Romeril hails impact of Mahon and Dodds
AFTER Manzur edged into the last four of the Guernsey FA Cup with a nervy 3-2 quarter-final triumph over Northerners their coach said two players have made all the difference to their season which has come alive in the past fortnight.
‘The missing pieces of the jigsaw were Kez [Mahon] coming back after a year out and the signing of Thomas Dodds,’ said Mark Romeril, the man who remains repentant on his view that games in the late stages of the cup should be played on grass and not what he described as a training pitch.
Ahead of the game Romeril criticised the GFLM for not keeping the tie on grass and at Northfield.
GFLM were not overly impressed by his comments but Romeril says his side stood to gain nothing and his view remains the same despite the win.
‘I still think the FA Cup should have greater standing,’ he added having seen his men propelled into the semis with a superb forward display by Marlon Jardim and some resilient defending.
‘It was tough, it was always going to be. There was no space, but it was a good game between two good teams trying to play football.’
Manzur showed terrific character as North came on strong in the second half under the lights.
‘We came under a bit of a siege. North are good and I thought they played well.
‘But to score three good goals in open play at KGV is some achievement.’
Romeril poured praise on both Jardim and midfielder Mahon who had been out for almost a full year until returning last week.
Jardim fired a superb second goal and then some touchline magic from the Portuguese man produced the key third very late on.
‘He is a very good player and I can’t speak highly enough about him. He never misses a training session and although he never does a lot in training, in a game scenario he is very good.’
The Manzur-Northerners clash was one of just two quarter-finals to go ahead and in the other, also played on the KGV 3G, St Martin’s scored three second-half goals to see off Vale Rec.
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