JERSEY will bid to get their hands on the Star Trophy for the eighth consecutive year when they meet Guernsey tonight in the annual U15 schoolboys’ inter-insular at Springfield.
Not since 1996 have the Greens beaten Jersey, although they did share the spoils the last time it was played, at Springfield in 2002.But neither managers are overly confident in their pre-match assessments.Jersey coach Paul Dicker, who is assisted by Chris Jones and Howard Taylor, said: ‘We’ve had an excellent three months on the training ground but we’ve not taken everything what we’ve done in training into games.
We had one easy game and one tough one in Southampton last weekend.
Southampton beat us 6-1 in the Wizards Trophy last October while last weekend we lost 6-2.
We are one goal better but for the time we’ve been together that was disappointing.’But to be fair to my players there was a marked improvement in their second-half performance.
We were four-down at the break so the second half was a draw and much better.
If we are slow starters again today then we will give ourselves a lot to do.’Second half against Southampton we improved because the players tracked back; they marked a lot tighter and they challenged a lot more for the ball.
They are things players don’t like doing because sometimes they hurt to do it, but to be successful as a team they have to be done.’Guernsey coach Chris du Feu said: ‘Over the last three years we have been very unlucky in that we have conceded a goal in the last five or six minutes every time and that has cost us dearly.
That is why we are really focusing on keeping concentration and our defensive shape this year and if we get a bit of luck I think we deserve, hopefully we will be bringing back the trophy.’I'm not overly confident at this stage.
I know that this age group have been successful against Jersey but I have also heard that the Jersey squad is quite different to what it used to be.
I’m expecting a fast-paced game and not much in it.’Jersey’s squad retains four players from last season - Greg Forster and Jamie Cullen, who both played, and Matthew Brookland and David Kenyon.Three players have been dropped from the Jersey squad for disciplinary reasons following an incident on tour last weekend.Dicker said: ‘For the sake of future tours we have to have discipline.
The trio behaved below the standard expected of them while representing the Island and for that reason they have been left out.
They realise now that they made a mistake and they have all apologised.’Jersey squad: Greg Forster, Oliver Gallacher, David Kenyon, Jamie Cullen and Ben Carney (all De La Salle); Matthew Brookland and Paul Dingle (Victoria College); Elliot Fernandes, Casey Laurent, James Quérée, Kyle Hampshire and Danny Flynn (captain, all Les Quennevais); Stevie Reid and Jack Boyle (Haute Vallée); Brett Willoughby and James Jones (Le Rocquier) and Tim Cupit and Max Jouan (Grainville).Andrew Rigden, Mark Ramsden, Tom Strawbridge, Jamie Tolcher, Jamie Dodd; Ben Coulter, Billy Page, Alex Le Prevost, Glyn Dyer, Jon Loaring, Ben Whitchurch.Substitutes: William Woodford, Emile Thompson, Bradley Knott, Tom Jenkins and Robbie Titterington.Officials: Nigel Hammond, Garry Poole, Jim Machon.
Article posted on 20th March, 2004 - 12.00am
Most Commented: