This Saturday saw an extremely impressive team performance from David Kennedy’s Jersey squad seal their place in the 2008 Muratti final. In blustery conditions at Mount Hale in Alderney the Jersey squad wasted little time in stamping their authority on the tie starting at a blistering pace.
It took eight minutes before Mark Brown received a thrown in from Jack Cannon that collected and ran at the Alderney defence. As he approached 27 yards he unleashed a blistering shot that flew past the stranded keeper into the back of the net.
A combination of the pin point accuracy of Jack Cannon’s crosses and the strength of Paul Aitken in the air continued to cause Alderney problems but it was another solo goal that doubled Jersey’s lead.
On 25 minutes Jersey were awarded a corner which Chris Andrews curled up and over the defending Alderney players directly into the goal.
Just 12 minutes later in was three when Mark Lucas scored from another long range shot which struck the back of the net in the top right hand corner. With no added on time for injury the referee blew for half time with Jersey leading 3-0.
The second half followed the same script as the first with Jersey continuing to dominate the game.
Twenty minutes into the half Chris Andrews was brought down just inside the penalty area to give Craig Leitch his chance to get on the score sheet. After the game was held up for five minutes due to the flare being thrown on to the pitch Leitch calmly slotted the ball home to make it 4-0.
At this point Jack Boyle joined the midfield replacing Chris Andrews and ten minutes later Kennedy swapped Paul Aitken for Barry Beatson.
Alderney then had their best chance of the game as Liam Daley tried to lob the Jersey Keeper but Andrew Bird confidently let the ball float over the bar.
On the 80th minute Leitch looked to double his score but saw his hot blocked by the keeper into the path of Beatson who side footed the ball into the net.
Marco Viera was then introduced into the game for Leitch with eight minutes remaining but he still made his impact on the game. A shot from Beatson was blocked by the defence and as the ball spun out Viera he volleyed the ball back past the stunned defence into the goal to make the score 6-0.
There was just enough time in time added on to take the final score to 7-0 as Russell Le Feuvre picked up a loose ball to shoot the ball into the net just before the final whistle.
Jersey now look forward to hosting the final against Guernsey on May 5th at Springfield Stadium.