CRAIG YOUNG completed his fairytale comeback to football on Saturday with the winning goal before he lifted the Ambassadeur Bowl. In a typically hard fought, but in its own way peculiar encounter at the Track, hosts Guernsey undeservedly led 2-0 at the break thanks to Charlie Pinsard’s third-minute opener and the captain’s effort four minutes before the break.
The second was particularly harsh on Jersey, who had been by far the better side in the opening 45.
Guernsey were much-improved after the turnaround and should have made the game safe, but a Luke Watson header halved the deficit to give the hosts a nervous last six minutes.
But thanks to immense efforts from the likes of Ben Coulter, Alex Le Prevost, Naro Zimmerman and man-of-the-match Pinsard, the greens held firm.
‘We looked after each other, which is what you have to do in Murattis,’ said Pinsard.
‘We battled for each other. We were all given specific jobs to do today and we carried them out well.
‘Jersey played the better football in the first half, but they just did not seem to have an end product. In the second, we managed to grind our way through.’
Pinsard was surprised to hear that his goal was as early as the third minute, but he certainly enjoyed the moment.
‘I saw the ball coming over and he [his marker] was sort of wrong footed. I just got up and tried to put as much into my header as I could and managed to put it into the corner, although I was not sure if it was in at first.’
Guernsey coach Steve Ogier admitted afterwards that his side had won despite not playing attractive football.
‘We won the game on the back of grit and determination,’ he said.
‘On the ball we were poor. In saying that, there is more than one way to win a game.
‘It is great to win playing great football, but when you see the character of people who dig in and defend the way we did, it was pleasing.’
His Jersey counterpart, Dave Kennedy, who saw his side finish with 10 men after the late sending off of Craig Russell for talking back to the referee, agreed that his side had deserved better than to go in at half-time two down.
‘We were playing some fabulous football, although I must admit I thought the Guernsey front two were exceptional and were going to cause us problems throughout.
‘A bit of naivety cost us two goals.
‘You have got to give credit to them because they defended really well. On another day, we probably would have come away with the trophy.’
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