JERSEY Bulls’ eight-game unbeaten run – which had lifted them to the top of the table – came to an end with a 1-0 defeat at home to AFC Croydon on Saturday.
At their best, the Bulls are a flowing, possession-based team and while at times they have struggled to take their chances, they rarely have too much difficulty creating them.
This, though, was far from their best and at the final whistle, manager Gary Freeman looked visibly perplexed by what he had seen from his side. Disjointed, uncharacteristically sloppy in possession and lacking a cutting edge going forward.
Crosses into the box were either too deep or sliced behind the goal, through balls were over-hit and trickled through to the Croydon keeper and when they were weighted well, a poor touch meant the ball went astray and the chance was lost.
Bulls almost looked short of confidence rather than a side that had won seven and drawn one in their previous eight.
The only real moment of quality for the Islanders came towards the end of the second-half, when a low free-kick from Jay Giles clipped a post.
Freeman said: “[It was] Definitely frustrating, particularly in the first-half we weren’t playing the football we want to play. The first-half we sat off too much and let them play which is unlike us.
“There was not much in it, but they got something to hang on to and in the second-half, we didn’t create enough.
“We know Croydon are a decent team. They haven’t had the best start to the season, but they’ve got a new manager in and they will be up there with the backing they have got.”
Freeman knew it was likely to be a tough afternoon going in. A little over a month earlier, only a 92nd-minute Lorne Bickley goal separated the two sides in London.
The defeat will be tough to take for Freeman and his players given Farnham chalked up their ninth straight success to
replace the Bulls at the top of the table.
“This is a very tough league and we need to make sure we bounce back and are ready to go again in the next game,” added Freeman.“You don’t want to have back-to-back defeats so the important thing now is reacting well next weekend.
“We are in a position where we cannot afford to lose too many – we need to make sure we are winning games and the lads that do that will stay in the team.
“We keep saying the squad is in a good place, but today was not good enough – that’s the reality of it.”
