Jersey entered the F.A. Vase at the second round stage (last 128) after being exempted to that position by virtue of reaching the last 32 (or better) last season.

They were drawn to visit Holyport (pronounced Hollyport) of the Combined Counties Premier Division North who they were due to meet last season in the Combined Counties Cup before withdrawing because of fixture congestion.

Holyport re-formed in 1956, played in Bray before moving to Braywick Park in 1998 and then their current ground, Summerleaze Park, south of Maidenhead, in 2005. In 2002 they joined the Hellenic League, winning Division 1 East in 2011 but taking voluntary relegation from the Premier Division in 2015. Like Jersey they gained promotion in 2021 based on their performances in the two abandoned seasons. At the same time they were transferred to the Combined Counties League Premier North Division where they have subsequently finished 17^th and 16^th.

This season they are in 17^th again with a 3-2-7 14-23 record. They were exempted to the 1^st Round of the F.A. Vase by virtue of reaching the last 64 last season and there they won 3-0 at Sutton Athletic of the Southern Counties East League. In the F.A. Cup they won 2-1 after extra time at Hartpury University being going down to the only goal of the game at home to Yate Town. Their home crowd has averaged 77, 68 and now 69 over the past three seasons.

Jersey had five players unavailable. Sammy Sutcliffe and Seaney McColgan as they were playing in the U21 inter-insular on Sunday, Luke Watson serving his one match suspension after the Horley fixture was postponed, Miguel Carvalho on trial with Crawley Town, and Jack Boyle. They welcomed back James Carr who started, plus Adam Trotter and Frank Tobin who were on the bench.

There were therefore four changes to the starting line-up. Nafkha, Lekimamati, Barlow and Carr replacing Watson, McColgan, Boyle and Carvalho respectively. Ben Le Rougetel remained on the bench alongside Trotter and Tobin.

The coach picking the team up failed to arrive at Gatwick so the team eventually decamped into a fleet of Ubers and only arrived at Holyport just after noon. That meant a curtailed warm up as it was decided to keep the delay to the advertised kick-off time to a minimum.

After a wet week the day was sunny (10C) but it meant the pitch was heavy and tacky with the grass longer than normal on a bobbly pitch as Jersey kicked off seven minutes late attacking the Cricket Club end.

Jersey were pressing from the off and after Matteo Giacobbe had clawed one Barlow effort off the line the latter opened the scoring from the resultant corner. A partial clearance was returned by Jonny Le Quesne from the edge of the box and it was deflected for a diving Barlow to head past Giacobbe from six yards.

Jersey continued to dominate possession in the early stages with the hosts penned into their own half for most of it. They forced a number of corners but failed to consolidate their early advantage as the conditions did not lend themselves to playing “football”.

Holyport looked to relieve the pressure by long balls forward to their top scorer Leonardo De Carvalho-Pedro who was operating down the right flank. Most were overhit and easily collected by Euan Van der Vliet, but just after the half hour Kritpac Dzimba set De Carvalho-Pedro free and his low cross was only just cut out by Luke Campbell before Alfie Pendlebury in the middle could convert.

Nevertheless, Jersey remained in the ascendancy although the referee was giving the hosts considerable latitude to their “physicality”, perhaps allowing for the difficult conditions. He eventually decided enough was enough and Holyport’s captain, Fabien Etienne, after clattering Barlow just before the interval, was the first to be cautioned.

The Holyport players were given a “roasting” by their manager at half time, all too audible in the visitors changing room. After his exhorting them to greater efforts and pushing Dzimba further forward they had their best period of the match. De Carvalho-Pedro broke away but Harry Curtis blocked his effort at the expense of a corner. Bickley shot well wide from twenty yards before Holyport equalised two minutes later.

De Carvalho-Pedro again broke down the right and evaded a challenge from Giles on the byline which attracted a flag from the junior assistant. The referee waved play on and De Carvalho-Pedro chipped the ball to the far post where Dzimba, ten yards out, did well to send a looping header into the top left corner past a flailing Van der Vliet as well as Curtis who guarding the left post.

Just before the hour Bickley was tackled by the already cautioned Etienne. However, the referee deemed it simulation, overruled his senior assistant, and Bickley joined Etienne in the referee’s book. Two minutes later Barlow broke down the left channel but pressurised by Austen Edwards dragged his cross shot wide of the right post.

Play swung from end to end during the last twenty minutes. James Queree on the right passed inside to Bickley whose powerful cross shot was pushed away for a corner. Shades of things to come. Substitute Ramon Rose put over an inviting cross from the left that Andy Forisky did not volley cleanly but it could still have found the bottom right corner if Curtis had not blocked it. Play broke to the other end where Bickley was only thwarted by Giacobbe spreading himself. Pendlebury glanced a header wide before Bickley scored the winner to save the lottery of a shoot-out.

Bickley was thwarted on the left but the eventual clearance by Taro Chitepo out to the right, intended for Dzimba, was read by Queree who surged forward and again found Bickley who had enough space right of centre twelve yards out to set himself and find the bottom right corner.

Holyport heads dropped and the fitter Bulls ran down the clock to see out the win, but credit to Holyport for making them work hard in the second half for the victory.

Holyport 1 (Kritpac Dzimba 54); Jersey Bulls 2 (Fraser Barlow 6, Lorne Bickley 82)

Attendance – 116

Programme – 28 pages, £2

Holyport - Matteo Giacobbe, Matthew Ensby, Fabien Etienne (c), Taropafadzwa Chitepo, Austen Edwards, Luke Appleton, Leonardo De Carvalho-Pedro, Andy Forisky, Alfie Pendlebury, Kritpac Dzimba, Jamie Davies
Substitutes 12. Dan Wilson (not used), 14. Ramon Rose (for Davies 67), 17. Matthew Burnett (for De Carvalho-Pedro 78), 16. Nyero Lule (not used), 17. Harrison Hill (not used), 18. Samuel Jones (for Dzimba 90+1), 19. Kyreece Smith-Reid (not used)

Colours – Red/Green/Red; GK All Royal Blue

Management – Sam Lock (Manager), Emlyn Hill (Coach), Mark Walters (GK Coach)

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, James Queree (c), Jay Giles, Harry Curtis, Luke Campbell, Kamen Nafkha, Francis Lekimamati, Jonny Le Quesne, Lorne Bickley, Fraser Barlow, James Carr
Substitutes – 15. Ben Le Rougetel (for Nafkha 74), 16 Frank Tobin (for Barlow 85), 19. Adam Trotter (for Lekimamati 67), only three substitutes

White/Light Blue/White GK All Yellow

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant), Richard Hebert (GK Coach)

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

Referee – Chad Greatorex (Abbots Langley)

Assistants – George Maxwell (Wokingham) on the dug outs / Strand Water side and Cee Mac (Hemel Hempstead) on the field side

Cautions – Fabien Etienne (H) 44, Lorne Bickley (JB) 59, Matthew Ensby (H) 75, Ben Le Rougetel (JB) 81, Kritpac Dzimba (H) 87

Corners – Holyport (1) 2; Jersey Bulls (4) 6

Player of the Match – Lorne Bickley

Added Time – 0.55 & 5.25 (6.20)