Page 24 - Raynes Park Vale vs Cobham
P. 24

Match Report



         JERSEY BULLS 1

         RAYNES PARK VALE 1




        CCL • Saturday 5th March 2022 • Springfield Stadium, St Helier
        The South Londoners were in for a rough ride

      The CCL doesn’t allow for much
      travel so a flight over to Jersey for
      a game that The Bulls  would  have
      seen as a must-win at their home
      ground and where they have yet to
      lose, suggested the South Londoners
      were in for a rough ride. And so it                                                 Vale manager Josh Gallagher with representatives of Jersey’s Ukrainian community
      proved to be.                                                                       sweet, Downey/Harland-Goddard         at the Springfield Stadium there
      A minute's applause in support                                                      inspired move result in a lob across   was no hesitation and Luke Camp-
      of Ukraine in the face of attack by                                                 the Jersey area that was met with a   bell duly accepted the gift and put
      another state in contravention of                                                   perfectly timed header from Jordan    a well-taken spot kick past Bishop
      international law was impeccably                                                    Gallagher at the Bulls' back post     to set the game up for a tense final
      observed and all fans will be looking  some good attacking chances not              that exposed the Jersey defence and   12 minutes. Despite more claims
      forward to the same in support of     least from Reece Bowers-Williams.             left their keeper flapping aimlessly   from the TV feed of nudges in the
      Palestine, no doubt, in the weeks,    A second half penalty appeal by Vale          as the ball came back across the      face and other alleged bits of foul-
      months and years to come.             when Jordan Gallagher was brought             area and buried itself in the inside   play, the South-Londoners survived
      And with that we were underway.       down in the Bulls' box by the Jersey          of the home team's goal.              some increasingly desperate Jersey
          Controversial challenges          keeper was waved away and brought              Jersey attack came to nothing        attacks and an attempt by Solomon
      An uneven but uneventful first half   an almost unbelievable yellow to the          The second-half continued with        to extract a second penalty from
      saw breaks and counter attacks        Vale player for simulation (or 'bla-          a variety of cards and calls and      the ref with what appeared to be
      from both teams and some lively       tant cheating' as the highly partisan         with RPV looking for a second goal    a rather theatrical dive. The Bulls'
      play that saw some controversial      TV feed described it!) much to the            with which to put the game to bed.    player escaped the yellow card that
      challenges from both sides that       joy of the local fans.                        Instead the excellent Billy Bishop    Jordan Gallagher attracted and,
      led, inevitably, to a flurry of cards   Game suddenly came alive                    made sure that any Jersey attack      with the Channel Islanders desper-
      from the referee who, by and large    Following a second-half midfield              came to nothing until a confused      ately seeking the winning goal in
      allowed the game to flow. Despite     tussle (or a blatant elbow according          melee in the Vale area led to a       the closing minutes the whistle blew
      the insistence from the TV cover-     to the 'commentary') and a wishful            Jersey player going down and the      and Raynes Park were denied the
      age that RPV were 'not looking to     off-side appeal this game suddenly            referee pointed to the spot. VAR      win that that they had come for.
      be particularly attacking' RPV saw    came alive when a Vale break saw a            might have wanted a look but here
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