TWO tremendous strikes by Mark Dicker earned Old Victorians a 4-1 Upton victory on Saturday although without the goalkeeping heroics of Kees Jaeger the Jersey score could well have been in double figures.

The Guernsey keeper was outstanding, and although Colombians were dominant for the first ten minutes, after that it was all one-way traffic.

Peter Carey, for the Sarnians, scored the first goal, a neat tuck in two minutes into the game that he described, on being substituted, as ‘not bad for a fat boy!’ before the Old Victorians got into their stride.

It had taken them that full opening ten minutes to loosen up, but for the next 60 they enjoyed most possession and were awesome down the middle of the all-weather hockey pitch at Les Quennevais.

Three times, between the 25th and 30th minute, Jaeger kept his side in the match, his best save a shot four feet above the ground that looked destined to fly into the net before he turned it away.

As it was, an attack down the left immediately afterwards, and a neat cross by Matt Smith was neatly turned into the net by Joe Crill to make it 1-1.

The longer the game went on, the faster the pace, as the players warmed to the occasion.

Jersey’s keeper and captain, Garret O’Brien, was to make two excellent saves, one in each half, the second when Richard Radford was clean through, with only the keeper to beat.

Somehow the Old Victorians’ captain swept the ball away and out of immediate danger, for a short corner, but despite fewer chances the away side did look dangerous on the break.

However, the turning point came half-way through the second half.

Following an intense period of pressure, Mark Dicker was released on the right.

Even though he was on his own, from just outside the D, he hit an unstoppable shot to the keeper’s right side to give the OVs the lead for the first time in the game.

The same player, less than ten minutes later, beat two players with neat stickwork and again, from close to the D, slotted the ball firmly, and with force, into the net, this time to the keeper’s left.

Jaeger, who had been so dominant earlier on, looked shell-shocked; and Old Victorians were to go on to enforce their 3-1 lead just before the end when Rob Le Quesne tucked away a free hit, sweetly passed to him by No 5, Joe Crill, from eight yards out.

Overall, the home side deserved their victory, but as Colombians’ captain, Phil Radford explained afterwards, having gone 1-0 up, a second goal could well have ended the game as early as the fifth or sixth minute.

‘We wanted to come out of the box fast, to put pressure on them immediately,’ he said.

‘We didn’t make the most of those early opportunities when we had the pressure to make it 2-0.

‘Our problem was also that we haven’t played as a team for the last ten weeks, which was bound to affect our play.

‘Having said that, the Jersey side were excellent through the middle.’ O’Brien, the Old Victorians’ captain, also paid tribute both to the opposition and to his midfield and attacking players.

‘The first ten minutes were rocky, and we could have conceded more,’ he said.

‘But after that I felt their keeper kept them in the game.

We knew, on paper, we’d probably got better players than they had, but when they scored we became very nervy.

‘Even so, it was so early in the game we knew we could turn things around.

Considering how far out Mark Dicker was when he scored his two goals, they were brilliant, against such a first class keeper.

‘That’s the third time we’ve played Colombians in an Upton final and Dicker does make a difference.’ Old Victorians: G O’Brien, T Ray, T Minty, R Collins, S Osment, M James, J Crill, B Minty, M Dicker, R Le Quesne, M Smith, S Ritzema, T Wherry.

Guernsey’s Colombians: K Jaeger, T Cairns, R Radford, T Creasey, P Falla, C Gill, P Radford, C Colmer, T Ozanne, M Elliot, P Carey, L Jaeger, J Warr, A Ewing, O Goddard.