Old guard Heaume and Tardif are still too good to toss away

At one end a master of the big gloves and at the other, the master of what the other might consider ‘inners’.

In purely goalkeeping terms nobody won the clash of Jason Martin v. Chris Tardif, but we saw an intriguing comparison, albeit one tempered by the fact that Saints were so much better than Manzur.

There’s a rumour flying about that Muratti assistant coaches John Nobes and Kevin Gilligan will decide on the issue of who wears the No. 1 shirt against Jersey, but if you are prone to a flutter you should quickly put money on Tardif and Martin being the two named in the 16 and, in 2019, the Guernsey goalkeeper being one Callum Stanton, who, if you believe some, may be moving to the island full-time later this year.

Martin, the island’s outstanding gloveman on the cricket fields, has been superb this season, far better than I imagined he could ever be after seeing him in the College Academy side a couple of years back and he fully deserved to pick up the March FNB Priaulx League player of the month award.

But even from 100 metres away on Tuesday he will have noticed a rival keeper who looked marginally above the 80% fitness rating I, for one, wanted to see for him to justify walking out as a player at Springfield on 12 May.

The battle for the ‘1’ shirt is not the only intriguing one. Who will wear ‘9’? This observer is firmly leaning towards Dom Heaume after his last couple of showings in Saints colours, with Will Fazakerley an impact alternative on the bench.

That might sound tough on Sam Murray, who did so well as a sub against Alderney and is a handy performer who I’ve pushed before, but Fazakerley has the X-factor that we all witnessed so emphatically in the U21s triumph last weekend.

The Rovers youngster, just 19, does not appear to me to have the match fitness to start a Muratti, or, if he does, not last beyond an hour.

He simply has not had the run of regular matches a player like him requires. There’s still a touch of rust about.

Nobody could say Harry Tobin is rusty, but his maiden Muratti final appearance is still hanging in the balance. Quite ridiculously so.

Here is a player who has not just rocked up as part of some crafty move by the Guernsey management.

He has been a fixture on the island football scene, first with St Martin’s, then Bels and then North and Guernsey FC, for five years.

There have been no long breaks away, he has been working under licence in accountancy and, only very recently, lost the job that afforded him that licence.

Even if it is wrong that the player has another local job lined up and will not have to commute for Guernsey FC games from the start of next season, he has clearly got enough qualifications behind him for a tri-island competition where, for example, a quality Ridunian such as Damian Larkin can seemingly choose whether he turns out in blue or green.

Given the understandable laxity surrounding Alderney and how they utilise off-island players, it just cannot be right that Tobin is debarred for next month’s game.

In fact, if he were to be prevented from taking his rightful place in the squad, it would be a travesty.

Let’s just hope some sense is seen.

THE islandwide player survey is yielding a steady stream of replies, but the prospect of significantly major changes to the domestic football programme are unlikely to take place in time for the next campaign.

Time is not on the side of those within the Guernsey Football League Management and the GFA not only to the information, but also study it closely and come to some conclusions.

Then, of course, there would need to be a consultation period with the clubs and get out a fixture list by early August.

Inside Track’s information though is that such is the keenness to listen to what the players say about the game, if the survey results provide stand-out and un-ignorable wishes, then it would only be right to act with greater haste.

DAME Mary, were you watching?

If not, I certainly hope your good self and our 2021 Guernsey Island Games organising committee picked up on the furore of last weekend’s ridiculous closing ceremony out in Gold Coast, one which saw a healthy proportion of athletes from across the world soon driven to the bar.

When will Games officials – be it Island Games, Commonwealths or Olympics – learn that it is not about them.

We don’t want to hear long speeches. In fact, we don’t want to hear any at all.

They are not a necessary evil because they shouldn’t get past the in gate.

The only speech anyone wants to hear are those that at the start of the week say ‘we’re open’ and the one at the end, which says, very briefly, ‘we’re closed’.

To be fair, back in 2003 Guernsey was not too arduous an affair, but in my time I have witnessed some shockers, not least the Isle of Wight in 1993 when the Roundheads were mock-fighting Royalists, and Rhodes in 2007, where reports suggest that the official opening is still rumbling on amid the ancient ruins.

IT’S too early for wild, uninformed analysis of the island’s Commonwealth Games team in Gold Coast, but from afar it cannot in any way be regarded as a success for the wider Guernsey team and the rationale behind selection with its much self-acclaimed standards criteria.

The excellence of the cycling team, the Chalmers brothers and marathon man Lee Merrien were stand-out exceptions though.

It will be interesting to see how the Guernsey Commonwealth Games Federation views proceedings after its own period of reflection and how much, if any, influence can be made going forward by the Guernsey Sports Commission.