Vale Rec warm up for derby with cup victory

SYLVANS youth coach Clive Bateman is warning that schools football is having a big impact on his side's chances of keeping the momentum going in their challenge for the Youth One title. He has already lost three key players to injuries sustained in school matches - the influential Matt Le Prevost, Matt Chilcott and Luke Green.

And he is concerned about picking up more injuries before his team's vital clash with Rangers on Sunday.

'All the injuries we have are through school football. I have eight players involved in school football on Friday and Saturday and then they have a Youth One game on Sunday,' he said.

'They are jaded and we just hope when they come back on Saturday night they have not picked up any injuries.'

He is calling for the Guernsey Football Association to sit down properly with the people organising the Schools' League to sort the fixture congestion problems out in future.

'It's having a knock-on effect all round,' he warned.

He is hoping Le Prevost will be back to boost his side by the end of January after he suffered a broken collarbone playing for Guernsey's College of Further Education side in the CI Schools' League in Jersey.

Sylvans lost 1-0 to Vale Rec in the first round of the J. W. Loveridge Cup on Tuesday night.

Daena Bodie netted the deciding goal with a decent finish after having been set up by James Bougourd midway through the first half.

'We are disappointed to have lost but we want to concentrate more on the league,' said Bateman, who did not risk any players coming back from injury.

Vale Rec coach Andy Bougourd said: 'It was a pretty tight game and we again played some really good football at times. We had a few players out and the players we did use performed well and we got the result that our efforts merited.'

Rec defender Geoff Robinson had another superb game and continues to impress and show improvement.

In the most contested Youth One 'eague for many years, Vale Rec currently head the pack, two points ahead of Bels, with both sides having played nine games.

Defending champions North have a game in hand on 16 points and desperately need to get something out of their game against their Grand Fort Road neighbours, Rec, on Sunday.

'I think it will be a completely different game from the one we played at the start of the season when we lost 8-0. We have improved as a football team considerably since that game,' said Bougourd.

Bougourd is sure that, with the quality of football on show, it will be a cracking game to watch.

'You hope to win every game and whether that is feasible depends on many factors on the day,' he said.

Sylvans are fourth in the table on 15 points but crucially have two games in hand on the top two.

'Against North we had three players out and beat them 3-0. I'm not worried about other results - I would rather the boys focus on winning our games.'

'Every game is a big game - the last thing you want to do is lose another one. I'm confident we will be up there. It will probably go down to a two-horse race from the end of January onwards,' he predicted.

* GUERNSEY U-18s have been drawn away to Dorset in the Mick Parry trophy, with the game scheduled for Saturday 9 February.