Bailey disappointed

ANDY BAILEY believes Guernsey might have started 'too well' against Winchester on Saturday. The Sarnians ended up losing 24-18 after they raced out of the blocks and into an early lead away from home.

The captain felt that maybe a touch of overconfidence crept into his side following their scintillating opening.

'We were very disappointed to lose as it was a game we felt we should have won, but fair play to them because they scrapped and played well,' Bailey said.

'It was very wet and slippery, which contributed to a messy, stop-start game and we were a bit loose.

'The important thing to take from it for me was that we kept going till the end.'

Nick Barton scored a try and kicked a penalty in the opening 15 minutes to give Guernsey an 8-0 lead before the home side, boosted by an excellent Simon Farrington try, pressurised the visitors for the rest of the half and turned around with a 15-8 advantage.

James Bingham also touched down for the hosts with Andy Ashwin kicking a conversion and a penalty.

Guernsey battled hard after the break with both Jordan Reynalds and Bailey scoring unconverted tries but Ashwin added a couple more penalties to his tally and his teammate Simon Rogers kicked a drop goal for good measure.

'We outscored them three tries to two, but they had a very good kicker who kept them ahead,' Bailey said.

Guernsey now focus on Saturday's encounter with Camberley at Foote's Lane and confidence remains high despite this defeat.

'We are looking to finish strongly with three of our remaining four league games at home,' Bailey said.

'Some players are carrying knocks - Jim Regnard, Simon Sharrott and Peter Miers being three of them - so they might not be able to train too much this week but we hope that they will be available for selection.'