2016 Muratti Vase: Jersey beat Guernsey 1-0 to win 100th final

Jersey captain Luke Watson and manager Brian Little lift the Muratti Vase

Jersey have retained the Muratti Vase after beating Guernsey 1-0 in the 100th final, at Springfield.

Captain Luke Watson struck the only goal after an hour to give former Aston Villa manager Brian Little victory in his first Muratti clash.

Ross Allen hit the post for Guernsey in each half as the Sarnians lost to Jersey for a second successive year.

Both sides finished with 10 men after Guernsey's Jamie Dodd and Jersey's Craig Russell were sent off.

The result means Jersey have now won the title 53 times, Guernsey 45, with one shared in 1937 and Alderney lifting the Vase once, in 1920.

Guernsey should have taken the lead in the opening 10 minutes when Craig Young fired wide, while Ross Allen struck the woodwork with a free kick later in the half.

But Jersey took control after the break with Jack Cannon, Watson and Russell all going close.

Watson, who was later named Man of the Match, struck what proved to be the game's solitary goal with a well controlled half-volley.

Midfielder Luke Watson netted the only goal of the game, scoring in his second successive Muratti

The Jersey skipper was then forced off with a head injury 15 minutes later, after a high-footed challenge from Dodd, which earned the Guernsey defender his second yellow card.

The home side hit the bar through a Russell header, with Chris Tardif making a stunning save from Jack Cannon's follow-up before Allen hit the Jersey post from a tight angle soon after.

Substitute Karl Hinds almost doubled Jersey's lead at the end but he struck the side-netting when through on goal, before Russell was sent off for a second booking after an altercation with a Guernsey player.

The match was the first Muratti to be played on the artificial surface at Springfield

Jersey manager Brian Little:

"We set out to be hard to beat and to try to counter attack if we could and I think generally speaking it worked.

"It was a really tight game, at the end I was really nervous when we got a man sent off for something that was a bit silly, but that's how the emotions run.

"I'm not sure if I'm cut out for management any more, I said I'd help out until this game and coming into a competitive game it just drives you around the twist.

"Credit to Guernsey, it could have gone either way, but I'm delighted to win."

Guernsey manager Steve Sharman:

"The players have put a hell of a lot of effort in over the past few weeks.

"It's incredibly hard to take but you've got to and that's sport, you take fantastic highs and horrible, horrible deep lows.

"We knew they were going to set up and be difficult to break down, so we'd worked on trying to break the lines.

"I think their passing was better than ours, ours was poor in the first half and goals change matches."