Junior Muratti: Jersey hit four and should have had more

Monday 18 March 2024

It took only eight minutes for Jersey to stamp their authority on the Junior Muratti.

Their centre back Connor Lloyd scored from close range and the match remained a one-sided affair.

Only eight minutes later Lloyd nodded home the second, at the far post from Barry Beatson’s in-swinging corner from the right. 

Then he won a soft penalty, which Dan Radford saved from Callum Gilroy.

Opportunities for Jersey presented themselves at will. 

O’Toole’s cross-come-shot was cleared off the line.

Beatson passed up a gilt-edged chance when one-on-one with Radford, then nearly made amends when he struck a wonderful free-kick which hit the underside of the crossbar. Gilroy brought another save from Radford when through on goal.

Eventually the third came.

With just a minute left until half-time, right-back Coen Le Monnier dared to have a shot from 20 yards and it curled satisfactorily over a stricken Radford. 

Jersey continued to pass up chances in the second half.

A scramble saw Charlie Brennan and the Gilroy brothers Callum and Leighton have a succession of bites that somehow were repelled by a combination of Radford and the upright. Then, after an hour had been played Tiago Duarte, a bystander all match in the Jersey goal, had his first threat against him but Fin Patterson blazed over.

Beatson, the player of the match in control of the midfield, thought he had scored but his tap in was also ruled offside and more chances were squandered by his team until the very last minute when substitute Stan Dunne slalomed his way through the Guernsey defence and coolly slotted the ball into Radford’s near post.

“They got a bit of stick at half-time,” said Jersey Head Coach Paul Renton. “We don’t convert a high enough percentage of chances and that can come back and bite us on the backside.

“It’s a trait they’ve got. They create a lot but they don’t take their chances.”

Guernsey won the corresponding U18 fixture last year, and won the U21s at the start of this season.

Jersey: Tiago Duarte (Charlton Lawlor, 88), Coen Le Monnier (Kyle Wilson, 86), Connor Lloyd, Tomas Goncalves, Fergus Boyle (Le Monnier, 88), Charlie Brennan (c), Barry Beatson, Joey O’Toole (Stan Dunne, 78), Leighton Gilroy (Dan Andrade, 88), Conor O’Keeffe (Will Yates, 67), Callum Gilroy

Guernsey: Dan Radford, George Goubert (Rio Bowditch, 77), Ben Wilson, Leon Solano (Tyrese Kelly, 77), George Montgomery (Harry Hodgson, 77), Sam Cooley Tom Solway, 46), Rio Bowditch (Emerson Nobes, 39), Alex Ward (c) (Charlie Coleman, 88), Zac Batiste, Zach Gilman, Charlie Coleman (Fin Patterson, 46)

Referee: Neil Gionnoni (Jersey). Assistant referees: James Lihou (Guernsey) and Charlie Balcombe (Jersey)

Pictured top: Jersey's Stan Dunne scores the fourth to cap off a convincing win. Picture by Jon Guegan.

Report by Paul Lees.