Jersey Bulls' 'ugly' win over AFC Croydon Athletic sends club into top three

Jersey Bulls top-scorer Lorne Bickley has scored 25 goals this season

Jersey Bulls boss Gary Freeman says his side's "ugly" 2-1 win over AFC Croydon Athletic is key to their promotion bid.

Jersey goalkeeper Euan van der Vliet saved an early Emiliano Lika penalty before the Croydon player gave his side a 30th-minute lead at Springfield.

But Luke Campbell's 40th-minute volley and a goal from top-scorer Lorne Bickley two minutes later sealed all three points for the islanders.

The win saw Bulls move up to third in Combined Counties Premier South.

The islanders are four points behind second-placed Badshot Lea with both sides having played 22 matches, while leaders Raynes Park Vale are 10 points clear of Jersey from two extra games.

"This four or five week period is just about accumulating points and hopefully being in the run-in come March and April," Freeman told BBC Radio Jersey.

"These teams don't make it easy for you, so as much as we want to play nice football, there's an opposition that want to stop that.

"Every game's competitive and everyone around us will drop points as it goes on and as it gets tighter. It's going to be a tough run in, we just want to make sure we're in it.

"If we've got to win ugly, that's what we've got to do."