Unbeaten record saved - only just

ROB BOX says Guernsey's draw against Millbrook 'may be a wake-up call' for his side. The unbeaten Sarnians were hot favourites going into the match against a team who had lost all their five previous Hampshire One league fixtures this campaign, but at the end of the 80 minutes, the green-and-whites' coach was happy to come away with a point.

'People may have looked at it saying that we were playing against a bottom-of-the-table side and we should be putting 50 points on them, but no game is easy in this league,' said Box.

'As I expected with Millbrook, they set their stall out early on; they had done their homework and played very well to a game plan.

'Maybe we did not respect them as much as we should have done, but they always put a good game up against us and I don't think the players took it for granted that they would win.'

It was an under-strength Guernsey side that made the trip and the coach is taking several positives from their display.

He said that in comparison with the 41-0 defeat of Eastleigh a week earlier, the players worked much more as a unit.

'Jim Regnard was out - he was seeing a chiropractor in England with a back problem - and Steve Burt was also injured. I believe if we had had him on Saturday, he would have finished off about four of the chances that we missed.

'But I do not want to say that the guys who played did badly because they didn't and what was good was that we had a team performance. If anything was bad, it was the defence, which is unusual for a Guernsey team, but we still got a point.

'I am happy that we came away with a draw from the sort of game we would have lost in the past,' Box said.

Guernsey were trailing with just a couple of minutes left but instead of letting their frustrations get the better of them, they worked hard to maintain their unbeaten record.

The Sarnians' tries came from Johnson, Darren Holden, Ben Mahy and Paul Livesey with Andy Bailey adding one conversion.

Meanwhile, Guernsey seconds defeated St Jacques 27-7 in the Sugden Cup on Sunday. Mark Jones, Simon Ogier, Mark Stone and Jim Elliott scored a try apiece while Carl Gardner added two conversions and a penalty. St Jacques' points came from Gareth Jay's try converted by John Bell.