VCD Athletic 0
Jersey Bulls 4 – Lorne Bickley 12’, 21’, Miguel Carvalho 56’, Joe Kilshaw 78’
Half-time: 0-2 (to Jersey Bulls)
Attendance: 102
JEP player of the match: Lorne Bickley (Jersey Bulls)
CENTRE-forward Lorne Bickley produced a man of the match performance and scored two goals as Jersey Bulls started their final month of league fixtures in scintillating fashion with a dominant 4-0 victory over VCD Athletic.
Manager Elliot Powell insisted that a minimum of three wins from their final five Isthmian League South East fixtures are essential to qualify for the promotion play-offs, and it seems the side have headed his warning with a consummate display in Crayford on Saturday.
Alongside Bickley’s first-half brace, winger Miguel Carvalho and substitute midfielder Joe Kilshaw both bagged second-half goals while the near-perfect day for the St Helier-based side continued with centre-forward Fraser Barlow making his 200th Bulls appearance.
The victory away against the all-but-relegated Vickers, Crayford & Dartford side continues what’s been a dreamy 2026 so far for the Bulls, who are yet to lose since the turn of the year.
Delighted after lifting his season goal tally to 21, in-form forward Lorne Bickley told the JEP: “It’s a game we needed to win, if you look on paper the team we faced today and on Monday are both near the bottom of the league. Some would say they’re easy games but there isn’t an easy game in this league, so to get three points and set ourselves up for another three points on Monday puts us in a really good position for the play-offs.
“Travelling to the edge of London, going up against a team who are fighting against relegation and have a lot to play for themselves, we knew VCD wouldn’t drop off easy and to get two early goals helped our case.
“Crucially we’ve been planning all week for how we want to approach these lower league teams, and have trained how we want to structure ourselves, move the ball, our shape both in and out of possession. We produced what we practiced and it worked well for us.”
Bulls first ever visit to VCD’s historic 110-year-old Oakwood Sports Ground on the cusp of the south-east London and Kent border during Easter Saturday was married with near perfect sunny conditions.
The islanders looked well drilled during the warm-up as a larger than usual travelling contingent included S&C specialist Jan Bentley, who had journeyed down from Liverpool for the match, and Bulls seemed composed as Vickers forward Cameron Andrews kicked-off.
Powell’s side, despite missing three defence regulars with captain James Queree and Jonny Le Quesne both injured while Jamie Watling was unavailable, soaked up some early pressure comfortably when Vickers had a corner on the fifth minute.
Instead, Bulls had Toby Ritzema alongside Luke Campbell at centre-half, and Harry Curtis at right-back in a make-shift back-four as part of what’s become Bulls usual 4-3-3 formation.
Rai Dos Santos caused some early problems for the green-and-white striped hosts down the left-hand side, and a one-two with Bickley before a break down the flank into the box led to Bulls first corner of the fixture on the seventh minute, but that was headed clear by VCD.
Five minutes later, and it was Dos Santos getting the better of Vickers right-back Harry Lawrence which led to the opening goal of the game.
Bulls No.10 shimmied his way past three players into the left of the box, forcing VCD goalkeeper Joran Gillmore off his line before squaring the ball to Bickley who struck it sweetly into the goal for the opening score as two home-side defenders clattered into each other.
The reds looked in cruise control with midfield trio Luke Watson, James Sunley and Adam Trotter dictating play while Trotter was spraying some lovely passes to the front-three.
Bulls’ width in possession through Dos Santos and Carvalho freed space in the centre for Trotter to come forward behind Bickley.
Another pinging Trotter through ball put Bickley in possession in the box, and after a couple of-one-twos with Carvalho and Watson, the big No.9 handed off VCD centre-half Michael Fenn and almost juggled the ball around captain Ben Fitchett before slotting it into the top left corner, doubling Bulls lead.
Playing with a high-press Bulls were camped in VCD’s half. The hosts play seemed too regimented and cumbersome to cause Powell’s men any problems, and a break down the right saw Carvalho get on the end of another Trotter chip only for Bromley loanee Archie Cassidy to cover him off on the 23rd minute.
The relegation placed hosts had their best few minutes just before the half-hour mark, with Andrews earning a free-kick from Trotter, but one easy stop from Euan Van Der Vliet and a couple of corners was the best VCD could muster.
Due to the lack of a Vickers attacking threat, alongside a strong wind cutting through the picturesque Oakwood ground from Storm Dave, which made long balls redundant, Van Der Vliet had little to do.
There was a pause in play on the 36th minute when Gillmore needed some treatment, and James Sunley was lucky to not be sent-off for a reckless sliding challenge on Cameron Andrews to earn the first booking of the match just before half-time.
After the interval VCD threw caution to wind and went to a back-three as they looked to press up. After looking the stronger side for 10 minutes and forcing Bulls to sit deep and play off the counter, the hosts became unstuck again by red’s forward three.
A loose ball was picked up by Carvalho, and after a one-two with Watson the diminutive no.11 cascaded around Michael Fenn to produce a low driving ball into the bottom left corner of VCD’s net.
Bickley had a half-chance from the left edge of the box just after the hour-mark as he looked for his hat-trick goal rather than lay the ball off for a team-mate, and any hope of a third goal was abandoned as he was subbed off sixty seconds later alongside Ri Dos Santos, who is still without an away goal this season.
Fraser Barlow did his best to cause a nuisance late on, but after a spell of Vickers possession, the best the substitute could do was get on the end of a long Ritzema header before getting the better of ex-Horsham YM left-back Cassidy and squaring the ball for Joe Kilshaw to side-foot it home from eight yards out on the 78th minute.
Things went from bad to worse for VCD on the 88th minute with captain Ben Fitchett sent-off after picking up a second yellow card due to bringing Barlow down as the striker looked goal bound from a James Sunley through ball.
Bulls victory keeps them in fourth place, and two wins from their next two fixtures will secure a play-off place.
Speaking as his team had a special stretch down in a sun-kissed centre circle after the final whistle, Bulls manager Elliot Powell said: “It was a good performance from us, and felt as routine as its going to get from us in the second-half where we stepped on the gas again and scored two more goals.
“I’m really happy, we’re in a good run of form at the minute, you could see that and our substitutes all made a difference when they came on with Fraser Barlow getting his 200th appearance, Joe Kilshaw getting his first goal of the season which led to the biggest cheer of the day and Ewan Brodie making his debut.
“We were good value for the win, we had a make-shift back four but they worked well, Trotter played well, Watson was very tidy in his usual position and in the first-half VCD couldn’t live with Miguel or Rai out wide and Lorne was the beneficiary as it freed up the space for him to take both goals well and get us a cushion.
“Once VCD threw everything at us in the second-half, as we thought they would with relegation hanging over them, it opened up the field and we could have scored more and maybe got five or six by the end.”
Looking at continuing the good form, beginning with Bulls second Easter fixture on Bank Holiday Monday, a focused Powell added: “This has been a good way to start this final run of games. I said we’ve got to win at least three wins out of five, and we need to go and beat East Grinstead quite convincingly on Monday. They’re already relegated, but we have to be ruthless before we play Beckenham, who also seem to be relegated now.
“We knew the run of fixtures is favourable, but the hard work was done across December to February and we have to now put ourselves in the position to take advantage of that and cash in.
“But we still need to get the results, things can easily go differently, a bad tackle and a break in play early on can change things. We’ve been very sensible, produced a very mature performance and we need to do the same on Monday and then against Beckenham to put us in a position to plan and rotate the players for the play-offs.”
VCD Athletic: Jordan Gillmore; Harry Lawrence, Archie John Cassidy, Ben Fitchett (C), Michael Fenn (Jack Nelson 67’), Mo Kamara (Jack Low 46’), Ezra Ikebuasi (Tade Ibrahim 64’), Alfred Evans (Wayne Obiang 74’), Gael Kileba (Samuel Palapol Hards 63’), Reece Deakin, Cameron Andrews
Jersey Bulls: Euan Van Der Vliet; Harry Curtis, Jay Giles (C), Luke Campbell, Toby Ritzema, Luke Watson, James Sunley, Adam Trotter (Ewan Brodie 73’), Miguel Carvalho, Rai Dos Santos (Joe Kilshaw 62’), Lorne Bickley (Fraser Barlow 62’). Subs not used: Stan Dunne
