Our Women’s Representative Squad got off to an absolute flyer in the Southern Counties Cup Competition with a resounding 8-1 victory over Jersey FA last night.

Karl Davy’s side started brightly, controlling the momentum early on and wasted no time in testing the ability of Amy Tierney in the Jersey goal when Chloe Higham struck from range straight into her hands. 

10 minutes in, however, and Sussex managed the breakthrough when Skye Bacon hit a delightful free-kick over Tierney and into the roof of the net. 

For the next five minutes Sussex piled on the pressure, but they were then left stunned when Abbie Scandrett pounced on a loose ball in the box for Jersey to strike past Elleah Fenner. 

The game then turned rather scrappy for a 10-minute period where Sussex struggled to get a foothold of the game, but they were rewarded for their determination when, after a scramble in the box, Chloe Winchester volleyed past Tierney. 

Sussex then took full control with two, quick-fire goals, right before half-time; firstly, from Georgia Bowen who was first to react to a rebounded shot and tapped home. This was followed by Sophie Phelps striking in from a corner to make it 4-1 and give Sussex a three goal cushion at the break.

It was a steady start to the second-half with Sussex looking to control possession and it took until the 68th minute for them to find the fifth when Georgia Collier broke down the right, whipped a dangerous ball in that eluded Tierney and nestled in at the far post.

Then, not even a minute later, Danielle Boyd made it 6-1 when she drove through the middle of Jersey’s defence and fired low into the far corner.

Collier wasted no time in grabbing her second of the match and Sussex's seventh, with an almost identical goal to her first. She broke down the right and, again, beat Tierney with a cross that flew over the goalkeeper before dipping in at the far post. 

Just a few minutes later, Georgia Bowen grabbed her second of the match with probably the pick of the bunch; the winger cut inside down the left and rifled a powerful shot into the far top corner to complete the scoring at 8-1 with little over 10 minutes remaining. 

Following the victory Sussex manager, Karl Davy, said: “There were a lot of changes to the squad and the players that came in did well. We made a couple of tactical changes during the game because certain things weren't working, and the players reacted in the way we wanted them to which got us the result in the end. 

“We were particularly good on set pieces today, I was very impressed with that. I definitely taught her (Collier) those cross come shots, I always said if you’re going to cross it, cross it into the back of the net!

“We asked the players to go out and work hard to represent their county and they’ve certainly done that and themselves proud!”

(A selection of photographs can be found on Facebook - courtesy of Simon Roe Photography)
(Video highlights are available above and on YouTube - courtesy of Your Instant Replay)

Stats: (Sussex-Jersey)
Goals: 8-1; Shots: 18-3; Shots-on-target: 13-3; Corners: 6-0; Offside: 2-1; Fouls: 2-4; Yellows: 0-0; Reds: 0-0.

Sussex: Fenner, Johnson, McKellar, Larkin, Robson, Phelps, Higham, Simmonds, Winchester, Tubby, Bacon. 
Subs: Burr, Burke, Boyd, Bowen, Collier.

Jersey: Tierney, Quemard, Sundby, Muirhead, Giles, Barnett, Silva, Watson, Scandrett, Van Der Vliet, Wood. 
Subs: Kerr, Tavares, Trachy, Ruth. 

Match Report by Jack Towers