The Jersey Festival 2005

Bath at the Jersey festival 2005

Fixture			Score	Scorers	Man of the Match
Bath	V	Chiltern	2-4	Jacobs, Norris	Morgan	Marsh
Bath	V	Orpington	1-1	Jacobs	Sam	Clarke
					Charlie	Wills
Bath	V	Thurrock	1-0	Pollinger	Kristian	Scott
Bath	V	Sutton Coldfield	2-0	Norris, Marsh	George	Wightman
Bath	V	Jersey	0-1		Bradley	Norris
Bath	V	Barking	4-2	Grappy(2), Scott, Daniels	Jack	Rowlands

 

All Results

Photos

 

 

Bath made a successful return to the 31^st National Festival for District representative sides in Jersey last week.

The squad of 18 year 6 pupils was selected from schools from all across Bath and North East Somerset and included three year 5 players.  With 14 sides participating from all over England, the boys’ 7 day trip included 6 competitive fixtures as well as numerous social opportunities around the island in the afternoons and evenings. 

For many it was their first time away from home and the first time they had met opposition from other areas of the country.  With no injuries, three wins, a draw and two losses, the young Bath squad returned last Saturday in high spirits. 

Coach Tim Kirk, “Although we have played better football this year than we showed at the festival, it’s impossible to state just how much the boys would have gained from this experience.  The festival has been run by Pat Cullinane from the Jersey SFA for 31 years now, and he has always made it very clear that the festival is about the fostering of honesty, integrity and friendship as well as the development of players’ footballing ability.  This is perfect for the experience we wanted to give the boys.  Not only did the boys have to perform an analysis of their own performance each day, but they had to be disciplined to go through the motions of doing the small but important aspects of a professional sportsman’s life, like the cleaning of boots, warm downs, ice baths, eating the right foods.” 

                “And they were fantastic.  Behaviour in every way was once again exemplary and the schools can feel very proud of the way their boys represented them on such an important occasion.”

                “They have the national finals to look forward to now, and so I hope they’ll continue to be such a close unit and train as hard as they have done so far.”

Jersey squad

Bradley Norris	Oldfield Park
Jamie Smithies	Chandag
Jack Neil	Chandag
Sam Clarke	Chandag
Ryan Moore	Chandag
Callum Vivian-Crowder	Monkton Combe
Kristian Scott	Kingswood
David Pollinger	Saltford
Chalie Wills	The Paragon
Milo McNulty	The Paragon
Harry Daniels	St Stephen’s
Jack Rowlands	St Stephen’s
Morgan Marsh	Frome
Paris Grappy	WASPS
Joseph Davies	WASPS
Alex Jacobs	St Mary’s
George Wightman	Moorlands

 

Bath V Chiltern 2-4 loss

Having played Chiltern earlier in the season and won comfortably by five goals to one, the end result perhaps reflected a relaxed attitude from the Bath camp in their approach to the game.  Starting with a younger side, Bath made an immediate impression on the game scoring two goals from Alex Jacobs and Bradley Norris. However, a good finish and a goalkeeping error saw Chiltern level the game just before half time. 

                Things got worse for Bath when a misunderstanding between the defence and the goalkeeper gifted the Chiltern forwards yet another goal.  As Bath strove forward to find the equaliser, the Chiltern goalkeeper continuously frustrated the Bath strikers.  A well taken free kick finished off an unsatisfactory start to the festival for a disappointed Bath side.

Bath V Orpington               1-1

After the disappointments of the previous day, the Bath players were determined to make amends against a strong Orpington team which had recently been crowned county champions in their area.  

                Nonetheless, Bath once again looked nervous at the start and conceded a goal when a ball over the top caught the two centre backs Jamie Smithies and Sam Clarke by surprise.  The goal acted, however, as a catalyst for an improved performance and Bath began to dominate through the intelligent distribution of Charlie Wills in midfield.  It came as no surprise when Wills sent Jacobs clear to lob over the keeper from the right wing to level the scores at 1-1. 

Even after the break, Bath retained possession of the ball well and created numerous chances.  Indeed, Paris Grappy should have given Bath the lead when the goalkeeper failed to keep hold of a shot by Norris, but luckily for the Orpington number one, Grappy could only manage to direct the ball safely into the keeper’s hands. 

Although disappointed not to have won, the Bath coaches were much more

satisfied with the performance.

Bath V Thurrock                1-0 Victory

The game against Thurrock was billed as the game to watch at the festival.  Thurrock had until the festival played 14 and won 13, losing just the once.  Similarly Bath had played 12 and won 10.

                Following a similar pattern to the previous two games, Bath were once again slow to start, allowing Thurrock to win early possession of the ball and dominate in midfield.  However, a determined Bradley Norris galvanised the team and the Thurrock soon found themselves second to every ball. 

                Although the game remained tight throughout the first half and into the second with neither team giving much away, it was clear that Bath had the upper hand.  It came as no surprise then when David Pollinger broke away from the Thurrock defence to neatly lob the stranded goalkeeper after an excellent through ball from Smithies.

                As Bath went in search for a second, Pollinger again went close with a low left footed shot but the Thurrock keeper saved well.  Norris also narrowly missed with a long range free kick which left the Thurrock wall and keeper standing helpess.

Coach Tim Kirk, “Today was fantastic to watch.  It is rare to see such a young team work so hard off the ball.  They defended in pairs and always made sure they got behind the ball; they didn’t give Thurrock an inch.  We then kept possession and made it very difficult for Thurrock to get out of their half.  In fact, our keeper did not make one save all game.”

Bath V Sutton Coldfield     2-0 victory

Bath were in high spirits after their convincing victory over Thurrock and followed up with another good performance against Sutton from Birmingham. 

                Once again, Bath pressed hard for the ball and the Sutton players struggled to keep up with the pace and strength shown by the Bath midfield.  Despite the early domination, however, Sutton managed to keep Bath at bay and half time passed in a goalless deadlock. 

                The goal eventually came when Norris made yet another surging run into the Sutton 18 yard box and was brought down.  He casually converted the penalty to give Bath a deserved lead. 

                Substitute Morgan Marsh then made it two with a superb long range effort into the far left corner.  The game should have ended with a second goal from Marsh after the ball was hacked away by a Sutton defender from two yards behind the goal line, but unfortunately the goal was not given and Bath had to settle for a 2-0 victory.

Bath V Jersey      1-0 Loss

On the fifth day of the festival Bath met the hosts Jersey.  Jersey were so far unbeaten in the festival and Bath knew that they were in for a tight game.  This was certainly the case as Jersey took an early lead after some short and quick interchanges in midfield left the Bath defence standing.  It was not until after the break that Bath began to make any impression on the game and once again it was Bradley Norris who looked the likely one to bring Bath back into contention.  However, his efforts were in vain as too many of the Bath players lacked the determination and energy needed to break through a resilient Jersey defence.

Bath V Barking   4-2 Victory

The final game was a last opportunity for a talented Bath squad to show the rest of England just how good they are. 

                The best goal of the festival came when left back Harry Daniels headed into the back of the net after a fine passing move involving no fewer than 6 Bath players.  Despite Bath’s early domination, Barking looked dangerous on the break and twice they came from behind to equalise by taking advantage of a lack of pace in the Bath defence.

                However, the result was never in much doubt as man of the match Jack Rowlands urged his team on to produce the sort of performance they have been renowned for this year.  Just 5 minutes into the second half, Paris Grappy scored a second and then the young year 5 Kristian Scott scored from close range to end the game 4-2 in Bath’s favour.

click here for a map of Jersey or here for a downloadable jpg file of St Helier.

Pictures from the event can be ordered from R.W.T Photography on 01733 211755 or visit www.rwt-photography.co.uk .