Cheating? Sounds like sour grapes - Trojans

TROJANS have categorically denied using unregistered players in their 11-10 victory over Guernsey on Saturday. They have described Sarnian suspicions to the contrary as sour grapes.

The club's captain, Russell Clarke, admitted that he had handed Sarnian coach Rob Box a blank card to sign after the match but said there was nothing underhand about his actions.

'A match card should be filled out before the game in theory, but what often happens is that the card is done after a match,' he said.

'The referee had signed the card although I had not completed it. I then gave it to the Guernsey coach to sign; he said there was no way he was signing it blank and I said I was just about to complete it once he had signed it.

'A few expletives were exchanged and I said ?Fine, I will fill it out now?. But if the referee can trust me to do that, I think that speaks volumes.

'Obviously, they were very disappointed to lose and I think it was a little bit of sour grapes on their part. I believe they came out thinking they would turn us over but we have got stronger as the season's gone on,' Clarke said.

The Trojans captain did admit that relationships between the two sides had become heated this season.

In October, Guernsey beat Trojans 41-3 in the first Hampshire League One game played in front of the Garenne Stand when the visitors felt the large home crowd were unsporting towards them as they lost several players to injury.

In the return fixture, Trojans ensured they had a substantial crowd of supporters themselves.

'We made sure we had a lot of support for this game to treat Guernsey like for like.

'That is what it boiled down to really, which is a shame because it is much better to get on with the opposition but sometimes it doesn't turn out like that.'

At one stage, the referee allowed Guernsey to retake a kick at goal due to 'unsportsmanlike' behaviour from the crowd.

'It is not a normal practice here but there was a jeer from the crowd, which I do not condone at all. But I do not have control over them and we felt the Guernsey crowd was out of line cheering our injuries in the first game,' said Clarke.

In less that two weeks the two clubs meet again in the Hampshire Bowl semi-final with Trojans at home in what promises to be another fiery encounter.

'The cup is not really that important to us but we just hope we win as a matter of principle. The general attitude among our players now is that we want to beat Guernsey two out of three this season,' Clarke said.