Timely Tim seals victory

Guernsey U15s 4, Plymouth Marjon 3 (after extra time)

GUERNSEY came from behind to win in extra time against a strong Plymouth Marjon team in the first round of the HA under-15 national knockout yesterday. It is the first time that the island has entered the competition and in front of a packed balcony at Foote's Lane, the Nick Mahy-coached side conceded two early goals but came back immediately to score three of their own.

The visitors levelled with five minutes of play left to take things to extra time but a Tim Ravenscroft strike from a short corner sealed the victory.

It was a fine game and a great performance by the Sarnians - the only glitch being their slow starts from restarts.

'Their laid-back Guernsey lifestyles are to blame, or they like a challenge,' joked Mahy.

'It was an excellent team performance. The spirit in the team is great. It was an incredible game.'

Plymouth started with more purpose and drive than the greens and after a quarter-of-an-hour got the opener they deserved. Little winger Will Leach got on the end of a bouncing ball to lift it over keeper Ben McVey.

A super goal and their second came five minutes later when their danger man, Gregg Dew, smacked the ball into the corner of goal from a free hit.

Realising that they were now two down, Guernsey added some life into their play and the results were immediate as Dan Wray down the right flank cut the ball back for Ollie Lepp in front of goal to coolly hit it home.

The equaliser arrived a minute later when the ball was switched to Adam Clark at a short corner and he clipped it under the foot of Plymouth's keeper Jamie Dunn.

Guernsey's third shortly afterwards was a carbon copy of the first as Lepp received the ball to score from the dangerous Wray who was cutting the whites' defence to shreds.

Into the second half, the visitors pushed higher up the pitch and Guernsey struggled to come up with ideas to get the ball out of their last quarter.

But after some persistence, they dragged themselves back to threaten Dunn, who had a great game.

Victory started to look on the cards for Mahy's men until six minutes to go, when Plymouth's captain Rhys Hart scored from a short corner.

Extra time was needed and two minutes in Ravenscroft scored.

The rest of that time was played out with Plymouth going all out for the equaliser and Guernsey doing well not to succumb to the pressure.

Plymouth's coach Jamie Oxley, who did his teacher training at Elizabeth College in 1997, saw the short corners as the difference.

'I'm obviously disappointed and I think it could have gone either way,' he said.

'The difference was that Guernsey took their short corners well. Our keeper played well but it hinged on the short corners.

'It was a cracking game and it was a credit to each side.'