Jersey Scottish start title defence with win over St Paul's

Jersey Scottish began the defence of their Jersey Premiership title with a 2-1 win over last season's runners-up St Paul's.

Charlie Petulla put the Scots ahead after just 35 seconds when his low shot deceived goalkeeper Garry Lloyd.

Ross Crick doubled the lead 10 minutes later, dispatching Joe Murphy's superb pinpoint cross.

Jack Cannon pulled one back for St Paul's with a penalty at the start of the second half.

The referee pointed to the spot after striker Craig Russell was brought down by Pierce Cummins in the box.

But they could not find an equaliser to prevent the Scots from getting revenge for their 5-0 Charity Cup final thumping by St Paul's only a week earlier.

"Overall I think we probably just shaded it with the chances that we had," Scottish assistant coach Dave Kennedy told BBC Radio Jersey.

"They will be, I would imagine, our main challengers this season so to get the first three points off them is fantastic.

"Tonight was more or less a cup final, we both knew we had to be at the top of our game, and at the end of it we've come out on top."

The match was the first league game of the season for Scottish, a month after St Paul's kicked off their Premiership campaign.

Despite the defeat, Saints stay joint-top of the table.

"It was a hard-fought game," said first team coach Robbie Whittaker.

"The two early goals sort of stung us a bit but it didn't really kick us into life in the first half.

"We had a word with the lads at half time and in the second half you can't fault them at all, their commitment and performance was brilliant and that's what we want from every game."