STEVE OGIER is remaining philosophical as injuries ravage his Muratti squad. A crowd of more than 3,000 is expected at Foote’s Lane on Sunday for the biggest match of the year and at present the island manager is without star striker Simon Tostevin, defender Michael Wilson and the versatile Tom Duff.
There are major question marks hanging over the fitness of captain Matt Warren, Dom Heaume, Darren Martin and Kevin Graham, but Ogier is taking it all in his stride.
‘You can’t do anything about it,’ he said. ‘As a squad we’ve been together all season and I expect every player to do a job for us. There’s no point getting excited about it. In an ideal world you’d like everyone to be fit, but what can you do?’
Tostevin has been ruled out with a knee injury that he picked during North’s victory in the Jeremie Cup final over Trinity on Saturday 14 April. Duff has pulled out of Ogier’s squad with an abdominal injury.
St Martin’s centre back Graham had been struggling with a medial knee ligament problem for the last couple of months before he returned to play in the Rawlinson Cup semi-final two Saturdays back, when he then went over on his ankle.
Warren also has had to deal with medial knee ligament problems for most of the season and it is hampering his chances of featuring on Sunday.
Wilson is another knee injury sufferer, whereas Heaume probably has the most bizarre problem. The midfielder picked up a knock to his lower left leg during the island’s practice game with his club, St Martin’s, last Tuesday.
He put ice on the injury but left it on too long and the area had a nasty reaction to it and now has a number of blisters. North captain Martin also had to come off early during the Saints friendly with an injury to his right foot.
Ogier put his squad through training last night and they are meeting a couple more times this week.
‘Tostie and Tom Duff aren’t going to make it and both Kevin Graham and Michael Wilson are 50/50,’ said Ogier yesterday.
‘Darren didn’t train the other night, but he could be all right. Dom has hurt his Achilles but hopefully he’ll be all right and he’s expecting his blisters to come down.
‘I expect Matt to make it tonight and see what the reaction is like. We just have to keep an eye on these lads.
‘We’ll know more towards the end of the week. We’re going to give the guys as much time as possible to see if they will be available for selection.’
What is clear is that Ogier wants to make amends for last year’s match at Springfield, which Jersey won 3-2. Guernsey had dominated the early stages and got a goal through Warren before Jersey had a double strike just before half-time.
Jersey’s Peter Vincenti jr stretched their lead to 3-1 in the second half as Daragh Duffy got a late consolation goal for the visitors.
‘We basically know a lot about the Jersey players. We know their usual suspects, so I suppose I’m more concerned with what we do,’ said Ogier.
‘A lot of it is in the details. Basically, you’ve got to take your chances when they present themselves and you’ve got to avoid defensive errors.
‘A lot of it is on the day and we just hope that our players can produce.’
Article posted on 2nd May, 2007 - 12.00am
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