This Is Guernsey

By Nick Mollet

HAUTES CAPELLES are making a habit of becoming Channel Islands Junior Schools’ football champions on their home soil. The hosts have made their pitches a fortress and yesterday repeated their success of two years ago by again winning the seven-a-side tournament for the best sides in the CI.

It means they will be the region’s representatives in the south-west primary school county finals at Millfield School.

Win that and they will be appearing in the national finals at Wembley in April.

After drawing 2-2 in the group stages, Capelles fully deserved their 2-0 victory over Jersey’s De La Salle in the final.

Parents and Capelles schoolchildren hugged the touchlines to catch a glimpse of the action before the heavens opened.

Crunching tackles were at the fore in the early exchanges - typical of a Guernsey-Jersey clash.

After a goalless first half, Capelles grew in confidence and Niall Goddard went close after skilfully creating a chance for himself before drilling wide.

But he made amends for the miss almost immediately when he latched onto a throw from Louis Travis and showed composure before finishing clinically from close range.

From another Travis throw-in, Goddard doubled the lead with a second excellent finish to send the supporters wild with excitement.

He was denied a hat-trick by a superb save from Everton triallist Euan van der Vliet, who may be a name to keep an eye out for in future.

The final whistle was greeted with cheers and chants from the sidelines.

‘They played some solid football and defended well as a unit. I’m delighted. To win our own tournament and then the Channel Islands is fantastic,’ said Capelles coach Gary Darling.

‘De La Salle were the best Jersey side and it was a fitting final.’

Matchwinner Goddard, 11, who plays Youth Three for Rovers, described it as one of the best moments of his fledgling football career.

‘It feels great and I also scored two goals in the Guernsey tournament final. It’s fabulous and I’m speechless.’

In the semi-final against Bel Royal, after a goalless opening seven-minute half Hautes Capelles came out flying for the second period and emerged 4-0 victors.

Goddard had netted twice and Charlie Laine and Sam Edwards were also on the scoresheet.

The host school improved as the tournament progressed.

The rest of the victorious squad included Christian Le Ray, Charlie Thompson, Ryan Cotterill, Arun White, Mike Goodwin and Jason Crittell.

‘They started off well and scored a lot of goals against Amherst and they came from behind twice to draw with De La Salle,’ said Darling.

‘We had a disappointing performance against Les Landes and drew 0-0, but we were much more like ourselves in the semi-final, passing it around with some good set pieces.’

He said it was unusual for the Guernsey tournament winners to do so well in the Channel Islands event, but believed they warranted their place in the final.

Edwards, 11, who played for Southampton Academy when he was seven, scored five times en route to the final.

Five of the Hautes Capelles team are in the Guernsey squad to play Jersey in the U-11s’ schoolboy Muratti - Edwards, Laine, Le Ray, Goddard and Thompson.

‘There is more rivalry in the Muratti,’ said Edwards.

Goals from David Martin, Johnny Glendening and Luca Margaroli gave De La Salle a 3-0 semi-final win over Castel, who finished a creditable third.

Van der Vliet, 10, has recently had trials with the Goodison Park-based Premier League club and his goalkeeping skills ensured the De La Salle side he captains came to Guernsey as Jersey’s tournament winners.

But one day he wants to play in goal for rivals Liverpool.

‘I’m going to be the next Pepe Reina,’ he pledged.

But they only just scraped through and were two minutes away from going out against St Peter in the Jersey competition.

‘We have played better today and more as a team and it’s a lot harder than in Jersey,’ said the youngster.

Visiting teammate Iain Meiklejohn, 10, outlined the strong inter-insular rivalry.

‘They are our rivals and beating them is always going to be good,’ he said.

De La Salle coach Alan Joanny was pleased with his squad’s performance.

‘They have played much better than in the past and have gelled as a unit. This is the best football they have played this season and I think they deserve to be in the final,’ he said.

‘Tournaments like this are fantastic to come away and experience: it’s playing football in a different environment and the atmosphere is superb. It’s immense to come away and play other teams that are top of their league.

‘Hopefully they will realise working together produces results.’

De La Salle had knocked out last year’s CI winners Victoria College Prep in the Jersey tournament.