A warm welcome on a warm afternoon was received from the officials at Bedfont & Feltham whose team we had beaten 3-0 both home and away last season. Both were hard fought matches against a team that were lying 6th at the “cessation of hostilities” last season.

The latter match was the Bulls penultimate game of last season and now just over six months later the Bulls faced a tough opening fixture, of any kind for them this season, against a side that had already played seven pre-season friendlies.

The pitch was very well grassed, the cynics suggesting it was to stop the Bulls passing game, the more kind hearted saying it was for protecting a pitch that is shared with next week’s opponents, British Airways.

With pandemic and flight restrictions meaning anyone travelling would not be able to work on Monday the team was described by one player as being down to the “bare bones” with just the eleven starters plus a debutant and the assistant manager on the bench. However the “skeleton crew” were to do very well.

The match was the first to be streamed live back to Jersey and those at home saw the Bulls kicking off towards the clubhouse end. The Bulls had most of the early possession whilst Bedfont had a few free kick opportunities around the edge of the box to concern the Bulls’ defence.

After 27 minutes Ruben Pestana looked to have given the Bulls the lead but Daniel Grefsheim, who proved to be a good shot stopper all afternoon, did well to push the ball around his left post for a corner. A minute later Fraser Barlow was fortunate not to add to his collection of seasonal firsts when a rash tackle had the Bedfont bench howling in protest at the lack of a caution.

The Bulls did take the lead shortly afterwards when a diagonal through ball from Adam Trotter gave Kieran Lester the time to pick his spot in the top right corner. Barlow was then put clear twice, right at the end of the half, but the first chance went just wide and the second was placed high, rather than low, and that was sufficient to give Grefsheim the opportunity to touch it on to the bar and over.

Still looking for the comforting second goal ten minutes after the change of ends Kamen Nafkha hit a glorious twenty yard shot arrowing towards the right top corner but Grefsheim managed to push it on to the outside of his left post and away for another corner.

Two minutes later a Bedfont corner was only half cleared and central defender Charlie Dunckley thumped it back from 15 yards. A defender managed to block it but assistant Terry Pusey was well positioned after the corner to see that the ball was clearly over the line for the equaliser.

This buoyed the home efforts and manager Gary Freeman’s riposte was to bring on debutant Arthur Illingworth to bolster the Bulls’ efforts up front. Pestana did well to create a half chance a quarter of an hour from the end but dragged his half volley wide. However within a minute he had restored the Bulls’ lead with an emphatic volley from a right wing cross put in by Jonny Le Quesne.

Home heads dropped and five minutes later Barlow played in Lester for his second goal before Barlow himself stabbed in a Pestana corner from a couple of yards. This with a minute to go gave the Bulls their “usual” three goal margin against Bedfont. As play went in to added time Pestana almost added another as he struck a rasping shot that left the home crossbar quivering.

Back home those watching the streaming service were given a short list of three by the commentators for the Bulls’ player of the match. If it had been for Bedfont it surely would have been Grefsheim. 73 votes came in, exactly half the numberwatching at Bedfont, and the award went to Lester with 33, seeing off Le Quesne 25 and Mendes 15; all of whom would have been worthy winners.

Bedfont & Feltham (0) 1; Jersey Bulls (1) 4
(Charlie Dunckley 57; Kieran Lester (2) 35 & 82, Ruben Pestana 77, Fraser Barlow 89)

Attendance - 146

Programme – 20 pages, £1

Bedfont & Feltham – Daniel Grefsheim, Sam Evans, Nathan Smith, Elliott Hamden, Charlie Dunckley, Jamie Pearce, Kelvin Karanja, Noah Kibreab, Tariq Sidaoui, Ross Nunn ©, Jae Kelly
Substitutes – Dwayne Silcott (not used), James Wilson (for Kibreab 60), Charlie Collins (for Sidauoi 60), Tom Betts (not used), Michael Capon (for Jae Kelly 39 injured)

Adam Bessent (Manager), Jake Bessent (Assistant), Fadi Ananzeh (Coach), Andy Nolan (Physio.)

Jersey Bulls – Bradley Rolland, Jonathan Le Quesne, Jay Giles, Jack Griffin, Luke Campbell ©, Kamen Nafkha, Harry Cardwell, Adam Trotter, Fraser Barlow, Ruben Pestana, Kieran Lester
Substitutes – Arthur Illingworth (for Cardwell 64), Kevan Nelson (not used) (only two substitutes)

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant), Jason Carpenter (Coach)

Referee – Jarnail “John” Singh-Gill (Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire) Born in the Punjab and now aged 58 Jarnail is a former Football League referee who refereed the 2010 Muratti at Springfield and the Bulls at Cove last season. His two sons are also both highly “ranked” referees, Bhupinder “Bhupsy” is a League 1 & 2 assistant referee and Sunny a National Conference referee.

Assistants – Terry Pusey (Hanwell, Middlesex) making his Bulls bow after missing most of last season with illness and Paul Saunders (Woking, Surrey) who was also at Cove last season as well as travelling over to Springfield for when we met Bagshot.

Cautions – Kamen Nafkha (Jersey Bulls) 71 and Ross Nunn (Bedfont & Feltham) 84

Corners – Bedfont & Feltham (3) 6, Jersey Bulls (5) 15

Man of the Match Award – Kieran Lester