The group were at Braye Harbour for 6.30am to be ready to kick off at 12.15 and following the second blast of Steve Hutchison’s whistle – we had a false start on the kick off – they showed they were wide awake within seconds. Just 12 seconds in, Jermaine Parry picked up Dean Carre’s long ball forward in the inside left channel and put in a cross that appeared to evade everyone, until Owen Carre steamed in from wide right and rattled the post with a fierce drive.
And then just 90 seconds later Jamie Blackham ghosted down that same channel, clear of the covering defenders, and finished into the side netting past Harry Player in the Bels goal.
Alderney were rampant. Parry played in Owen Carre who narrowly won a race with Player to the loose ball but blazed over, and then the winger worked his way close to the byline and his ball across the face of goal was swept off the line by Steve Renouf.
The visitors could not maintain the intensity of that start and Bels came back into the game. They always looked a threat from dead balls and had plenty of corners, but Ronan Gillingham in the Nomads’ goal and his backline, superby led by Josh Concanen, returning to the ranks after a year out, stood firm.
Gillingham did well to claw away a header from Nick Trebert from a deep Renouf cross on 32 minutes and five minutes later had to be alert to tip over an effort from Renouf from a similar spot.
Alderney craved a second goal to give a bit of breathing space and it came early in the second half. Player came for a corner near the penalty spot but failed to claim and, while he was prostrate on the ground, Liam Connor fired through a box packed with bodies and into the net.
Bels’ best chance thereafter came from a counter attack when Alderney over-committed on a corner and on the break they were two-on-one against full back Sean Maloy. But Brad Foss took a heavy touch and Maloy was grateful to clear into touch.
Both sides were incensed about a crunching tackle put in by Bels captain Lewis Germain – the visitors unhappy with the strength of the challenge, the home side with a resulting yellow card from Hutchison.
And less than five minutes later it became all the more important as Parry, showing his strength, rampaged through midfield and was pulled back by Germain, for an obvious second yellow card and an end to his afternoon.
There was still half an hour to go, but Alderney tired and Bels faded completely.
Subs Billy House, twice, and Josh Patient had good chances for the visitors, Player doing particularly well to deny House’s second effort, as Alderney saw out time. They face a quarter-final against Jersey’s Grouville, believed to be only their second clash with a Jersey side at club level.
In other Jeremie Cup ties, Sylvans beat Rovers 4-0, with goals from Emerson Nobes, Luke Ogier, Tiago Rodrigues and Silas Eyton-Jones, while Rio Bowditch and Glenn Le Tissier scored the goals that helped St Martin’s see off Rangers 5-2. Quarter-final ties will be played over the next month.
