Jersey began the second half of their league season by visiting the only team they had not yet met. Frimley Green were due to play at Springfield on 3rd January but the match had to be re-arranged due to a pandemic problem within the Frimley Green squad.

Frimley Green are amongst a cluster of Combined Counties football clubs in the Farnborough and Aldershot area. Camberley Town is a couple of miles to the north whilst Cove is a similar distance to the west. They play on the local Recreation Ground which also incorporates tennis courts on your left as you drive in past the cricket pitch which is at the south end of the football ground.

They have had a somewhat “yo-yo” existence in the Combined Counties League. Initially entering in 1981 they played in it for thirteen seasons, never finishing higher than eighth, before dropping out after finishing bottom in 1994.

After nearly a decade away they returned in 2002 but after escaping relegation in 2006 having finished eighteenth of twenty-one teams they were demoted anyway as their ground failed to reach the required standard.

Frimley Green won the Division 1 title in 2013 and returned to the Premier Division for two seasons before finishing bottom again. A runners-up spot in 2019 saw them return to the Premier Division where the first abandoned season was more successful than the second when they had only three wins and two draws in the thirteen league matches that they completed.

This season they went out in their first match in the F.A. Cup but won through four rounds of the F.A. Vase before going out in the last sixty-four. In the league they are currently fifteenth with a 7-2-10 22-39 record but after their Vase exploits they have games in hand on the teams immediately above them.

Jersey were still missing the injured Adam Trotter and Lorne Bickley, but welcomed back Karl Hinds, who displaced Ruben Mendes-Pestana. Skipper James Queree was also unavailable and so Luke Campbell took over the armband with Jack Griffin taking Queree’s place in central defence. A third change saw Joe Kilshaw come into midfield in place of Jonny Le Quesne. Mendes-Pestana and Le Quesne were both on the bench along with Calvin Weir and Jake Prince.

Before the match, Campbell accepted the “F.A. Cup Factfile” award for “Surprise of the F.A. Cup” from the book’s compiler Phil Annets. This was in recognition of the 10-1 victory against Horsham Y.M.C.A. in Jersey’s debut match in the competition.

A relatively mild, but blustery afternoon, started on a dry but somewhat bumpy pitch, with Frimley Green kicking off attacking the cricket ground end. It was a dramatic start with the hosts spurning their only chance of the match after just 15 seconds.

From the kick off, the ball was fed back for a long crossfield ball pumped up to their captain Matthew Bunyan who headed it on to Jordan Carter on the right wing. Carter’s cross to the far post was met by Marcus Cousins who headed it back across the goal, just missing the right post, with a Jersey player yet to touch the ball.

Jersey received boisterous support throughout the match with a number of the “fanzone” travelling over for the game which doubled the usual attendance for the hosts. They were soon roused by a Sol Solomon twenty-yard cross shot that grazed the left post and were in full song when he scored direct from a corner for the third time in recent weeks.
On the quarter hour the same player reached the left byline and put in a low cross which failed to find anyone to finish it off. However, this led to a free kick by Jay Giles on the far side of the box which looked to possibly be heading to the top left corner before Campbell seemed to forget which end he was playing and managed to clear the danger instead of nodding it home.

Jersey did not have to wait long for their second goal. An end to end move saw Solomon play in Daryl Wilson and although his shot was not powerful it was at least on target. Chris Harris in the Frimley goal seemed to have everything under control as he caught it in both hands before it somehow wriggled through them.

Solomon had another shot blocked and after thirty-nine minutes looked to have scored a third after a good through ball by Hinds. Linesman Lowe thought otherwise in what must have been a very close decision. In added time Solomon had another attempt saved before his twenty-five yard shot was pushed over the bar.

Solomon was not to be denied though and two minutes after the break scored Jersey’s third. Set up by Wilson he swept his second home from fifteen yards into the top right corner. Two minutes later he had his hat-trick. This time Hinds was the provider and although Solomon was tight to the left byline he managed to squeeze his cross shot into the bottom right corner.

In the minutes that followed both Fraser Barlow and Solomon squandered further chances before a sweeping team move started by Euan Van der Vliet ended with Barlow just missing at the other end. At the three-quarter mark Kamen Nafkha had a glorious chance for his first ever Jersey goal but Harris blocked it well.

Jamie Hoppitt was sin binned for dissent with eight minutes left which meant the end of the match for him. Down to ten men Frimley surprisingly created a couple of half chances of their own, the second a twenty-five yard lob by George Keenan that had Van der Vliet back pedalling to push away.

In added time substitute Mendes-Pestana played Hinds through and he cleverly lobbed Harris only for linesman Kelly to deny him his first goal since his return to the side. A minute later he had another chance and this time went low only for Harris to block it with a good save in the last action of a match that the Bulls had dominated after the initial fifteen seconds.

Frimley Green 0, Jersey Bulls 4 (Sol Solomon (3) 8, 47 & 51; Daryl Wilson 18)
Attendance – 186
Programme – £1, 16pp

Frimley Green – Chris Harris, Will Neville, Sam Hutchings, Cameron Miller, Adam Sewell, Bradley Pegg, Jordan Carter, Adam Bellmaine, Matthew Bunyan(c), Marcus Cousins, Jamie Hoppitt
Substitutes – George Keenan (for Bunyan 80), Nic Ciardini (for Sewell 67), Oliver Joint (for Bellmaine 72), Sam Bello-Balogun (not used), Louie Rogers (for Cousins 58)

Nick Thumwood and Callum Nimmo (Joint Managers), others T.B.A.

All Blue (white trim); GK Red (black design on upper front)/Black/Black

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, Frank Tobin, Jay Giles, Jack Griffin, Luke Campbell(c), Kamen Nafkha, Fraser Barlow, Joe Kilshaw, Daryl Wilson, Karl Hinds, Sol Solomon
Substitutes – Ruben Mendes-Pestana (for Solomon 77), Jonny Le Quesne (for Giles 52), Calvin Weir (for Nafkha 70), Jake Prince (for Wilson 66), only four substitutes

Red/White/White; GK All Yellow.

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

Referee – Oliver Kaya (Wokingham)

Assistants – Jamie Lowe (Camberley) dug out side, and Mark Kelly (Windlesham) grandstand side

Cautions – none but Hoppitt (FG) sin bin 82 so missed remainder of the match

Corners – Frimley Green (1) 3; Jersey Bulls (3) 3

Player of the Match Award (streaming viewers votes) – Sol Solomon 42, Joe Kilshaw 6, Karl Hinds 4