Bailey desperate to shake losing habit

Guernsey 11, Tottonians 19

IT WAS a vast improvement from the previous week but Guernsey could not prevent a sixth defeat of the season on Saturday. The home fans feared the worst when Tottonians scored a try within the opening minute and although it did signal the start of another loss, there were positive signs from the Sarnians.

However, that was of no consolation to captain Andy Bailey.

'It still hurts to lose and we cannot accept losing, whether you can say there were positives or not. We cannot get into that habit,' he said.

The overriding impression that the hosts gave on Saturday was that they remain a very capable side but that they are desperately short on confidence.

How different it could have been had Jordan Reynalds managed to hold on to a difficult pass after Jim Elliott, Guernsey's best player by a mile, had collected a Tottonians grubber kick on his own 22 and showed immense strength and no little pace in a scorching 50-yard run.

The Australian fly half was in support of the centre but could not take his offload and the golden chance was lost.

Within a few seconds Tots were 7-0 ahead as Mike Thomas made a break down the left and shifted the ball inside after he drew last defender Cameron Pattern to give impressive centre Mike Searle a free run to the posts.

Robbie Searle added the conversion and by the 16min. mark had extended the lead with two penalties.

It was not until Jason Mroch's barging, crowd-lifting run halfway through the first period that Guernsey came to life and, had the bounce gone for Bailey four minutes later after a two-man breakaway between him and Pattern, the hosts would have got on the scoreboard in exciting fashion.

But, typical of the way things are going for the Sarnians, the ball was not kind to the skipper, who knocked on as he stretched.

Robbie Searle added to the misery by making it 16-0 soon afterwards, but by half-time two crisp Carl Gardner penalties had brought Guernsey to within 10.

Three minutes after the turnaround, Barry Goude went over in the corner after sterling work from the captain who ran the Tots defence one way then the other, like a rugby league player, until space opened up.

But, having reduced the deficit to 11-16, the hosts could not push on and the rest of the half was a tale of frustrating knock-ons and frequent penalties, with kicker Searle adding one more to his tally to make the points safe for the visitors.

'Once again in the first 10 minutes we messed up,' Bailey said.

'Compared to last week, we played really well and I am proud of the guys. A bit of our decision-making perhaps needs to be improved, but that comes with confidence.

'The biggest thing to take from this is that we know we can play rugby.

'We have some very good players in this side and I feel we are close to clicking.'