BY THE time you read this North players and supporters could be cock-a-hoop having beaten Bels in the first of the rivals’ three Division One league meetings last night.

On the other hand, those Northerners might have their hearts in their boots having lost to Ian Champion’s side.

Either way, the league will not have been won or lost. No need for despondency folks.

But some will argue that a North defeat would have rendered pointless Mick Le Prevost’s decision to rest half of this first team for the Stranger Cup tie with Athletics in midweek.

It was a decision that did not pay off and the chance of some silverware has gone, down the same chute as the Rawlinson.

But Le Prevost should not be castigated for it, instead he should be applauded in giving some exciting young talent a taste of our low level top-flight in the face of a tough hand dealt his way by the fixtures secretary.

North produce a stream of talent like no other club in the island and they should be applauded for it.

Others produce good teams but have yet to discover how the chocolate-and-blues manage to nurture it through to the senior ranks.

The trouble is North do it too well and, as they discovered when a new team arrived on the scene and dangled a carrot, they could not satisfy the ambitions of all and several departed to Athletics.

It is a fine line North tread with their production line likely to work to the benefit of other clubs for the simple reason that they cannot satisfy the demands of so many good players.

But, the trick is, and I would think Le Prevost should have learned it after this summer’s exits, to identify those he and North really want to bring on, go with them and, if need be, discard some of the established talent he may have.

Judging by Wednesday’s performance, even in defeat, North may have lost real talent but they have not been left short, far from it.

Scott Bougourd just keeps on getting better, and while currently stymied by a hamstring pull, Matt Loaring is another who should be a North regular for years.

Behind them, Will Garnett is a precocious talent that needs an avenue to fully flourish, and Stuart Roussel, Richard Bourgaize, Mark Buddle, Jordan Griffin and Chris Le Cheminant have ability.

North can’t afford to slip up this time but, judging by his selections over the course of the season to date, I am sure Le Prevost knows that and that’s why he was happy to take a risk on Wednesday night.

Contrast North with Rovers’ player production.

It seems only yesterday that they had a Corbet Cup side that wiped the floor with everyone and, just as in the mid-90s when they had an under-16 side of high class, Rovers were salivating at the prospect of those youngsters turning the club’s fortunes around at senior level.

It did not happen then and, judging by the steady exodus of that fine group brought through by Ian Ozanne, it won’t happen again.

I am not close enough to the situation to know the answer, but I suspect that the Port Soif club are suffering from a mix of the trend of modern Guernsey youth to want everything now and not have to work for it, or the thought of having to fight to succeed is simply too much effort.