American Striker Mark Laws.
BELS look to end their season on a high with victory in tomorrow’s Upton after a disappointing few weeks.
Since being crowned Priaulx champions at the beginning of March, the wheels have fallen off somewhat for the Micky Ogier coached team.
They have twice lost to their great rivals, North – in the Jeremie Cup semi-finals and, more painfully, in the Guernsey FA Cup final.
They now take on Jersey champions St Paul’s tomorrow.
‘It’s been disappointing,’ said Ogier.
‘We’ve not been putting the ball in the back of the net.’
Bels captain Leighton Chainey echoed his coach’s sentiments.
‘It’s disappointing to lose any game but we’ve lost to a good team,’ said the centre-half.
‘North are a good team. They played well in the cup final and in the Jeremie.
‘But we’ll lift ourselves up. It’d be nice to win another trophy as we’ve not got as many as we would have liked.’
Bels also tasted defeat at the Track on Monday against a touring Army XI.
They lost by a staggering 9-2 and were 6-0 down after 30 minutes.
However, Chainey says that not much should be looked into the result.
‘It was too much of a friendly,’ he said.
‘We had only half of our team. We were sitting back and not really trying.’
Bels will certainly not be putting half a team out tomorrow.
The only players missing are American striker Marc Laws, who is on holiday in France, and Scott Rowe.
The young goalkeeper is playing for Guernsey in the under-18 basketball inter-insular in Jersey.
Rhys Gower will replace him in-between the sticks while Marc McGrath looks set in take over from Laws.
All their big names – Chainey, Sam Cochrane, Neil Clegg, Dave Rihoy, Joby Bourgaize and Scott Bradford – are set to start.
But Ogier feels his side have a job on their hands against St Paul’s.
Ogier and his assistant, Shane Totty, went on a scouting mission to Jersey last weekend to watch the Combination League champions draw 2-2 with Rozel Rovers.
The Bels boss was impressed with what he saw.
‘To be honest, I think they start as favourites,’ he said.
‘We watched them on Saturday and they looked a really good side. The way they played on Saturday – it’s going to be hard for us.’
St Paul’s have a number of players to look out for.
Their captain and central defender, Stuart Andre, featured in last year’s Muratti for Jersey.
Midfielder Liam Walsh has been banging in plenty of goals this season since moving from Grouville.
Another player who has been finding the back of the net regularly is Craig Leitch.
The striker has been in phenomenal form, scoring 37 times so far this campaign with eight goals in the last six games.
‘Their midfield is quite strong and their centre back, Andre, is a class player,’ said Ogier.
‘Leitch up front is a good player as well. They’ve got a good all-round team.
‘They work hard.’
The one sour point ahead of the match is Craig Culkin’s threat to pull out of the fixture in protest at it being held at The Track, Bels’ home ground.
Ogier has decided to stay out of the furore and not respond to the St Paul’s coach.
‘I didn’t make the decision to play there. It’s got nothing to do with me,’ he said.
The match kicks off at 2pm.
Loading ...
Share this article:
What are these?