really, put his body on the line for the second goal, scored the fourth, I’m pleased for him and we’ll need him to do it again on Tuesday.
“Our form is helping us with our aim which is to be in the top eight or nine. We’ve got a little bit of work to solidify that but hopefully if we can get on a run, make the most of our upcoming two home games against a pair of solid teams and then we’ve got a tough January and February coming up before we can think about where we are.”
One of Bulls stand-out performers was super-sub Will Yates, who scored his first goal for the Springfield side just 11 minutes after replacing Miguel Carvalho.
The 19-year-old said: “It seemed to go perfect for us, 5-0, what more could you ask for, some good team goals and it’s nice to get a number of names on the scoresheet.
“For my goal I was Harry make a run and keep himself on-side while the full-back was quite flat footed. I made a run for it to the far post, hit it off the corner of my foot and it went in. To score a goal like that as my first for the club, I’m just happy it went in.”
Despite Bulls having issues with their morning flight to Gatwick Airport, which resulted in kick-off being delayed by a quarter of an hour, Bulls seemed unflustered, and Yates added: “We don’t look forward to these away-games as they’re always such a tight turnaround and remain organised.
“Our flight was delayed, then we’ve got an early flight back so it’s very tight, very pressured but you saw how we still had plenty of energy. When East Grinstead tired in the second-half we had the legs with some young subs, including myself, to bring on and it clearly showed.
“Hopefully we can continue to build on this momentum and get into the play-off places. We had a lot of people missing today but with them coming back then the thought of getting a promotion isn’t unrealistic, so fingers crossed.”
JERSEY Bulls scored a fantastic five goals to provide a belated Christmas gift to the club’s small contingent of hardcore travelling fans and continue their momentum towards the Isthmian South East division’s play-off places.
While there was ample praise for the St Helier side’s five goal scorers, special plaudits were kept for young shotstopper Pierce Roche who crucially saved an East Grinstead penalty which helped lay the platform for Bulls biggest win so this season on Saturday.
The win over “The Wasps” was built from a solid but steady first-half, with defensive midfielder – and the home team’s agreed man of the match – Luke Watson breaking the deadlock on the 38th minute before Bulls dominated the second-half with four further goals.
Elliot Powell’s side had a turbulent start to proceedings on Saturday, with their delayed flight to Gatwick Airport leading to kick-off being pushed back by a quarter of an hour to 1:15pm and a rushed warm-up.
But after attacking midfielder Joe Kilshaw kicked-off towards the club-hour end of the ground to begin proceedings, Bulls look unflustered by the logistical chaos preceding the game.
With the sun beaming down on East Grinstead’s traditional East Court ground, the island side got the ball into the box within the opening 30 seconds, and but for close attentions being paid to right-winger Francis Lekimamati, Bulls could have got more from the opening exchanges.
The home-side arguably had the better of the opening 10-15 minutes, as Bulls adjusted their play to the natural grass surface compared to Springfield’s artificial floor – something they’ve not always been able to do this season.
Wasps forward pairing of Dan Perry and Louie Theophanous were all over Jersey’s defence like a bad rash, who were playing together for the first time due to the side having to make four changes from the XI that beat Broadbridge Heath 3-0 on the Monday before Christmas.
Once Bulls changed shape from 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 – or 4-5-1 in defence – the seemed to come into their own, with Luke Watson dictating the play in front of the back-line while Adam Trotter was the link man to Toby Ritzema as the No.6 adjusted to life as a converted target man.
Ritzema hit the right side-netting on the 12th minute after a long Jack Lumsden throw-in, and Bulls first corner on the 18th minute was easily saved by Wasps stopper Alieu Secka.
The islanders started to stretch the home-side’s patchwork back-three, something East Grinstead’s joint managers Grant Hearn and Andy Willis were forced into due to centre-half Steve Smith’s suspension and his usual partner Tom Kavanagh making himself unavailable just two hours before kick-off.
It meant Wasps played a 3-5-2 with centre-half Dan Thompson having an interesting man-on-man battle against Ritzema while full-backs Curtis Gayler and Ridwan Euba played out of position behind two holding midfielders in Luke Leppard and the impressive Dominic Vose.
Bulls earned two corners in short succession after the half-hour mark as they pushed up in the final-third, and the second one from Carvalho was direct to Watson’s beaming scalp at the far post.
Watson got the better of Vose but hit the post, however the rebounding ball came straight back to the No.16 who nodded it into an empty net after the goalkeeper found the floor when trying to stop the first effort.
East Grinstead, egged on by their loud fans, started dominating the ball but couldn’t break through Bulls white and pink defence.
On the 44th minute a run by Kieron Pamment down the left opened up Bulls but a Camron Lawson shot from the edge of the shot was easily dealt with.
A minute later, after Kilshaw was dispossessed by Leppard, James Carr chopped tackle Lawson and referee Thomas Price pointed to the penalty spot.
Surprisingly it was captain Curtis Gayler who took the spot-kick, but a weak shot down the middle hit Roche’s legs, after the keeper had dived to the left. Roche quickly got up to punch-away a weak second attempt and ensure Bulls were 1-0 up at half-time.
With East Court under a thick cloud and a strong 30mph breeze for the second-half, Bulls doubled their lead with skipper Queree scoring a penalty on the 49th minute after Ritzema clattered into Secka while trying to get onto a long Adam Trotter ball.
Queree kept the ball low to the keeper’s left, while the man in purple dived the wrong way.
Bulls then looked impressively composed, after a free kick failed, Carr disposed Perry and played a long ball to Coutanche. The winger dashed down the right with his flat pass finding Carvalho in acres of spaces to tap in the victory sealing third goal on the 77th minute.
After that Powell rung the changes. Three minutes later Ritzema, Stan Dunne and Coutanche played some nice passes to work up the final third before Countanche found Ritzema on the right, and the tireless forward put the ball into the far corner of the net for a deserved goal before being substituted.
A through ball to Will Yates saw the sub get free of Wasps sub Tyler Grant and produce a pin-point shot from the edge of the box into the right of the goal to complete the victory on the 89th minute.
East Grinstead Town: Alieu Secka; Curtis Gayler (C), Ridwan Euba, Dan Thompson, Luke Leppard (Mohammed Diaby 82’), Dominic Vose (Tommy Seale 66’), Camron Lawson (Tyler Grant 83’), Jordan Maguire-Drew (Omar Folkes 66’), Kieron Pamment, Dan Perry, Louie Theophanous
Not used: Lewis McDonnell
Booked: Alieu Secka 48’
Jersey Bulls: Pierce Roche; Jack Lumsden, James Carr, James Le Queree (C), Jay Giles, Luke Watson, Joe Kilshaw (Stan Dunne 76’), Adam Trotter, Francis Lekimamati (Luke Coutanche 59’), Miguel Carvalho (Will Yates 78’), Toby Ritzema (Harry Mackenzie 80’)
Booked: Luke Watson 86’
