Jersey Bulls keep play-off hopes alive after Merstham win

4 days ago 2

Jersey Bulls boss Elliot Powell says his side have kept alive their Isthmian League South East play-off hopes with their 2-0 win over Merstham.

The victory moved the islanders up to sixth in the table, one place and six points off the play-off spots, as they leapfrogged their rivals, who slipped to seventh position on goal difference.

Francis Lekimamati gave Bulls an eighth-minute lead when he fired a free-kick into the top corner.

Jack Lumsden secured the three points when he headed in a corner on the stroke of half-time, as the islanders bounced back from Tuesday's 2-0 loss at home to Ashford United.

"I don't think there's any such thing as a must-win game in January, but that must be pretty close to it," Powell told BBC Radio Jersey.

"We felt like we needed to win today. If they'd gone three points and goal difference ahead of us, the play-offs would've been probably 10, 11, 12 points by the end of the day.

"It probably would've been too much for us to break the back of, but we're still in there, we're still kicking, still fighting for it."

Powell has been forced to shuffle his side in the past few weeks with regulars such as Lorne Bickley, Euan van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne and Rai Dos Santos unavailable.

But he feels a win with a depleted side will give his team the boost they need going into 2026.

"That performance will give us a lot of confidence, a lot of belief that no matter what the team we trot out, as long as we've got a gameplan, as long as we stick to it and are a bit more disciplined than we were midweek, provide a little bit more quality in key moments like we did today, we've got a chance," he added.

"Hearty performances like that, that's our USP compared to every other team.

"We're not playing for money, we're not playing for status or anything like that.

"We're playing for the love of the club, the love of the island and I think if we can turn in performances like that on a more regular basis we've got a half chance of making the play-offs."