Bushell fires Casuals to the top
ALEX BUSHELL was Casuals’ hat-trick hero as Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash lived up to its billing at Footes Lane.
There was passion, tension and skill aplenty in the morning sunshine as Bushell showed the value of a having a good drag-flicker in your armoury as two goals from short-corners sandwiched one from the penalty spot for the men in black in a 3-2 win.
Indies created enough chances to take something from the game and, after trailing 2-0 at the interval, they had the momentum in the second half having got back on level terms with the best part of half-an-hour remaining. But there was a determination in the Casuals performance that defied their name which saw them hang on bravely once they edged ahead again to claim the three points.
For the neutral it was an enthralling contest, even though Casuals were without their most potent attacking threat in island player-coach Andy Whalley. The tempo was rarely anything other than high, which is how emotions were running throughout too.
Bushell's early short-corner goal and his successful penalty stroke five minutes before the interval put his side 2-0 at half-time before Steve Waldrom and Josh Kendal scored to pull Indies level with nearly half-an-hour remaining.
Another short-corner drag flick from Bushell with 25min. remaining proved decisive.
The fact that Casuals hung on to win took them above their opponents in the table, but it was also a satisfactory result for champions Colombians, who still have to play the men in black four times.
Colombians won the second of the day’s double-header 5-1 against Yobbos, gaining revenge for their 7-3 defeat to the same opposition a week earlier.
More in Monday's Guernsey Press.
