Brandie’s heroics stop Greens claiming a win
GUERNSEY coach Andy Good described it as ‘a winning draw’ as his side retained the men’s inter-insular trophy on Saturday.
In the proverbial game of two halves, the Sarnians trailed to Simon Hurry’s goal at half-time at Les Quennevais before moving up a gear in the second half, deservedly getting back on level terms through Matt Stokes and piling on the pressure only to find young Jersey goalkeeper Piers Brandie in outstanding form as he produced a man-of-the-match performance to prevent the visitors from finding a winner.
‘It just would not go in for us – their keeper had a great game,’ said Good.
‘It was a far different game to the one we played in November which finished 4-4 and could have gone either way – this one should have gone our way.
‘The boys played really well, I’m pleased with the performance and we were pushing right up to the end – we just could not score again.’
Jersey had the better of the game in the first half, with Guernsey paying the price for some ill-discipline as they spent 10 minutes down to 10 men and a couple of minutes with only nine on the pitch after cards for Steve Eulenkamp and Zak Damarell.
The home side’s goal came from excellent link-up play down the right with Sam Dunstan releasing right-back Ned Floyd and he squared it across for Hurry to slot past Morgan Clayton.
While they had the numerical advantage, Jersey pressed for a second, but Guernsey defended resolutely to keep the deficit to just the single goal.
‘In the first half we had to ride a bit of a storm,’ Good said.
‘Jersey played well and we gave ourselves a few problems – that was down to poor discipline.
‘As soon as we got back to XI on the pitch in the second half, though, we ran the game and how we did not score more I will never know.’
Guernsey forced a dozen short-corners in the second period, with Brandie making several fine saves before eventually Stokes managed to beat him with a drag flick.
The same Sarnian also hit the post as the Greens pushed for the winner, but they were to be thwarted by Jersey and particularly their goalkeeper.
‘It’s not a case of saying at least we did not lose because I think we should have definitely won the game – we played really well,’ said Good.
‘We were not playing as we would have liked in the first half, there was that period where we were just struggling a little bit with men off, but we saw it through.
‘Then we totally took over in the second half. We came out and really took it to them.’
Jersey captain Tom Millar thought his side were ‘brilliant’ in the first half before the tide turned.
‘We frustrated them and managed to have a couple of players advantage for the last few minutes, where we really should have added to the scoreline,’ he said.
‘Second half they flipped the game on its head and managed possession far better than us.
‘Piers made some unreal saves to keep the scores level there, so full credit to him.’
In the other men’s matches, after reaching half-time level at 1-1, Jersey Seconds scored five times after the break to win 6-1 while a hot-contested thirds match at Claremont Field ended 2-2.
