Jersey travelled to Burnham, just west of Slough, who had started the season with seven wins, five in the league and two in the F.A. Cup. The first six had all been by a single goal margin and the two cup wins had been against fellow Combined Counties North teams. Burnham have been on the fringes of the play-off places for the past three seasons having finished fourth, sixth and sixth again last season.

Jersey made three changes to their squad with Fraser Barlow, Toby Ritzema and Will Yates replacing Pierce Roche, James Carr and Harry Mackenzie. Daniel Jinadu,

Jay Giles and Francis Lekimamati were the changes to the starting line up replacing Roche, Carr and Luke Coutanche respectively. The latter was on the bench along with Fraser Barlow, Toby Ritzema and Will Yates.

Burnham brought in Brandon Jackson and Sean Basaye from the bench, in place of Jamie Mitchell and Joel Ampabeng. The former was one of their seven substitutes.

Jersey had an early half chance when Miguel Carvalho broke down the left but hiscross just eluded Joe Kilshaw charging in to volley home in the centre. A better opportunity came on the quarter hour when a Rai Dos Santos corner was headed wide at the far post by Jamie Watling. Burnham responded when skipper Jordan Brown was put through, but Jinadu was out quickly to close him down.

Jersey thought they had taken the lead after 24 minutes when a brilliant through ball by Lekimamati down the left channel enabled Carvalho to run on to slot home a cross shot. However, the assistant indicated that Carvalho had come back from an offside position. It was a very poor decision.

Ten minutes later Carvalho had a similar opening after an Adam Trotter flick on but from a seemingly easier position he put his eight yard cross shot just wide of the right post. Shortly afterwards Dos Santos seized on a Zakari Otoo error and advanced down the right but under pressure from the recovering Otoo and faced by the advancing Archie Cunningham he shot into the side netting.

Cunningham pulled off an excellent one handed save from a Dos Santos cross shotbut from the subsequent corner Jersey took the lead.

It was initially cleared but when the ball was returned Dos Santos cut in from left andpassed to Carvalho whose shot was blocked. The rebound fell to Lumsden who coolly placed it into right corner to give Jersey a half time lead.

After the break another Dos Santos corner was met by a Lumsden glancing header,but it went wide of the left post. Burnham now had their best spell of the match. A

Sandro Camara free kick was met by his homophonic teammate Yahaya Kamara but it was pushed away by Jinadu diving to his right. Two minutes later a seeming Burnham equaliser from a diagonal lobbed cross was deemed to have gone out inthe build up which none of the players seemed to be aware of.

Dos Santos had a close in shot saved by Cunningham’s legs before Christian Mulindwa shot into the side netting and Camara had a dipping twenty yarder tipped over by Jinadu.

The pressure was relieved by a “worldy” midway through the half. Sean Basaye was threatened by Luke Watson and his cross field pass was intercepted by Dos Santosjust inside centre circle, and he chipped the backpeddling Cunningham from over forty yards. His backflip celebration was almost as good.

Cunningham parried a powerful Adam Trotter half volley and Jinadu did well again to push a rising shot from near the penalty spot by Brown over the bar. Jinadu was penalised by the already controversial assistant for handling the ball outside the penalty box as he cleared. As play had already moved to the other half it took a while before the referee called play back.

Carvalho had a shot cleared off the line by Jamie Mitchell but, in the next minute substitute Barlow was brought down by Mulindwa for a penalty. With everyone expecting Queree to take it after his success at Merstham on Monday the Jersey followers were surprised to see Carvalho step forward. He shot firmly to the bottom left corner as Cunningham went the other way.

Ritzema was brought on for the last ten minutes and in added time he went close with a cross shot that was saved by Cunningham but it would not have counted as the other assistant got in on the gratuitous flag waving act by incorrectly indicating that he was offside.

Burnham – Archie Cunningham, Kevar March-McKenzie, Brandon Jackson, Yahaya Kamara, Sean Basaye, Zakari Otoo, Shyon Dennis, Christian Mulindwa, Jordan Brown (c), Kristian Belousas, Sandro Camara
Substitutes – 12. Jamie Mitchell (for Jackson 75), 14. Deluxe Mwengula (not used),15. Nabil Taitt (for Mulindwa 88), 16 Rafael Bertoli (not used), 17. Ellis Martin-Cherry(for March-McKenzie 88), 18. Albhy McCann (for Belousas 88), 19. David Bamidele(for Camara 75)

Royal Blue (White band across chest)/Royal Blue/Blue (Two White hoops): GK Green with Black tracksuit bottoms

Mo Bakali and Omar Bakali (Joint Managers), Gilbaut Batousol (Coach), Ghabriel Teles (Assistant Coach), Melanie Sanchez (Medical)

Jersey Bulls – Daniel Jinadu, Jack Lumsden (wore 16), Jay Giles (wore 14), James Queree (c), Jamie Watling, Luke Watson (wore 18), Adam Trotter (wore 12), Joe Kilshaw, Francis Lekimamati (wore 17), Rai Dos Santos, Miguel Carvalho
Substitutes – 3. Fraser Barlow (for Dos Santos 80), 15. Luke Coutanche (for Lekimamati 55), 20. Will Yates (for Kilshaw 66), 21 Toby Ritzema (for Carvalho 85), no fifth substitute

Red/White/Red: GK All Yellow

Elliot Powell (Manager), Dan Garton (Assistant), Dave Kennedy (Coach), Karl Benest (Kit), Nikki Nicolle (Medical)

Formations (R to L)

Burnham (4-3-3) 1; 2-5-6-3; 10-8-4; 11-9-7
Jersey Bulls (4-3-3) 1; 4-16-5-14; 8-18-12; 19-10-11

Officials – James S.C. Cantwell (St. Ives, Hunts), Mohamed Zouine (Wycombe) (dug outs), Dylan A. Lees-Jones (Bracknell) (grandstand)

Cautions – Rai Dos Santos (JB) 17, Zakai Otoo (B) 36. Miguel Carvalho (JB) 57, Daniel Jinadu (JB) 76, Kristian Belousas (B) 82

Corners – Burnham (2) 6, Jersey Bulls (3) 4

Assist(s) – Miguel Carvalho, Luke Watson, Fraser Barlow

Player of the Match – Daniel Jinadu

Added Time – 0.55 & 5.05 (6.00)