WATCH: Greens hold their nerve to reach the semi-finals
Goalkeeper Jake Le Marchant was the hero as Guernsey edged out the old enemy in a penalty shoot-out yesterday to reach the EH Tier Two Championship semi-finals.
In keeping with the tradition of whenever these two sides meet, it was another thriller at Footes Lane where Jersey scored a dramatic last-minute equaliser as the game ended 3-3 after 70 minutes to send the game to shuffles.
But the home side overcame the disappointment of that late blow in regulation time and excelled in the shoot-out with Ant Stokes, Alex Bushell and Sean Donaldson all converting.
In reply, only Sam Watling managed to score for Jersey while Le Marchant saved from the Millar brothers, Pete and Tom, as well as Jack Tait to send the Sarnians into the last four of the national knockout thanks to a 3-1 scoreline.
Watch: Guernsey's men beat Jersey on penalty shuffles at Footes Lane
‘We always make it difficult for ourselves, which is never a nice thing, and it always gets emotional with Jersey, it’s never an easy game, so it’s really good to get through it, help the boys out and we played well, so onto the next round,’ said Le Marchant, who jokingly added a word of warning to his teammates.
‘Next time, finish it during the game – don’t let it go to me, I can’t do it twice.’
Jersey had taken the lead in the tie through Jamie Bolton’s 12th-minute goal, but Guernsey were ahead by half-time thanks to two successful short-corner routines converted by Donaldson and Ant Stokes.
Pete Millar levelled the game quarter-of-an-hour into the second half, but parity lasted only a minute with Josh Kendal putting the hosts ahead once more before that frantic finale with Tom Millar deflecting in his brother’s low short-corner drag flick to take the game to the shoot-out.
‘I said to the lads I haven’t done many before so I didn’t really know what to expect, just trying to stay on my feet and hope for the best – I got lucky I think, but it’s all good,’ said Le Marchant of the shuffles.
Jersey captain Tom Millar was gracious in defeat.
‘Losing a game of hockey is difficult enough, losing it on shuffles is particularly gut-wrenching,’ he said.
‘We know it’s a bit of a lottery, we won our last round on shuffles, so I guess it’s a toss of a coin and this time it goes the opposite way, but credit to Guernsey. They took their shuffles really well, they buried them all, and Jake stood up and made a couple of really good saves that have put them through to the next round.’
