The Bulls, on their travels again, met Redhill. The town is situated at the junction of the north-south A23 (London to Brighton) road and the east-west M25. The ground at Kiln Brow, to which they re-located in 1984, is hemmed in between the A23 to the west and the London to Brighton railway line to the east.

The football club were relegated from the Isthmian League Division 1 South to the Combined Counties Premier Division in 2015. Another relegation immediately followed but they bounced straight back, making this is their sixth consecutive season in the Premier Division. Last season Redhill steadfastly remained on the fringes of the group chasing promotion, finishing in in sixth place, but fifteen points behind fifth placed Badshot Lea who are again one of the pacesetters this season.

Last season, Redhill rarely lost to lower placed sides but only picked up two draws against the teams above them, one a goalless draw against Jersey in the corresponding fixture last year. In late January they lost their management team to Isthmian League Division 1 South-Central club, South Park, before losing 1-2 at Springfield in mid-April.

Last season, like Jersey, they reached the third qualifying round of the F.A. Cup. In the F.A. Vase they won through two rounds before losing to Combined Counties Premier Division South rivals, Raynes Park Vale, another of this season’s promotion contenders, who along with Badshot Lea boast the only 100% records in the division.

This season they have the same league record as Jersey with three wins and a draw. In the F.A. Cup they lost in a replay to Step 4 Southall but in the F.A. Vase they saw off Step 6 Epsom & Ewell and will now play against another Step 6 side, Croydon.

The Bulls were missing midfielders Joe Kilshaw, Adam Trotter and Ruben Mendes plus defender Sammy Sutcliffe and front men Jake Prince and Francis Lekimamati.
Into the squad came Ben Le Rougetel who played in three matches last April, the last also being against Redhill, and Luke Campbell after his long injury lay off since the match at Wycombe against Banstead in March. James Carr and Jay Dos Santos were also added to the squad that won at Abbey Rangers on Tuesday.

Kamen Nafkha, unavailable on Tuesday replaced Kilshaw, Le Rougetel took Mendes’ slot, Jonny Le Quesne, a substitute on Tuesday, swapped roles with Sol Solomon and James Carr featured instead of Lekimamati. Campbell and Dos Santos, along with Solomon, were amongst the substitutes.

The “Lobsters”, supposedly so called because in their early days their red and white striped shirts bled in to one another leaving a pinkish outcome, have undergone an almost complete transformation since last season.

Of the 24 players listed in their two matches against Jersey last season only Jason Kaate and Yannick Monga remain. However, Jersey supporters may recognise their goalkeeping captain Michael McEntegart, the former Australian U17/19/21 squad member, who was between the sticks for Guildford City last season.

Redhill made three changes to the team that won at Horley on Monday. Jay Gasson, Jake Baxter and Carl Oblitey coming in for Fred Hill (with that name who else could he play for?), Max Oldham and the injured Antonio Simeone.

Jersey kicked off, attacking the Southern (Three Arch Road) end, in to a slight breeze on a pleasantly sunny afternoon.

Redhill made an energetic start with Jersey looking to counter attack but neither side created anything significant and memories of last season’s stalemate re-surfaced. However, the referee Nigel Owen, who kept tight control of the game, soon became tired of Redhill leaving their foot in when tackling putting defender Dan Stone into his notebook after only a dozen minutes.

Central defender Lynden McGugan joined him five minutes later when he brought down Fraser Barlow just outside the box. Jay Giles made him pay dearly for his indiscretion as he stepped up and curled the free kick into the bottom right corner past the despairing dive of McEntegart.

Le Rougetel had an opportunity to double the lead with a free header from ersey’s only corner of the match but from his position near the penalty spot it sailed high over the bar.

As half time approached Barlow broke down the right but Lorne Bickley was blocked off by a covering defender as he attempted to get on the end of it. A minute later another Giles free kick just eluded Frank Tobin’s head as it was swung in from the right.

The second goal was not long in coming though, but with the help of the opposition.

Bickley was penalised just outside the Redhill box and McGugan’s quickly taken free kick intended for Gasson was under hit. Bickley seized upon it, advanced between the two central defenders and squared it left to the rapidly advancing Le Quesne to finish off.

In added time there was almost a third. Nafkha centred from the right, Carr and a defender negated one another and the loose ball fell to Bickley fifteen yards out but McEntegart brought off a good save diving to his right.

After the break Redhill came out of the blocks the faster and forced a trio of corners in the opening quarter of an hour without creating anything to trouble Pierce Roche in the Jersey goal.

Yahaya Kamara was added to Owen’s notebook for a late foot in on Nafkha and then Harry Curtis was strangely added to the collection. Having won a tackle against Oblitey, and play continuing, he was then summoned by the referee for a caution.

Jersey came close to adding to their tally when a Bickley knock-down gave Le Quesne the opportunity to hit one of his trademark volleys from twenty-five yards out. It had the power but not quite the dip required and it just cleared McEntegart’s right angle.

It was Bickley who scored the third. Immediately after Jay Dos Santos had been introduced for Nafkha, Giles launched the delayed free kick from his own half to the right of the Redhill box. Bickley held off the central defenders and the ball sat up nicely for him to hit a rasping left foot volley into the opposite corner.

Le Quesne found the same corner of the net four minutes later, but in very different circumstances. Dos Santos on the left played the ball across the box to Barlow on the right. Barlow’s first touch lay-off to Le Quesne enabled the latter to burst past the defender but took him wide to the right. Le Quesne showed admirable control to slide the ball past the advancing McEntegart from the narrow angle.

In the closing ten minutes Darryl Mvalo, Campbell and John “J.J.” Lloyd were all introduced for Carr, Giles and Barlow respectively. The latter only a minute after what had seen him “scoring” Jersey’s fifth, a tap in from Bickley’s set up. However, it was chalked off, a hand deemed to have been used in the build-up.

The win moved Jersey briefly up to second place before the later kick-offs saw Badshot Lea and Raynes Park Vale maintain their 100% records and move the Bulls back to fourth.

Redhill 0, Jersey Bulls 4 (Jay Giles 19, Jonny Le Quesne (2) 45 & 77, Kayne Bickley 73)

Attendance – T.B.A. (est 80)

Programme – T.B.A.

Redhill – Michael McEntegart (c), David Orisatoki, Dan Stone, Yahaya Kamara, Jay Gasson, Lynden McGugan, Jason Kaate, Tijani Eshilokun, Jake Baxter, Yannick Monga, Carl Oblitey
Substitutes –12. Sol Patterson-Bohner (for Monga 74), 13. Tom Theobald (GK, not used), 14. Serge Makofo (for Kaate 72), 15. Fred Hill (for Oblitey 65), 16. Kieran Mayele (for Eshilokun 78)

Red & White Stripes (White Back)/Red/Red; GK All Yellow

Paul Barnes (Manager), Daniel Gill (Assistant), Victor Borode (Coach), Lydia Passera-Hughes (Physio.), Antonio Simeone (Squad Player), Lewis Jackson.

Jersey Bulls – Pierce Roche (wore 21), Frank Tobin (wore 12), Jay Giles, James Queree (c), Harry Curtis, Ben Le Rougetel, Fraser Barlow, Kamen Nafkha, Lorne Bickley (wore 16), Jonny Le Quesne, James Carr

Substitutes – 2. Luke Campbell (for Giles 84), 9. Darryl Mvalo (for Carr 81), 14. Jay Dos Santos (for Nafkha 72), 15. Sol Solomon (not used), 17. John “J.J.” Lloyd (for Barlow 88)

Blue/Blue/White; GK All Green (no. 21)

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant), Richard Hebert (GK Coach), Kayne Bickley (Physio.)

Formations
Redhill (4-4-2 R to L) 1; 2-6-5-3; 7-8-4-11; 9-10
Jersey Bulls (4-1-4-1 R to L) 21; 12-4-5-3; 6; 7-10-8-11; 16

Referee – Nigel Owen (East Molesey) his fourth Jersey game having officiated us three times last season, at Tooting Bec in the F.A. Vase, at A.F.C. Croydon Athletic in the league and at Springfield in April for the match against Beckenham Town.

Assistants – Adam Absolon (Purley) on the dug-out side, was also on the line for our “home” game v Colliers Wood United at Three Bridges in March. John Parker (Sutton) on the clubhouse side, his first Jersey match, brought in overnight as a late replacement.

Cautions – Stone (R) 13, McGugan (R) 18, Kamara (R) 50, Curtis (JB) 53, Le Rougetel (JB) 68

Corners – Redhill (1) 4; Jersey Bulls (1) 1

Player of the Match Award – (twitter voting) Jonny Le Quesne (JB)
Le Quesne 10, Le Rougetel 7, Giles 5, Bickley 4