Jersey Bulls kicked off the season before a sold out crowd although quite a few had evidently decided on the day that the summer sunshine or watching Wimbledon held a greater attraction. Originally planned for May 4th only to be scuppered by the end of season play-off the visitors played their part by signing innumerable autographs and posing for endless photographs as the off field action for the swarms of Reds supporters was what will have made many a youngsters day. On the pitch the match was played in three thirty minute sections to give the ageing lungs a breather and tobring on the numerous substitutes that both sides fielded. Jersey had a complete team on the bench and they were all used and in many cases the substitutes were themselves substituted.

It was a particularly memorable day for two Jersey teenage players who turned out for the visitors and were by some distance the youngest players on show. Conor O’Keefe almost played the entire match after an early injury gave him his chance. He capped it with a goal to give the Legends the lead, had another effort pushed on to the post by Pierce Roche in the Bulls goal and put a couple of other opportunitiesnarrowly wide. Jacob Videgrain came on between the sticks for the last third and was unlucky when his late penalty save rebounded back to Craig Russell to give the hosts a face saving draw.

In between times Manchester United had taken a two goal lead ten minutes from the end when Derek Brazil, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes, put a twenty-five yard lob over veteran ‘keeper Richard Hebert. Hebert did well to reach it but could not get enough on it to claw it to safety. Kamen Nafkha of all people reduced the areas with a twenty yard thunderbolt that even a taller ‘keeper than Videgrain would have struggled to reach. Nafkha had never scored for the Bulls in over a hundred appearances before recently announcing his retirement.

Before the excitement of the last ten minutes Chris Eagles had nearly given United a first third lead when his thirty yard lob was pushed on to the bar by a furiously backpeddling Roche. In the second third after Roche had saved from O’Keeffe there were a couple of Jersey chances. Chris Andrews set up Jimmy Styles who blasted over and Luke Watson could not direct a back post header on target. United came back with another O’Keeffe near miss after he was set up by Danny Simpson before he eventually gave his team the lead near the start of the final third.

O’Keeffe looked be breaking free to double the lead but Kevan Nelson rolled back the years with a magnificent tackle to halt his progress. Brazil then looked to have put the game to bed before Jersey brought back a number of their younger players in an effort to recover the situation. Nafkha shocked everyone with his goal before Lee Martin blotted his copybook by bringing down Andrews in the box with a couple of minutes left. Fellow Muratti man Russell stepped up only to see Videgrain dive to his right to bring off a good save only for the ball to rebound to the striker to tuck away at the second attempt to bring parity to the proceedings.

Jersey Bulls XI 2 (Kamen Nafkha 84, Craig Russell 89), Manchester United Legends 2 (Conor O’Keeffe 64, Derek Brazil 80) (3 x 30 minute periods)

Attendance – 1,840 (sold out)

Conditions – 17C, Westerly wind F4/5

Programme – 28pp, £2.50

Manchester United Legends kicked-off attacking the Robin Hood end 2.03.15

Jersey Bulls XI – 1. Pierce Roche, 3. Ciaran Hocking, 5. James Queree. 6. Kamen Nafkha, 7. Jake Mulholland, 8. Luke Watson (c), 10. Jean-Paul Martyn, 17. Lucas Parker, 19, Stuart Andre, 21. Kevan Nelson (vc), 22. Craig Russell

Rolling Substitutes – 2. Adam Budworth, 4. Marc Whiteman, 9. Russell Le Feuvre, 11. Peter Vincenti, 12. Ashley Dodd, 14. Neal Crowell, 15. David Syvret, 16. Jimmy Styles, 18. Chris Andrews, 20. Danny Bryan, 21. (GK, no no.) Richard Hebert

White/Purple/Purple: GKs Green/Purple/Purple

Chris Le Guyader (Manager), Dermot Mahon & Jody McCarthy (Assistants), Glenn Springate (Kit Man), Jack Bryan & Ryan Jones (Water Boys)

Manchester United Legends – Nick Culkin (c), Danny Simpson, Danny Pugh, Chris Casper, Wes Brown (vc), Micky Gray, Keith Gillespie (wore 16), Luke Chadwick, Danny Webber, Chris Eagles, Matt Jansen
Rolling Substitutes – 12. Derek Brazil, 14. Lee Martin, 15. Clayton Blackmore, 17. Conor O’Keeffe, 18. Alun Thorne, 21 (GK, no no.) Jacob Videgrain, 22 Robert Morton, 24 Russell Beardsmore (6, 11, 17, 18, 21 & 22 were guests)

Red/Black/White; GK All Yellow, Sub GK Light Green/Dark Green/Dark Green

Michael Caetano & Andrew McDonald (Joint (Managers), Karl Benest (Kit Man), Jim Robertson (Physio.), Rio Caetano (General Assistant)

Formations
Jersey Bulls XI (4-2-3-1 R to L) 1; 11-21-17-5; 6-8; 10-7-3; 22
Manchester United Legends (4-1-4-1 R to L) 1; 2-4-5-3; 10; 16-8-6-11; 9

Referee – Toni Cardoso (Jersey)

Assistants – Chris Duncan (dug outs) & Kenan Bryan (grandstand) (both Jersey)

Cautions – none

Corners – Jersey Bulls XI (0) (0) 3; Manchester United Legends (0) (1) 1

Player of the Match – No Award

Added Time – 0.20, 0.00 & 0.40 (1.00)

Jersey Bulls XI Substitutions

31 Budworth for Nafkha, Whiteman for Russell, Dodd for Martyn, Crowell for Nelson
41 Andrews for Mulholland
42 Syvret for Queree, Styles for Parker
61 Hebert for Roche, Le Feuvre for Watson, Bryan for Hocking, Nelson (now captain) back for Andre, Russell back for Budworth
63 Vincenti for Dodd
73 Mulholland back for Syvret
76 Queree back for Whiteman
81 Nafkha back for Styles, Martyn back for Le Feuvre
83 Budworth back for Crowell
87 Whiteman back for Martyn

Manchester United Legends Substitutions

6 O’Keeffe for Jansen
31 Morton for Webber, Beardsmore for Gray
61 Videgrain for Culkin (Brown now captain), Martin for Casper, Blackmore for Beardsmore, Thorne for Morton
76 Brazil for Chadwick
85 Chadwick back for Blackmore