On song Sylvans get their just rewards at St Peter’s

The Westerners now have three wins from three following their 4-0 win over Northerners at St Peter’s, with home coach Jon Collenette delighted by his side’s performance.

‘I think that scoreline reflected the game and we created a few other really good chances as well,’ he said.

We did our homework on how North play, we got a game-plan together and the boys executed it brilliantly.

‘North are a fantastic team, but I didn’t think they had been properly pressed in the games I have seen, so we pressed them high and with very high energy levels.’

Sylvans were two goals to the good by half-time with the high press leading to the opener, well finished by Freddie Walker.

Tiago Rodrigues then doubled the lead before the break.

‘Tiago’s goal was the highlight. It was really well worked down the left and Joe Yeaman put in a great cross for him to score,’ said Collenette.

‘You don’t really know what you are going to get from Joe, but when he is on it, he is really on it. His pace is unbelievable and he was certainly good on Saturday.’

After the interval, summer signing Zac Batiste got the third before Oscar Leadbeater completed the scoring.

‘Zac joined us from Rangers, which was a big decision for him, and he worked so hard on Saturday – he played at nine for us and spent all afternoon running around, closing their centre-backs, and he deserved his goal, which was well worked with Tiago getting the assist this time before Zac finished from around 10 yards,’ said the Sylvans coach.

‘Oscar has been amazing for us so far this season. His energy levels are incredible and he scored three in the last game before his one in this game, and that’s from central midfield.’

Collenette added that the growing strength in depth in his Sylvans squad was emphasised in that five starters from the previous game were missing for this encounter.

However, he revealed he was quietly confident they could pick up the three points.

‘I was surprised it was 4-0 and that we gave North so little, but I believed we were going to win before the game because you could see in the players that they were up for it.

‘It was a great afternoon and so nice to see a big crowd up at St Peter’s for a Priaulx game.’

Sylvans will not be getting carried away by being at the summit of the table, though.

‘It’s the old cliche, but we will take one game at a time,’ Collenette said.

‘I think the league’s going to be really exciting this season, which is great for Guernsey football.’