FC Isle of Man: The Ravens lift Skipton Cup after beating Guernsey FC 2-0

The Ravens won the trophy for the first time on Saturday

FC Isle of Man have lifted the Skipton Cup for the first time after beating Guernsey FC 2-0 in the annual tie.

The pre-season friendly saw the Ravens take victory over their rivals at home at the Bowl stadium in Douglas on Saturday.

It marked the team's final pre-season match before their debut in the North West Counties League Premier Division on 30 July.

It follows their promotion in April in their first season in the NWCL.

Manager Chris Bass said the overall performance of the team in the run up to their first competitive match of the season was "far more important than the result".

The hosts dominated the play for the majority of the match, with Sean Quaye netting a header past Guernsey keeper Josh Addison shortly before the half-time whistle.

The Ravens kept up a strong performance in the second half with a flurry of shots on goal, and their victory was sealed 10 minutes from the end when Lee Gale put the Isle of Man two goals up.

Lee Gale scored the second of the Raven's goals during the match

It means the two teams have now both lifted the trophy once, after Guernsey took victory in the inaugural cup tie between the two sides in 2020, beating the Isle of Man 5-4 on penalties in that match in St Peter Port.

That tie was made possible due to an air-bridge between the two islands during the coronavirus pandemic.

But a planned repeat of the fixture in 2021 was called off after both islands increased their border restrictions amid fears of the spread of the Delta variant of Covid.

Speaking after the latest match, Bass said the team's efforts in pre-season training were beginning to pay off.

"It's all starting to show a little bit more now, the things that we're working on in training, it's going to take a long time to become perfect but we're on the way," he added.

"The one thing we can be assured of is that fact that our players will give 120% or 110%, because if they give anything less, then they know that their position in the team could be not as comfortable as they feel."

Looking ahead to the start of the new season, he said the Raven's were facing a "very hard" task.

He said: "I think that strength and depth will be required throughout the season.

"When you consider we've got 42 league games, so you've got to imagine that we're going to be playing football now every weekend until next May, which is a long, long time."

The Ravens are set to host Lower Breck at 18:00 BST at the Bowl on Saturday in their first match of the new season.