Bickley leads the way as Bulls trample over Poppies

Jersey Bulls' Lorne Bickley (in red) put on an exemplary show against his former team Kettering Town on Saturday Picture: ROB CURRIE

FOLLOWING their chastening 6-1 defeat to FC United of Manchester, it was a welcoming and heartening surprise to see Jersey Bulls put on such a dominant performance against Kettering Town.

Manager Gary Freeman said it was one of the best he had seen from his side and it was not hard to see why.

Kettering play three steps up the non-league ladder in the National League North, and one step above FC United.

You could not tell.

The visitors burst out of the blocks and could have taken an early lead when Decarrey Sherriff’s volley was well saved by Euan van der Vliet. But from thereon in, it was all Bulls.

They’ve always had a style, an easy-on-the-eye tiki-taka-lite approach to games that has been unique at their level. But Freeman had felt that it was compromised towards the end of last season.

Rather than look to compromise once more, they have instead been working hard in training to push their way to a higher level.

On this evidence, Bulls fans will be in for a real treat next season.

And with many key players still missing, Freeman will be even more galvanised by the knowledge that he now has sufficient strength in depth to rotate and use a full squad, in contrast to last season when things got tough during the penultimate month and he was forced to squeeze in numerous games on the road while his regulars suffered injury or burnout.

Consider that the reliable and experienced defensive pair of Luke Campbell and James Quérée were missing again against the Poppies, while their replacements – the youthful Sammy Sutcliffe and Harry Curtis – remained unflustered during this contest.

While the pass-and-move carousel was in full effect all over the pitch, one element of this atomic force that rarely ventured far from his position was Lorne Bickley.

He put on an exemplary show that underlined just how good a centre-forward he can be.

Bickley spent a season at Latimer Park – the Poppies’ temporary home, failing to make much of an impact.

But here he showed them just what he can do – using his strength to hold the ball up and link with the Bulls midfield while presenting a constant danger in the box.

He got his rewards, too. A goal and, deservedly, the player-of-the-match award. He can certainly become more clinical in front of goal, but it was the striker who put Bulls 3-1 up by half-time, capitalising on a poor back-pass to calmly slot the ball past Kettering ‘keeper Cameron Gregory’s near post.

He was key to the second earlier on too, when he played Ruben Mendes in behind the visitors’ defence down the left channel. Mendes pulled it back to Sol Solomon, who applied the finishing touch eight yards in front of goal.

Both these Bulls goals were bookmarked by two own goals scored by Kettering on their behalf.

The first came early on in the game when Ben Toseland turned in Jonny Le Quesne’s header from a corner on the line.

The second put the icing on an assertive Bulls performance when perpetual livewire Jake Prince, on as a subsistute, saw his cross rebound off Rhys Sharpe and into the net.

Kettering had equalised in the first half when Sherriff took advantage of van der Vliet’s flap, but they threatened little after that. They could be in for a long season.

Bulls will be too. But it looks like theirs will be a lot more enjoyable.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –