Sevenoaks Town 0-1 Jersey Bulls - I felt even I struggled to then come up with an alternative solution but I felt we competed well with the side that can potentially make the play-offs and win them, says frustrated Sevenoaks Town boss Marcel Nimani

Sevenoaks Town 0 – 1 Jersey Bulls
Location	Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5BX
Kickoff	27/02/2026 19:45

SEVENOAKS TOWN  0-1  JERSEY BULLS
Isthmian League South East Division
Friday 27 February 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Greatness Park

FRUSTRATED Sevenoaks Town manager Marcel Nimani believes a lack of quality from his side ensured Jersey Bulls sealed the victory to leapfrog over Faversham Town into the Isthmian League South East Division Play-Off zone tonight.

Jersey Bulls’ centre-half, James Queree tucked home his 12^th goal of the season – from the penalty spot – to settle this poor Friday night stalemate at Greatness Park, as the visitors have sealed two single goal victories over the Oaks this season.

“Just the déjà vu from the reverse fixture, a tight contest,” said Nimani, who’s side have now failed to win any of their last three games.

“Ultimately, the biggest factor that lead to the outcome was the referee.  The referee in the reverse fixture, when he gave them a free-kick from which lead to their goal over there - and in my view it’s a poor decision to give them the penalty in the fourth minute.

“If he’s going to give a penalty for that level of behaviour in the fourth minute, that means that every handball on the pitch should be a free-kick, including all the way to the last minute when we should’ve got a free-kick for the same handball.

“They’re a side that really enjoy playing football off the ball. They’re a side that really enjoy defending a lead.  They’re probably the best side in this League off the ball and that proved tonight.

“They let you keep the ball and for all of the ball that we kept, for all the same repetitive patterns that we had, they’re just so comfortably defended that and ultimately when you get a goal and you’re so good at defending, you reap the rewards as their results have shown.

“They’ve got one of the best defensive records (conceded 32 goals in 33 League games, one fewer than leaders Three Bridges) and they don’t score many (56) for the points that they’ve got.”

Elliot Powell’s side are unbeaten since losing 2-0 at home to Ashford United on 30 December and extended their unbeaten run to nine games after sealing a deserved victory over a lacklustre Sevenoaks Town side.

Jersey Bulls created their first opening after only 36 seconds when central midfielder Adam Trotter hooked the ball forward and a poor back header from Sevenoaks Town’s right-back Kevin Diomande let in seven-goal left-winger Rai Dos Santos but goalkeeper Jordan Perrin came off his line to narrow the angle to smother the ball.

Dos Santos found himself at right-back and he cracked a long ball into the Sevenoaks Town penalty area and weak link, centre-half Toluope Jonah was penalised by referee Kane Dempster for handball.

Jersey Bulls’ captain Queree placed his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner – despite the recalled Perrin going the same way – as the visitors’ sealed the deal with only 219 seconds on the clock.

“Ok. I’m not sure what else to add into that, other than the fact the referee decided to give a penalty on the fourth minute for a handball – out of 100 referees’, 99 don’t give it, which is fine.  If that’s the decision he’s going to make but then why didn’t he give handballs throughout the game in open field?”

Sevenoaks Town were often guilty of giving the ball away as soon as they approached the half-way line with Jonah the main culprit, as Jersey Bulls were a lot hungrier in key areas of the pitch, with too many Sevenoaks players in attack, Warren Mfula (striker), Jefferson Aigbangee (left-wing), Rodney Eruotor (right-wing) and Hanson Itauma performing so poorly, they proved that they would rather be elsewhere on a rain drenched Friday night.

“Sometimes you have to acknowledge the credit of the opposition. I felt that they’re a very well-organised and hard-working. A team that enjoy playing football off the ball,” said Nimani.

“We tried, we tried and we tried and we tried and we couldn’t break them down and then in certain situations we didn’t quite have the quality and I felt that even I struggled to then come up with an alternative solution.”

Jersey, dominant in the middle of the park where Itauma often went missing without trace, created an opening (13:21) when Queree slipped the ball through the heart of the pitch to Toby Ritzema, who was given time and space to unleash a low right-footed drive from 30-yards, which bounced once before being comfortably gathered by Perrin.

Sevenoaks Town offered nothing in attack, with Jersey Bulls a hard nut to crack, with centre-halves Queree and Jamie Watling protecting so much that their 29-year-old goalkeeper Euan van der Vliet didn’t have to make a single save.

When Sevenoaks Town’s holding midfielder Jed Borders scooped the home side's man-of-the-match award – for pulling the strings inside his own half – that’s all you need to know about the poor performance from the home side’s attacking players.

“So is that who you feel was the best (Sevenoaks) player?  Yes, obviously they allowed us to have the ball in those central areas and yes Jed has been superb for us, so I’ve got no critic there,” added Nimani.

Borders played the ball into Jaden Perez and the central midfielder drilled the ball out to Eruotor, who frizzed in a low cross across the face of goal and past the far post from inside the right-channel, as you’re clutching at straws when recalling any other notable attacking moves from the home side.

The Oaks were, however, good at passing the ball between Perrin, Ryan Sawyer and Jonah, who travelled unpressed towards the half-way line and that is when it went wrong for the home side as they often gave the ball away (Jersey players didn’t even press the two centre-halves in an attempt to win the ball back), or long balls often went out of play.

Jersey Bulls’ otherwise quiet, 17-goal striker, Lorne Bickley, recycled the ball back into the Sevenoaks penalty area from the right and Dos Santos’ half-volley was comfortably gathered by Perrin stepping to his right.

Ritzema’s third long throw came into the Sevenoaks penalty area, the ball was flicked on by Watling at the near-post and Bickley’s second bite of the cherry saw him cut onto his right-foot inside the penalty area and his deflected shot flashed across Perrin and just past the foot of the far post (29:31).

Perrin was called into making a fine double save to deny Jersey Bulls their second goal of the night, with 34 minutes and two seconds on the clock.

Luke Watson played the ball into right-back Jonny Le Quesne (in a central position) and he fed the ball into Ritzema, who laid the ball off to Dos Santos, who’s right-footed drive from 25-yards was destined to nestle inside the bottom right-hand corner.

Perrin got down low to his left to parry and Jonah nor left-back Charlie Dickens reacted and allowed winger Miguel Carvalho in, inside the six-yard box but Perrin made his second save at his near-post – another example of Jersey’s players being more hungrier and first to the ball in a key area of the pitch.

“Yes, it was a good save from Jordan but from my perspective is that second chance was we didn’t react quick enough, so their winger got there quicker than our reaction, which then created a second chance. That’s the disappointing side from our perspective,” added Nimani.

Jonah launched six loopy long throws into the Jersey Bulls penalty area during the game and Sevenoaks Town created an opening from the number six’s  second throwi-in, with 36:41 on the clock.

The ball was headed away towards Borders, who cracked a right-footed volley across keeper Vliet from 25-yards, the ball dropping past the far post.

Nimani said:  “Maybe a bit more quality in there. It’s a sort of game that you either want a referee decision to go your way, or you want a fluke or you want some form of deflection or some form of unique quality to break the deadlock.

“Remember, they scored from a penalty that perhaps shouldn’t have been a penalty. Otherwise, it would be a nil-nil game but I do think if they didn’t get the goal, they would’ve come out and if they would’ve come out chasing for the goal, we would’ve scored on the counter.”

When asked to explain why his side played CRAB football (backwards and sideways, usually in their own half of the field), Nimani replied: “Well, first of all, we looked at keeping the ball, which we did and we looked to play in around them, rather than through them because that’s where they’re strongest, which we did.

“We looked to defend set-pieces, which I felt we did and in terms of the tactical set-up, we played exactly how we planned.  It’s just we didn’t have enough quality and the reason why we didn’t have enough quality because they congested the two lines and there’s no space to play and the reason why they defended so feel was because the referee gave them a goal.”

It’s very harsh to blame the referee – it was more Tolope’s poor performance at left-centre-back was the reason Jersey Bulls claimed the victory tonight!

When asked what was missing from his players tonight, Nimani replied: “Just a bit of quality! When we did get into those situations to break down a team like that, you’ve got to have a bit of quality,  Our final pass, so that would probably be, we lacked a bit of quality.”

Jersey Bulls created a chance through open play (41:35) when Dos Santos played the ball into Adam Trotter, who played the ball out to Carvalho on the right. He easily cut inside Dickens and stroked a low left-footed drive which bounced off the slick artificial turf and was comfortably gathered by Perrin.

When asked what his thoughts were at the interval, Nimani replied: “Just to maintain and not be frustrated. We were getting frustrated towards the latter parts of the first half and I just felt if we were going to break these guys down, it will be through patience and I felt in the second half perhaps the frustration and the lack of success got the best out of us emotionally but fine margines that didn’t go our way tonight. It’s a tight game, they won by one penalty.

“Yes, so that (often giving the ball away during the game) comes from a lack of frustration but again you’re defending tight areas. You’ve got tired legs.  We wanted to move the ball a little bit quicker and sometimes when you’re a bit fatigued in tight spaces, you’ll give the ball away here and there.

“Maybe it could be, it could be but it’s not the reason why we lost tonight.

“Our second half performance was not as good as the first half but fatigue has something to play with it.”

Jersey Bulls created their first opening (8:55) when left-back Jay Giles approached the halfway line before releasing Dos Santos down the line and he reached the by-line before delivering a deep cross where the unmarked Trotter placed his first-time right-footed shot past the near-post as the poor Jonah opened the gate once more.

Sevenoaks Town created just the one opening during the second half, with 12 minutes and 27 seconds following their first of two corners.  Jersey Bulls had seven, two of those coming in the second half.

Borders raised both of his arms before delivering a quality delivery with his right-foot from the right, the ball was cleared out to Perez and the central midfielder cracked a right-footed half-volley screaming  over the crowd of players past the top of the right-hand post from outside the D.

“Yes, just a bit more quality, maybe, a bit more composure. It’s not a lot.  You can’t coach that, just a bit more quality,” added Nimani.

“Sometimes the wind changes the direction of the ball, lands one centimetre further or your contact is one centimetre more inwards.”

Perez was guilty of playing too many Hollywood balls, hitting long diagonals towards the home side’s ineffective wingers, who offered no threat for Jersey Bulls’ full-backs.

“Switch of play, so one of our solutions is switch of play. If you can’t play through teams, you play around teams. We wanted to take them in one side of the pitch so they shuffle on one side of the pitch, go inside and swing into the opposite end, a little bit of quality there,” explained Nimani.

Perrin pulled off a brilliant save to prevent Jersey Bulls adding to their lead, with 18:43 on the clock, following the visitors’ penultimate corner.

Giles swung the ball in from the right, Perrin used both hands to punch the ball out of his penalty area and the ball dropped for substitute James Sunley, who cracked a sublime right-footed volley towards the top right-hand corner from 25-yards, but Perrin palmed the ball over his crossbar with an outstretched right hand, diving high to his left.

“Jordan did what he’s tasked to do, so that in-swinging corner, he reacted to it very well. The only thing we could argue is maybe their guy, who had the shot, was free, we had to mark him,” added Nimani.

“I felt we competed well with the side that can potentially make the play-offs and win the play-offs so the gap isn’t as big as perhaps the league table shows.”

Sevenoaks Town goalkeeper coach Julian Leigh was cautioned for the first time in his career, by referee Kane Dempster (45:12), which was the only incident of note coming from the home side as too many players had off nights and missed their chance to climb into the top 10 had they grabbed a point, as a professional and resilient Jersey outfit ran out deserved winners.

League leaders Three Bridges – who host fifth-from-bottom side Erith Town tomorrow – are on course of winning the League title, with Jamie Crellin’s side on 75 points from their 31 games.

AFC Croydon Athletic (64 points from 31 games), AFC Whyteleafe (60 points from 31 games), Sittingbourne (59 points from 30 games) and Jersey Bulls (59 points – 16 wins, 11 draws and 6 defeats) are in the play-off zone tonight.

Faversham Town have slipped down into sixth place with 57 points from 30 games, courtesy of their 2-2 draw at second-from-bottom side Beckenham Town in midweek and Jersey’s win here tonight.

Sevenoaks Town remain in eleventh-place in the pecking order with 43 points (13 wins, four draws and 16 defeats).

The Oaks were in the bottom four when Gillingham won here 2-0 in the Kent Senior Cup Second Round on 3 December and since then the Oaks have won seven, drawn three and have now lost three of their last 13 League outings to climb 14 points clear of the relegation zone – and 16 points adrift of the play-off zone with nine games left.

When asked how he has managed to stave off relegation, Nimani replied: “Good decisions that we made back then really shows that the strength that we have as a club.

“We were down and a lot of teams in that sort of run and that sort of rut, a lot of teams struggle to get out of it. Instead, some teams look to change things so the board change the manager and we didn’t. Literally quite a lot of people were saying ‘maybe he’s got to resign?!’ – we didn’t and I turned it around!”

Chairman Paul Lansdale – who has been working tirelessly for the last 11 years to get permission to build the new clubhouse which is expected to open later on in the year – has only sacked one manager and that was Micky Collins after eight years at the helm, back in February 2022.

“How? Just working collectively with the board. We made some decisions so we targeted some players. We brought in five new players.  Truth be told, I felt that at the time, I lost the ability to stimulate the changing room and that’s not to disrespect the team I had because I don’t think I lost the changing room, because we had a really good group of players but I felt I lost the ability to stimulate the changing room.

“So the only way for me to turn that around was to follow the principals of what a new manager would do and we had to change players around and we changed the players around and I’ve managed to re-stimulate the changing room, not lose the changing room because the boys that we let go are great lads but when you lose the ability to stimulate the changing room and get a reaction out of the players, that’s when you know that you’ve got to make a difference and that’s what we did.”

Talk about new managers, Aaron Jeffery has picked up four League wins of his seven games since taking over from Adam Woodward (who moved upstairs as a club director) at Erith Town, who host Sevenoaks Town next Saturday at Bayliss Avenue.

The Dockers are two points clear of Hassocks (who welcome Beckenham Town in a real must-win six pointer for Del Oldfield's men tomorrow) – having picked up 31 points from their 29 games.

“They’re on good form at the moment. They’ve picked up some points recently – I don’t know the exact stats,” said Nimani, who is working with a nineteen-man squad at present.

“At their ground they’re very strong and tough to beat. They’ll be very different to Jersey Bull, I do think that they’ll create more chances. I don’t think Jersey Bulls created more chances than we did tonight. I think they’ll create a lot more chances, so we’ve got to defend that better but I think in contrast if we play well, we will potentially create more, have more opportunities to create more chances against them.  It will be a game of whoever defends better and whoever takes their chances better.

“Our first target is to secure our League position and when we get there then the next target is can we get to 63 points, which will make us better than last season.

“Last season we set a club record at this level for points (62), which was the most this club has achieved at this level. Now it’s can we get to 63 points?

“It depends how the other teams perform as well but I would say that we’re about six to seven points from safety. Well, you always want to be certain don’t you, so I think we’re two wins and a draw away.”

Sevenoaks Town: Jordan Perrin, Kevin Diomande, Charlie Dickens, Jed Borders, Ryan Sawyer, Toluope Jonah, Jefferson Aigbangbee, Jaden Perez, Warren Mfula (Tom Hanfrey 88), Hanson Itauma (Daniel Duncanson 54), Rodney Eruotor.
Subs: Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Tommy Taylor, Nana Arthur

Booked: Charlie Dickens 53, Warren Mfula 74, Julian Leigh 90 (goalkeeper coach), Tom Hanfrey 90

Jersey Bulls: Euan van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne (Fraser Barlow 76), Jay Giles, Luke Watson, Jamie Watlling, James Queree, Rai Dos Santos (James Sunley 61), Adam Trotter, Lorne Bickley, Toby Ritzema (James Carr 72), Miguel Carvalho (Francis Lekimamati 88).
Sub: Joe Kilshaw

Goal: James Queree 4 (penalty)

Booked: Francis Lekimamati 90
 
Attendance: 246
Referee: Mr Kane Dempster
Assistants: Mr Matthew Charles & Mr Stephen Hughes