They got off to an excellent start in Sunday afternoon’s match at Victoria Park against a Rec side missing a number of their younger players, who are playing for the Guernsey Under 18s in the competition.
Le Friec’s side were 3-0 up at half-time thanks to a Brad Foss brace and a goal from Lewis Germain.
Damien Larkin scored two penalties in the second half, but Bels managed to hold on to take the three points and throw the group wide open.
‘I think I’m possibly a little bit shocked,’ said the Bels head coach.
‘We last played on 2 January before yesterday. We have had no games and no training as we don’t have the facilities, so our prep has been a bit disoriented to be honest.
‘We were on it all over the place, it was really positive – they couldn’t handle us. I thought they would come into it at some point, but apart from a free-kick that was tipped over the bar they didn’t really trouble us. The late penalty was just mindless defending to be honest, I’ll be the first to say that.
‘It’s nice to have a result against a team that’s not Rangers, it’s been a while since we have had a result against a top team.’
Le Friec praised his players for their efforts on Sunday afternoon.
‘Brad Foss was fantastic, Zak Chatterton and Lewis Germain led by example – they were absolutely immense, and a shout-out to Marley Montgomery, it was his first game at centre back for us when we usually have him out on the wing but he was fantastic,’ said Le Friec.
‘Reese Jackson as well, we lost Luke Staples before the game so he came in and played all 90 minutes and was back to looking his best.
‘I could tell in the warm-up, they just looked like they fancied it.’
Bels have moved to third in group B and are yet to play the Guernsey U18s, who lost their opener to Rovers 4-3 on Friday evening. The juniors also still have to face Vale Rec.
‘We have no expectations for the cup we just want to improve all around and are taking it game by game,’ said Le Friec.
Bels are due to be in action again tonight as they face St Martin’s in the Priaulx League to start a busy week, with a game against Rovers on Saturday in the Priaulx League before a Guernsey FA Cup game against Elizabeth College next Tuesday night.
Tonight’s game between Bels and St Martin’s kicks off at 7.30pm at the Track.
