HAVING spent the past two football seasons bemoaning the chronic shortage of quality strikers, two of our best teams have fought two 6-5 crackers in which the standard of defending has left a lot to be desired.

Just what is going on lads? What’s with all this frivolous defending?

But thinking about it more deeply, it really is fairly straightforward. The 11-goal extravaganzas can be put down to a lack of leadership and organisation and, dare I say it, some pretty ordinary defending.

For all the excitement surrounding the emergence of Naro Zimmerman, you can bet your bottom dollar that were Kevin Graham still around, Saints wouldn’t be conceding six.

At the other end, North are badly missing their own leader, the man who has been their rock for years, Stuart Polson.

I thought he, along with Graham, had retired gracefully. No self-trumpeting and dramatic farewells, but simply slipped off his boots for the last time.

But the good news is that ‘Polsy’ may yet be back and for all the rich potential in Mick Le Prevost’s squad, if they are to beat Jersey’s best come Upton day, they will need to be better organised at the back than they have been in recent weeks.

Polson told me while watching the recent Spiller Cup final that he does not rule out a return some time this season.

If it happens and Graham decides to pull on the boots for one final hurrah, you can forget any more 6-5s when these two meet.

BILL COHU is set to spearhead a new era for the Guernsey Motor Cycle and Car Club, which last weekend celebrated another busy year with a presentation dinner.

The atmosphere and fantastic camaraderie among racers were obvious to see, although one man not there to witness it was the club’s long-serving president, Chris Le Page.

Within days of the dinner, he was gone, Cohu, his deputy, having been elected to the top post at the club’s annual meeting.

This writer has had many a run-in with the outgoing GMC&CC leader, always on the phone and always, half-an-hour or so later, ending in a degree of harmony and friendliness.

I was sad to hear that a long period of ill health had sidelined Le Page to the extent that he has missed much of the final year’s action of a marathon stint at the helm.

Often confrontational and not easy to work with, especially if you were in the other camp – the Guernsey Kart and Motor Club – he might not be remembered with fondness by all motor-racers and there were times I could have throttled him, but you have to give him credit for the sheer passion he had for his club and the huge amount of work he has put in over the decades.

That should never be forgotten.

One matter he won’t have to deal with is the mooted new hill climb at St Saviour’s reservoir.

If one GMC&CC diehard had his way, it would start on the steep incline below the entrance to the reservoir car park, follow the road around the reservoir and finish with the climb to the former St Saviour’s/Mont Varouf school.

Who knows quite what the neighbours in this quiet part of Guernsey’s olde world will make of it?

But it sounds a sporting idea worth exploring.