This Is Guernsey

By Aaron Scoones

SYLVANS clinched what could well be the last-ever Youth One title at St Peter’s on Friday evening.

Brady Lesbirel receives the Youth One shield from GFA chairman Dave Nussbaumer.

As expected, they comfortably defeated Rangers 4-0 to claim their first under-18 title since 1993.

Coach Clive Bateman was a member of that junior team and was delighted to reclaim the trophy after 15 years.

‘It’s fantastic,’ he said. ‘I’m probably more excited than they are. It’s a different sort of feeling from winning it as a player but it means a lot both ways.’

Rangers, with nothing to play for themselves, were surprisingly up for the match on a beguilingly sunny April evening, and proved to have more get-up-and-go than the champions-elect in the opening exchanges.

Ashleigh Williams had to be at his best to turn over a sharp drive from Tristan Brown on 15 minutes to stop Rangers from taking the lead.

But Sylvans’ nerves were eased on 21 minutes when Jamie Le Cheminant capitalised on a defensive error to loop a far post header into the net for the opener.

After that, the westerners never looked back, although there were no further goals in the first period.

Just 90 seconds after the break Matt Le Prevost made the result certain when he fired home after a melee in the box following a corner.

And within a further five minutes, Le Cheminant had grabbed his second with a fine finish across the goalkeeper as he came in on the right to meet a crossfield pass.

Brown had the ball in the net for Rangers, but the goal was disallowed for a handball in the build up, and the final strike of the night came from Luke Green, who tapped home from six yards with his first touch after having come on as substitute.

Sylvans striker Wayne Bishop was hugely energetic all night but had one of those days when he would never find the net. His side will need him to be on form to keep up their unbeaten Portsmouth Trophy record next month.

Bateman said it had been a competitive season.

‘At the end of January there were still four sides in it,’ he said.

‘I felt all along that we had a strong side and when we played it simple we could beat anybody. Sometimes, though, we tried to overcomplicate things – we were our own worst enemy.’

They lost only two matches in the league season – to a last-minute goal against Bels, having fought back from 2-0 down, and to Vale Rec, having thrown away a two-goal lead.

‘I was hoping that wouldn’t come back to haunt us,’ said Bateman.

‘This team should have won the Youth Two a couple of years ago, but lost a couple of games and threw away the league. They have all grown as players since then.’

GFA president Dave Nussbaumer presented the historic shield to winning captain Brady Lesbirel before what may have been the biggest crowd of the season at St Peter’s and made reference to the fact that it could be its last outing.

Bateman is unsure whether he supports the proposed changes.

‘I think that maybe losing one of the senior leagues is the right way to go, but I’m not sure if they need to change things at junior level yet.

* St Martin’s won the Rouget Cup final, beating Rovers 2-0.

Article posted on 14th April, 2008 - 2.29pm