3 days Ago By Elliot Corbel
JERSEY Bulls extended their unbeaten start in the league to seven games after a narrow 1-0 victory at home over Guildford on Saturday. Karl Hinds was the man to provide the winning moment for Elliot Powell’s side, sealing the only goal of a cagey and fairly chance-less clash at Springfield Stadium. “We played a solid game today,” said gaffer Powell.
“Considering the crazy amount of injuries we’re currently managing, I think all the boys put in a fantastic shift. “We were asking lads to play out of position. Fraser Barlow, for example, has barely even trained at left-back, but he did a superb job there once again.
” The Bulls now have four wins and three draws from their opening seven fixtures of this new campaign, yet Powell feels his team are yet to hit their best strides yet. “It’s been a decent start,” the manager continued. “We’ve had a couple of results recently, particularly the draw against Alton, where we should have been more clinical.
“But this is early days still in this season and it’s never easy when you have so many injuries and moving parts. “However, it’s another clean sheet and three points at home, which is a massive positive.” Since his return to the squad, domestic goal-scoring Hinds has begun to find his feet at this level, with a second goal in as many games.
“Karl [Hinds] is a finisher, he knows how to put the ball in the net,” continued Powell. “He’s been great since coming back in and it’s good for everyone to see him on the scoresheet. “I thought Euan was outstanding as well in this game.
That double save he made at the start of the second half was absolutely brilliant and went a long way to us winning this game. “Moments like that go a long way in league campaigns and we did brilliantly to capitalise on that and use it to create momentum for our own chances.” Guildford, however, played a good game and really came at the Bulls hard in the last 10 minutes.
“It was getting close towards the end, but I was really pleased with our communication and how solidly we defended at the end,” concluded Powell. As injury plagues the squad, one man who is benefitting from this is defender Sammy Sutcliffe, who spent pretty much the whole campaign last season sidelined through injury. On his return to the side, he said: “It feels great to be back on the pitch with the lads.
“Last year was a tough season, but I’m so happy to be back fit and contributing again. “I thought we played well in this one, a clean sheet is always a great result and something we pride ourselves on as a squad. “Powelly is big on that, so to be able to do that with the changes to the back line and still come away with three points at home is massive.
” Assistant coach Dan Garton also commented, saying: “We’re facing a bit of adversity at the moment with seven or eight regulars out injured. “But this is where you need a full squad invested and with quality. “For us to be able to make all these changes and the lads still be able to work together, communicate effectively and manage an important win is a very positive sign for us moving forwards in this league.
” The Bulls now find themselves up into the play-off places, somewhere they are all to familiar with. They sit on 15 points from seven games, five behind Knaphill above them, although with three games in hand..
