A NIGHTMARE few minutes brought Guernsey’s dream of European football glory crashing down yesterday in Croatia.

With 92 minutes played, islanders suffering the agony of ‘watching’ the match via the minute-by-minute text report on the Uefa website still had hope.

A single goal at that stage would have been enough to secure a vital score draw from the island’s biggest ever match and, with it, qualification to yet another stratosphere of football.

Sadly, three minutes later, Guernsey paid the price for chasing the game against strong opposition with only 10 men. Two quick goals from their Turkish opponents brought a misleading 3-0 scoreline.

It was a cruel end to what has been a glorious sporting campaign.

For proud Guernsey fans, especially the diehard 91 who accompanied the team to Croatia, it has been a fantastic journey. To see ‘our team’ pull on the same shirt as legends such as Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton has raised expectation and interest to new highs.

The knock-on effect for that run of success will hopefully be more Guernsey children getting involved in the island’s ‘national sport’.

It should be much easier to coach minis football and get a commitment to training when youngsters can see the level that can be achieved despite coming from a small island.

Each young player can now dream of one day emulating the 18-strong squad, who did the island proud by producing victory after victory, often when all hope seemed lost.

So, disappointing though yesterday’s result and the brutal tactics of their opponents were, the players and management team can hold their heads high when they walk through Guernsey departures this evening.

For, unlike the ‘other’ England team at this summer’s World Cup, Guernsey at least gave it a go. So tight were the margins of success and failure that it all probably rested on a pre-tour injury to a key player and one or two game-changing errors.

Regardless, now that Guernsey has tasted life at the top, the incentive to get back to the top table will surely be even greater.

And it won’t hurt to remind Jersey that playing them in the Muratti is now something of a comedown.