Match Report: Jersey Bulls 4 Fleet Town 0
Jersey Bulls prove too strong for Fleet Town on the day, which extends Fleet’s losing tun to four games.
The game was only five minutes old, when play was stopped for prolonged treatment to Tane Caubo, taking eight minutes to patch him up so he could continue. Jersey Bulls, still pressing for the automatic promotion spot, took the lead after fifteen minutes when the ball reached Toby Ritzema, he turned and smashed the ball into the far side of the goal. Only six minutes later Toby Ritzema was in again and found the net for his and Jersey’s second goal. At this point Fleet brought off the struggling Tane Caubo, replacing him with Sam Ilesanmi. Jersey were enjoying a dominant spell without adding to the score, Finley Purcell saving from Curtis Guthrie, Lorne Bickley shot wide and a super save by Finley Purcell from a Fraser Barlow rocket strike, all before the half hour mark.
After thirty minutes, Fleet Town had a free kick in an attacking position, but was easily cleared and soon Jersey had another chance but Luke Watson shot wide. in the second minutes of first half added time, Fleet Town had their first shot of the match, but the ball flew wide. Half time came with the home side just the two gaols ahead.
Fleet Town’s hopes for a second half fightback were short lived, when Lorne Bickley headed Jersey’s third goal only a couple of minutes into the half. Although Jersey still had a lot of possession, Fleet were doing a much better job at keeping them away from the goal, it was a further twenty minutes before a half chance presented itself to Jersey but Lorne Bickley mis-kicked and the chance had gone as Fleet cleared the ball. Karl Hinds was forced to shoot from distance but he could not keep the ball down and it easily cleared the bar, but after seventy-six minutes Jersey did score again, through another Lorne Bickley header. As with the home game back in December, Fleet Town played their best football in the final minutes when they were already 4-0 down and had most of the possession in the final minutes but this time could not find a way to pull a consolation goal back. After a delay for treatment to Curtis Guthrie in added time, the final whistle blew to send most of the 954 crowd home happy.
Fleet Town still hang on in a play off position with challengers Tadley Calleva and Tooting & Mitcham both losing as well on the day, but with Redhill keeping on winning at the top, another trip to Jersey in the play offs remains a possibility, though Redhill and Jersey Bulls play each other twice in the coming weeks.
Fleet Town are back in action at The Easy As HGV Stadium on Saturday afternoon against Guildford City and then another home game on Tuesday 1st April to Cobham.
