09 Oct 2024
Match report by Ryan McMenamin
This is the third time I’ve watched Jersey in two years, and the third time they’ve gone home having won 2-0; they seem to have an M.O., although I couldn’t narrow it down tactically. Its not a particularly intrinsic one, I suspect, because if a side can avoid conceding, then having a player like Miguel Carvalho in dangerous positions often enough will likely lead to something directly or otherwise. This was the story on this occasion, as Carvalho rammed home deep in injury time having had a big say in the build up to Seaney McColgan’s opener not long after his introduction.
It was Alton who had the first chance very early on, as Adam Poynter’s corner bounced at the front post and somehow reached Matt Benham but he couldn’t muster enough power to beat Euan Van Der Vliet, who tipped over.
At the other end, Rai Dos Santos chested Sammy Sutcliffe’s diagonal past his man and rolled across to Karl Hinds, who managed to find Toby Ritzema on the edge, his shot deflecting over. Jack Boyle then received one on the inside left after the breakdown of a set-piece, and forced Adam Melville to scramble to his near post and tip wide.
Boyle had a better opportunity following the best move of the half, as some neat interchange found Dos Santos whose cross hit a defender and fell nicely for Boyle, but he dragged wide.
In the opening seconds after the restart, Alton’s Owen Tanner danced through a challenge on the inside right and slid to Louis Russell, and his strike was tipped into the side-netting at the near post. Soon after, Poynter drove in from the left and fizzed straight at Van Der Vliet.
Hinds turned and dribbled a weak effort at Melville, but Alton kept pressing and Darnell McDonald barrelled his way into some space on the left before dragging wide, and Russell struck at Van Der Vliet from the left. To have kept those two reasonably quiet is a measure of success in itself for Jersey, as there can’t be too many more imposing athletes to deal with.
Alton had missed their chance, as they had shaded the half until the 79th minute. As Carvalho twisted and turned deep inside the box on the left, his cross didn’t get past the first man, but Alton failed to clear two or three times and Fraser Barlow’s persistence allowed him to loop a loose ball towards the far post, where McColgan headed in from a matter of inches.
Jersey kept Alton comfortably at bay for the last ten and then a long period of injury time, before Toby Ritzema opened up the defence to release Carvalho. The winger seamlessly pushed past his man while moving at pace and lashed into the near corner to continue Jersey’s unbeaten run.
Alton: Melville, Phillips, Bennett, Benham, Ajayi-Obe, Hill, Poynter (Wotton), Russell, Marshall (Hoppitt), Tanner (Sanderson), McDonald.
Jersey: Van Der Vliet, Kilshaw, Barlow, Queree, Sutcliffe, Watson, Dos Santos (McColgan), Ritzema, Hinds, Boyle (Lester), Carvalho.