Devon remain the cream

DEFEAT at the hands of Devon saw the Channel Islands men's team fail to in their bid to return to the National Counties Championships A Division. Their 2-0 B Division loss at the hands of the Devonians in Truro came after a long drive from Southampton Airport.

The 16-man squad sponsored by Northern Trust, contained 10 Guernseymen and after the Devon setback they went on to enjoy victories over Cornwall and the Navy.

'It was a shame about the first game,' said coach Andy Graham.

'I can use all the tried-and-tested excuses of not playing together, long journey, but it came down to poor finishing. After that, we were really relying on the other teams doing us a favour. They both tried but Devon always looked like they would pull through.'

The CI team started very slowly against Devon and stayed in the game thanks only to Jersey keeper Jason Weber pulling off some fine saves in the first 20 minutes.

The strong Devon side however eventually got on the score sheet through a short corner drag flick.

The Channel Islanders responded well, but they just could not find a way past the Devon keeper.

As the game wore on, Graham's men looked to take the game to their opponents but this did leave them susceptible to counter-attacks.

And with 10 minutes to go, Devon converted one of their many breakaway chances. The CI continued to press for goal but the score remained 2-0 as the final whistle went.

The following day against Cornwall, goal scoring was again a problem. The Cornish opened the scoring with a breakaway goal and despite the good tracking back of Guernsey defenders Matt Elston and Tristan Cairns, keeper Kees Jager was beaten by a blistering shot into the far corner.

The visitors wasted a total of seven short corner attempts before UK- based Sarnian Ben Lanoe equalised in the second half with a slap shot into the bottom corner.

This put Cornwall on the back foot and saw them give away a penalty flick.

Damian Wallen stepped forward and proceeded to fluff an effort that the keeper had no problems stopping. But five minutes later he had a chance to redeem himself when another penalty flick was presented to him.

This time he made no mistake and despite creating and missing more chances, the CI team walked off the pitch at the end 2-1 victors.

After a 45-minute break, they were back in action, this time against the Navy.

Bill Ashton was forceful at the back while Jonathan Wilkes-Green terrorised the defence with his pace and scored twice in the first 10 minutes.

Wallen took the score to 3-0 in the second half but the sailors got a consolation goal after the referee had awarded a penalty flick.

'We were very pleased with the way the guys played,' said Graham.

'We were the most structured side there and I was particularly pleased with how Joffy Wilkes-Green and Bill Ashton played, pretty impressive for two new caps.