Jersey embarked on their first ever Friday night fixture with a visit to 11th placed Sevenoaks (13-4-15 52-60) whom they had beaten with a solitary Fraser Barlow goal in early November after the players had been taken off because of a ferocious hailstorm. With a much changed side since then Sevenoaks drew 3-3 at play-off chasing Sittingbourne last Saturday, only conceding a 96th minute equaliser.

Jersey kept the same starting team that beat Faversham on Saturday with a solitary change amongst the substitutes where Barlow replaced Luke Campbell. Sevenoaks had Jordan Perrin return from the bench to take over in goal, displacing Dan Ellis and taking over the armband from Warren-Hughes Mfula. Thomas Taylor took over from Archie Howard as the substitute ‘keeper. Jed Borders was also elevated fromthe bench, replacing Will Dupray who dropped out of the squad. Finally, Ryan Sawyer returned as a starter, pushing Thomas Hanfrey to the bench.

With many of their rivals taking the opportunity to watch them Jersey received an early gift when a long ball out of defence from Rai Dos Santos was chased down in the opposite area by Toloupe Jonah with Miguel Carvalho harassing him on one side and Lorne Bickley closing in on the other. Jonah inexplicably used his upper arm to push the ball away for a “corner”. The referee spotted it and James Queree shot home into the bottom left corner just past the despairing right arm of Perrin.

Despite a string of corners Jersey failed to add to their lead in the first half. The last of these had come when a twenty five yard shot from Toby Ritzema was spilled by Perrin diving to his left but who recovered well to smother Miguel Carvalho’s attempted follow up. It was from another corner after the interval that newly introduced substitute James Sunley almost scored a second. Perrin pushed out a Jay Giles corner to just outside the area where Sunley returned it with interest. Beautifully struck but close enough to Perrin to enable him to touch it over.

Jersey continued to work hard off the ball to frustrate Sevenoaks by being difficult to break down whilst continuing to look to counter attack. The game thereforecontinued in a “bitty” way with neither side being able to find the searching final ball to unlock their opponent’s defence. Jersey maintained their unbeaten run in the New Year and had their third successive clean sheet. The win moved them back into the play-off places although possibly for less than twenty-four hours.

Sevenoaks Town – Jordan Perrin (c), Kevin Diomande, Charlie Dickens, Jed Borders, Ryan Sawyer, Toluope Jonah, Jaden Perez, Hanson “Sam” Itauma, Warren-Hughes Mfula, Rodney Eruotor, Jefferson Aibangbee (wore 18)

Substitutes – 12. Jahmal Howlett-Mundle (not used), 13. Thomas Taylor (sub GK)(not used), 14. Thomas Hanfrey (for Mfula 88), 15. Daniel Duncanson (for Itauma54), 16. Nana-Amoako Agyemang-Arthur (not used)

Blue and Black Stripes at front, All Blue backs/Black/Black; GK All Dark Orange

Marcel Nimani (Manager), Ben Franks (Assistant), Craig Coles (Coach), Julian Leigh (GK Coach), Ben Maci (Analyst), Alex Mulrooney (Medical)

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, Jay Giles (wore 14), James Queree (c), Jamie Watling (wore 15), Toby Ritzema, Adam Trotter (wore 12), Luke Watson (wore 16), Lorne Bickley, Rai Dos Santos, Miguel Carvalho
Substitutes – 3. James Carr (for Ritzema 72), 7. Fraser Barlow (for Le Quesne 76), 8. Joe Kilshaw (not used), 20. James Sunley (for Dos Santos 61), 21. Francis Lekimamati (for Carvalho 88)

Red/White/Red; GK Yellow

Elliot Powell (Manager), Dan Garton (Assistant), Richard Hebert (GK Coach), Dylan Buesnel (Analyst), Karl Benest (Kit), Nikki Nicolle (Medical)

Formations (R to L)
Sevenoaks Town (4-4-2) 1; 2-5-6-3; 7-4-8-18; 10-9

Jersey Bulls (4-1-4-1) 1; 2-4-15-14; 16: 11-12-6-10; 9

Officials – Kane B. Dempster (Deal), Matthew Charles (Chatham) dug outs, Stephen Hughes (Sidcup)

Cautions – Charlie Dickens (ST) 53, Warren-Hughes Mfula (ST) 74, Julian Leigh (ST GK Coach) 90+1, Francis Lekimamati (JB) 90+1, Thomas Hanfrey (ST) 90+2

Corners – Sevenoaks Town (0) 2, Jersey Bulls (5) 7

Assist(s) – Rai Dos Santos

Player of the Match – James Queree, honourable mentions Adam Trotter and Lorne Bickley

Added Time – 0.55 & 5.10 (6.05)