The inaugural Bulls Cup, sponsored by Grant Thornton, kicked off in 26C heat with the hosts entertaining Essex based Hashtag United.

Hashtag were founded in 2016 by Spencer Carmichael-Brown whose father Steve was acting as their physiotherapist for this trip. After two years playing exhibition matches, including one at Springfield, which were filmed and put on YouTube, they joined the Eastern Counties League in 2018.

In their initial season they shared the Haringey Borough ground and won the Division 1 South title. Promoted to the Essex Senior League they moved in with Tilbury and were lying second with games in hand when the season was halted. A third season saw a third ground share, now with Bowers and Pitsea. Again, the season was curtailed, this time with Hashtag in pole position. Like Jersey they gained promotion based on the combination of their record over the two abandoned seasons and last season competed in Isthmian League Division 1 North where they finished eighth.

Hashtag kicked off attacking the Robin Hood end but early play was mostly in midfield as the players adapted to the heat. Just before the half hour Sol Solomon wriggled through the Hashtag defence but could only find the side netting to the right of the goal. Four minutes later he opened the scoring as he latched on to a long throw by Kieren Stephens from near to the dug outs to the penalty spot. Harassed by a defender his first shot was parried by ‘keeper Anthony Page before he tucked in the rebound from close range.

Hashtag equalised three minutes later when a long ball down the right by Billy Willis found Kojo Apenteng in space. Central defenders Jack Lumsden and Sammy Sutcliffe vainly appealed to linesman, Neil Giannoni, for offside. Apenteng did not wait on ceremony and advanced before hitting the ball past Pierce Roche’s right hand.

Jersey regained the lead early in the second half when Jonny Le Quesne’s flick on gave Lorne Bickley a ball to chase down the right channel. Holding off defender Harry Haysom his shot struck the advancing Carlos Simeon and trickled just inside the left post as Jersey supporters held their breath.

Just before the hour half-time substitute Jake Prince finished a mazy run by passing inside to Solomon whose shot from the edge of the area just went wide of the right post. Five minutes later a similar move saw Prince set up Ruben Mendes and he placed his shot in to the roof of the net to put Jersey 3-1 up. Another Prince raid ten minutes from time presented late substitute Darryl Mvalo with a chance but his first touch gave him a narrow angle to work with and Simeon saved at the foot of the right post.

In the last minute of normal time Jermaine Francis thought he had reduced the arrears for Hashtag only to find that linesman Harry Walker had spotted him narrowly offside. Perhaps frustrated by this a couple of minutes later Francis hacked at Mendes’ heels in front of the dug outs and when pushed firmly away by the injured party Francis went down holding his face as though poleaxed. This attempt to exacerbate the situation was swiftly brought under control before the final whistle sounded shortly afterwards.

Jersey Bulls 3 (Sol Solomon 32, Lorne Bickley 53, Ruben Mendes 64);

Hashtag United 1 (Kojo Apenteng 35)

Attendance – 346

Programme – covering all four matches, 32pp, £2

Jersey Bulls – Pierce Roche, Frank Tobin, James Carr, Jack Lumsden, Sammy Sutcliffe, Joe Kilshaw, Kieren Stephens, Adam Trotter (c), Lorne Bickley (wore 16), Jonny Le Quesne, Sol Solomon

Substitutes –12. Harry Curtis (for Lumsden 62), 14. Francis Lekimamati (for Solomon 46), 15. Josh Coutanche (for Carr 62), 18. Darryl Mvalo (for Bickley 76), 19, John Lloyd (for Sutcliffe 76), 20. Jake Prince (for Stephens 46), 21. Euan Van der Vliet (not used), 22. Ruben Mendes (for Kilshaw 64), 23. Max Thompson (for Trotter 82)

Note – Richard Hebert named as sub GK on Sunday not nominated for this match.

Red/White/Red; GKs both All Green

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant), Dan Seviour (Coach), Richard Hebert (GK Coach)

Hashtag United – 1. Anthony Page, 3. Max Harbrow, 5. Harry Haysom, 6. Joe Debell, 9. Max Teniola, 10. Joni Vukaj, 12. Eman Okunja, 14. Billy Willis, 16. Jake Lindsey, 17. Percy Kiangbeni (c), 19. Kojo Apenteng

Substitutes – 2. Matthew Wooldridge (for Vukaj 46), 4. Eli Benoit (for Harbrow 62), 7. Jermaine Francis (for Haysom 62), 8. Mekhi Hyde (not used), 11. Pedro Carvalho (for Lindsey 62), 13. Carlos Simeon (for Page 46), 15. Tommy Sykes (for Apenteng 82), 18. Iyiola Adebayo (not used), 20. Nathan Wilson (for Willis 82)

Note – Adebayo was named in the initial starting line up but injured himself in the warm up and was replaced by Vukaj before the match started. Ben Brookes, Max Cornhill and Toby Aromolaran were not named in this squad but played on Sunday.

Blue (Yellow shoulders) / Blue (Yellow trim) / Yellow (Blue tops); GKs both All Turquoise

Jay Devereux (Manager), Joe Keith (Assistant), Paul Prosser (Coach), Steve Carmichael-Brown (Physio.), Ellis Deveruex (Kit), Marcus Stamp (Media)

Formations
Jersey Bulls (4-3-3 R to L) 1; 2-5-4-3; 6-8-10; 7-16-11
Hashtag United (4-4-2 R to L) 1; 14-6-5-3; 19-17-12-16; 10-9

Referee – Callum Peter (Guildford) referee of the remarkable home match v Walton & Hersham in November 2021. Since then promoted to Level 3.

Assistants – Harry Walker (Jersey) on the dug-out side and Neil Giannoni (Jersey) on the grandstand side.

Drinks breaks (26C) – 21, 38 and 67 minutes

Cautions – None

Corners – Jersey Bulls (2) 6, Hashtag United (2) 6

Player of the Match Award – Jake Prince

Saturday 16th July 2022 (5.30p.m.)

Bulls Cup Second Semi-Final

F.C. United of Manchester v Cray Wanderers

The second semi-final saw the relatively young club of F.C. United of Manchester take on the oldest club in London, Cray Wanderers.

The northerners were formed in 2005 in response to the American takeover of Manchester United. With the team based at Bury’s Gigg Lane progress was rapid, with three promotions in their first three seasons taking them to the Northern Premier League. After three failed play-off campaigns in the next four years, they eventually won the league and a place in National League North. This coincided with the opening of their own stadium, the 4,250 capacity, Broadhurst Park. Four seasons at Step 2/Level 6 ended with relegation back to the Northern Premier League where they are about to undertake a fourth season in their second spell.

Cray Wanderers were founded in 1860 at St. Mary Cray, near Bromley. They were founder members of the Kent League in 1894 and during the Edwardian era were a nursery club for Arsenal, then based at Woolwich. The loss of their ground, Fordcroft, in 1936, saw them forced to play at lower levels until 1951 saw them back in the London leagues. They remained there until returning to the Kent League in 1978. They were runners-up in their second year back and reached the F.A. Vase quarter-finals. The following season they won the league and reached the last sixteen of the Vase before another period of mediocrity ensued.

With no floodlights possible at their now Oxford Road home Cray became tenants at Bromley F.C. in 1998. Based there they won the Kent League (later to be known as the Southern Counties East League) in 2003 and again in 2004, as well as reaching the Vase quarter-final again in the latter season. This saw Cray elevated to the Isthmian League where play-off success in 2008 took them up to the Premier Division for five seasons. Their fifth season back in Division 1 saw them take the title and return to the Premier Division in 2019. After two curtailed seasons they just escaped relegation in 2022. Still currently tenants at Bromley, plans were approved for their own ground at Flamingo Park, near the Sidcup bypass in November 2018, and Cray hope to move in there for the 2023-24 season.

With the temperature still at 26C, and feeling much hotter at ground level. Cray kicked-off attacking the Town End. A lovely ball forward by Alex Wollerton helped break the early deadlock. Defender Jalen Jones got himself the wrong side of Max McCarthy whose excellent first touch took him well clear of Jones. Advancing down the right channel he clinically finished the opportunity past Shaun Rowley’s left hand.

It became heated in the game too and the captains were called together after a bout of “handbags” ten minutes before half time as a consequence of a poor tackle by Harold Joseph on Wollerton as he broke through the midfield. Shortly afterwards Sam Wood, twice in a minute, provided excellent diagonal cross field balls from the left. In both cases Anthony Cook headed agonisingly wide of the left post as Cray almost gained an equaliser before half-time.

Billy Crook was just wide for Cray after the interval before Max McCarthy doubled his own and Manchester’s tally three minutes later. A loose ball in the right channel twenty yards out was seized upon and McCarthy’s first-time shot was curled into the bottom right corner before anyone else could move.

Substitute Regan Linney seized upon a poor defensive header by Joseph back to Rowley but the ‘keeper just got enough on it for it to spin away fowards the fanzone section of the ground. The resultant corner was delivered by skipper Charlie Ennis to the far post where Curtis Jones rose highest with a firm downward header for Manchester’s third goal.

With a minute to go Cray looked as though they might score. A cross from the right was met at the far post by a towering header from Anthony Adesite. However, Dan Lavercombe, maintained his clean sheet with a magnificent save, pushing the ball on to the underside of the bar before it bounced down and was cleared to maintain the Northerners three goal margin.

F.C. United of Manchester 3 (Max McCarthy 19 & 60, Curtis Jones 74);
Cray Wanderers 0

Attendance – 201

Programme – covering all four matches, 32pp, £2

F.C. United of Manchester – Dan Lavercombe, Clive Smith, Josh Askew, Tom Murray, Jan Palinkas, Curtis Jones, Alex Wollerton, Charlie Ennis (c), Jack Anderton, Edy Maieco, Max McCarthy.

Substitutes – 12. Guy Hall (for Askew 68), 14. Regan Linney (for Maieco 40), 15. Adam Poole (for Smith 78), 16. Will Unsworth (for Murray 78), 17. Toby Humphries (for Anderton 72), 18. Jack Bennett (for Palinkas 78), 21. Harry McGee (for Wollerton 61)

Red/White/Black; GK All Grey

Neil Reynolds (Manager), Jimmy Deadman (Kit), Olivia Smith (Physio.), Joe Winskill (Kit Assistant), Nigel Brookes (Junior Kit).

Cray Wanderers – Shaun Rowley, Alex Bentley, Sam Wood (wore 12), Sam Skeffington, Harold Joseph, Jalen Jones, Danny Bassett, Billy Crook, Tom Derry, Anthony Cook (c), Nyren Clunis,

Substitutes – 3. Jacob Munting (not used), 13, Jacob Russell (GK not used), 14 Freddie Barton (for Cook 84), 15. Tom Hanfrey (not used), 16. Chris Dickson (for Derry 52), 17. Anthony Adesite (for Bassett 78), 18. Jordan Agosthe (not used), 19. Sinn’kaye Christie (not used), 20. Kevin Dance (for Clunis 78)
Note – Mitchell Chapman was not included in this squad but played on Sunday

Yellow (Black shoulders) / Yellow / Yellow; GK All Green

Neil Smith (Manager), Tim O’Shea (Assistant), Matt Longhurst (Coach), Alfie George (GK Coach), Paddy Gray (Kit), Emily Sawyer (Physio.)

Formations
F.C. United of Manchester (4-3-3 R to L) 1; 2-5-6-3; 4-8-7; 11-10-9
Cray Wanderers (4-4-2 R to L) 1; 12-6-5-2; 4-8-11-7; 9-10

Referee – Ollie Kaya (Wokingham). Referee of the Bulls at Frimley Green in January and at home to Raynes Park Vale in March. Since then promoted to Level 3.

Assistants – Toni Cardoso (Jersey) on the dug-out side and Paulo Franco (Jersey) on the grandstand side.

Drinks breaks (26C) – 22 and 66 minutes

Cautions – None

Corners – F.C. United of Manchester (0) 2; Cray Wanderers (1) 2

Player of the Match Award – Max McCarthy