Guernsey knocked out by holders

GUERNSEY under-18s considered themselves very unlucky to be knocked out of the FA County Youth Cup on Saturday. Holders Suffolk inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Paul Ockleford's side in Ipswich but were helped by some questionable refereeing decisions.

Billy Page had equalised that early penalty in the 73rd minute, getting on to the end of Ben Coulter's cross, but the killer blow came in the final 10 minutes.

'It was a very good performance,' said Ockleford.

'After we had settled to the pace of the game, we passed the ball well, there was some good support play and lots of effort. It was good all-round apart from the result.

'I think Suffolk were quite surprised with how we played and even more so when they found out eight of our players will still be in this age group next year. Things bode well,' he added.

Locally, St Martin's booked a place in the semi-finals of the Deloitte Jeremie Cup with a 3-2 victory over First Tower at Blanche Pierre Lane.

Alex Hunter, Dominic Heaume and Etienne Ogier scored the goals for the home side, with Ross Goodchild notching a brace in reply.

'Conditions were awful for football with the strong wind, but we did manage to play some good stuff at times,' said Saints coach Trevor Allan.

Meanwhile, North made their intentions clear to Priaulx leaders Bels as they beat Sylvans 7-1 at St Peter's.

Island striker Jon Veron banged in five in the rout on Saturday, while Gavin Le Page and Craig Young both popped up with one each. Sylvans player-coach Joel Avery got the consolation goal with 10 minutes left.

Phil Corbet's team currently sit second in the Priaulx.

'I'm very pleased,' said Corbet after the match.

'We have been playing well recently without converting draws into wins. We lost last week and today we converted the type of chances that we missed last week.

'It's a good unit to work with. When Sylvans scored, you could see the reaction from the team. We now want to stop opponents from scoring.'

It was another high-scoring affair in the other Priaulx match of the day as Rangers registered a rare victory away at Vale Rec.

The St Andrew's team were 4-1 up at half time and then managed to hold off the home side in the second to win 5-4.

Paul Prior got a hat-trick for Mac Gallienne's team.

'I'm very pleased with the way they played,' said Gallienne.