Jersey Bulls in control of title after Abbey Rangers win
Jersey Bulls' win at Abbey Rangers was their 29th in 37 league games this season
- Published
Jersey Bulls are one victory away from winning the Combined Counties Premier South title after a 2-1 win at Abbey Rangers.
The victory sees the Bulls go back to the top of the table, level on points with second-placed Redhill and a point clear of third-placed Whyteleafe.
The island side's superior goal difference means should they beat Sandhurst Town on Saturday they would win the title unless Redhill - who won in Jersey on Saturday - can win their final match by an unlikely 20 more goals than the Bulls.
Abbey Rangers went ahead thanks to Milo Derham's deflected long range shot after just five minutes.
Miguel Carvalho hit the Abbey bar a minute later and Jersey were level after 17 minutes when Paul McKay fired in his first goal since joining the club after the hosts failed to deal with a long throw.
A physical first half came to an end with Bulls centre-back Luke Campbell being sent to the sin bin for dissent after protesting a foul on teammate James Queree.
Abbey did well to keep out the 10-man Bulls after a chance early in the second half before Campbell returned to the field.
Ten minutes later the islanders went ahead as Karl Hinds put a 66th-minute penalty into the top corner after Joe Kilshaw had been brought down in the box.
Bulls brought on record goalscorer Lorne Bickley and teammate Toby Ritzema midway through the second half and both went close to adding to the lead soon after.
Bickley then saw an effort go just with with nine minutes left as the visitors tried to get a third goal that would have eased their nerves.
But mid-table Abbey made the islanders sweat as they almost forced a mistake from goalkeeper Piers Roche before he made a fine save in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
"I'm really, really proud," Jersey Bulls manager Elliot Powell told BBC Radio Jersey
"There were a lot of nerves around the club this week for various different reasons.
"To come out in front of 250-odd people and about 20 of them supporting Jersey, to get the win having gone behind, with a young lad in goal making only his second league start of the season, I'm absolutely delighted with that, it's a massive performance and a massive result."