GUERNSEY ‘threw it away’ as they lost to Dorset in the semi-finals of the South & West Counties under-18s’ Mick Parry Memorial Cup. According to their manager, Paul Ockleford, the greens were the superior team at Hamworthy on Saturday but ended up losing 4-1.
‘I’m deeply disappointed and if I had a cat, I’d be kicking it all round the room,’ he said.
‘We threw it away.
‘We were by far the better team and if it had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped after 10 minutes.
‘The only football being played was by us. They were the weakest county side we’ve played against by a long shot and we lost a great opportunity to get to a final.’
The Sarnians dominated the early stages before Dorset got a goal totally against the run of play.
The junior island side proceeded to call the shots for the rest of the half, but could not get the equaliser.
‘We had lots of opportunities going forward but we weren’t severe enough in front of goal,’ said Ockleford.
A Guernsey goal eventually came early in the second half, when North winger Matt Loaring got on the end of a cross into area.
But the wheels came off a couple of minutes later when Bels keeper Scott Rowe gifted Dorset the ball and they duly went 2-1 up.
It changed the tone of the match as the home side proceeded to get two more.
After having had time to analyse the game, Ockleford believes he can put his finger on the problem.
‘We don’t play football at a quick-enough level,’ he said.
‘We were still playing our Youth One game in a county game and it doesn’t work.
‘We were too relaxed, taking casual turns like we do.
‘It doesn’t happen in county football - they muller you. That was the problem.’
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