SAM COCHRANE is thriving on the Guernsey FC experience in the way that anyone with the hunger to become a better footballer will surely have.

Against Warlingham on Saturday, Cochrane and the Green Lions virtually shut out one of the most dangerous attacks in Division One of the Combined Counties League and he did so with yet another defensive partner in Jacques Isabelle.

Previously this campaign, Cochrane had plugged the central defensive gap with Tom Strawbridge, Jamie Dodd and Alex Le Prevost, but with resources stretched and another juggling act required, Tony Vance opted to move Isabelle inside and leave Angus Mackay, so important in a multi-faceted midfield role, to hinge the mid-line.

Isabelle and the new pairing came through with flying colours and by the end Vance had another tactical scenario in the memory bank for the time he comes around to selecting a team to defeat Alderney in the Muratti Vase semi and, then, Jersey in the final.

OK, the latter might be a tad presumptuous but there can no be doubt that by the time the May clash comes around Guernsey’s team will be the best prepared ever in the century-plus history of the biggest single annual game in CI football.

Craig Culkin, the Jersey coach, would snap an arm off to have a 40-game league and cup season to prepare for the big one.

The odds on Isabelle playing against Jersey must be shortening by the week, although despite his excellence in the ‘5’ role on Saturday, his chances of a cap will be at right-back.

Cochrane no doubt has his own opinion on who he should line up with, but concedes there are alternatives aplenty and knows he has to maintain his own standards if he is to lead out another Muratti side.

‘Yeah, another partner and I’ve had a few now,’ he said standing on the Whyteleafe ground touchline after his warm down and a few short chats with some of the exiled Lions supporters.

‘Jacques played very well. He snapped his bungee a couple of times, but we reeled him in,’ said the skipper in reference to Isabelle’s early adventures upfield.

The strange thing is that on Saturday’s evidence the Green Lions management would probably not blink at the thought of Isabelle filling the role again were the Muratti tomorrow, and the same might be the case if availability necessitated Chris Mauger and Jason Winch playing on the flanks of a midfield diamond.

Indeed, if the Muratti team was picked this week, it would possibly be a whole lot different to the one which trotted out at the Track in May and threw away a game they should have cake-walked, and Mauger and Winch would be contenders simply because they are fit and are performing, stating a case which had Guernsey FC not been around may well never happened.

The nature of weekly UK league football, especially for a side cut off by the English Channel, is that new opportunities arise on a regular basis.

It allows the likes of Matt Loaring to state his own case as Ross Allen’s strike partner for the Muratti side.

It’s not as far-fetched a thought as some might think.

Loaring was superb at Warlingham, his pace, trickery and sheer effervescence making him a nightmare for ‘The Wars’ to contain.

Sure, he may still run up blind alleys on occasion, but he ensured GFC did not miss Glyn Dyer in leafy Whyteleafe, nor Dave Rihoy, nor Luke Winch, nor Craig Young.

Loaring is firing and, after a couple of unspectacular years in domestic football where he was stymied by regular hamstring troubles and perhaps the realisation he was not going to be the professional footballer he had set his heart on, had lost his way a little.

But in GFC colours he is once again the bright young prospect he was at 16. He is playing with impressive vigour. It is his new chance and one he seems determined to take.

I am not going to say he is going to keep a Dyer or Rihoy out of the Muratti teams, but he is now a very sound option and, if circumstances permit, may win that first senior cap before the season’s end.

Mauger never stood out as a junior in the same fashion as Loaring, but as St Martin’s began to dominate domestically he showed himself to be a highly effective right-sided raider who scored some spectacular goals and provided a string of assists.

Not a Muratti player though?

Well, that may have been the widely-held view.

But now he has had a few opportunities for the Lions that is no longer a ridiculous option.

Mauger was arguably man-of-the-match against Warlingham.

If Guernsey choose to play a midfield diamond against Alderney and Jersey, he could, on the Warlingham evidence, fit the bill because he provides so much energy, speed and threat.

With a proper right-back behind him, then why not?

You could say the same about Jason Winch on the left.

Nobody would have expected him to have featured so gladly for the Lions, but he has taken his chance with both hands, displaying admirable versatility.

He is a Muratti option if the tactics or availability list require it.

And, importantly I would argue, the GFC league campaign now puts added pressure on Guernsey’s finest to perform and get off that treatment table double-quick.

Dyer, Rihoy, Young and the younger Winch will have noted Loaring’s performance and goal against Warlingham, with varying degrees of concern.

In past seasons, and certainly before the National League System Cup came along, it would not have overly mattered had Dyer or Rihoy been sidelined for so long, as they simply were not missing much and could bide their time as their reputations were so strong.

Of course, they remain fine players and I would not bet against either playing against Jersey, but the selection climate has changed, which can only be a good thing.

Probably no more than six players are certain starters for the Muratti final, given that they are fully fit and wish to play.

The half-dozen are at the spine of the side: Chris Tardif in goal, Cochrane at centre-back, Mackay in midfield (anywhere), Ryan-Zico Black (best at either point of a diamond), Dominic Heaume at either the head of the diamond or right up to alongside the scoring machine that is Allen.

But every other position is very much up for grabs and there is a growing list of options to fill them.

That can only be to Guernsey’s benefit.