Powell hails Bulls defence after Whyteleafe win

Jersey Bulls manager Elliot Powell hailed his defence after an impressive 1-0 win over high-flying AFC Whyteleafe at Springfield.

Rai Dos Santos got what proved to be the match-winning goal midway through the first half as the islanders ended a three-game winless run.

Whyteleafe - who pipped Bulls to the Combined Counties Premier Division title last season - were third in Isthmian League South East going into the game.

But they could not find a way past goalkeeper Euan van der Vliet and the home defence as Bulls kept a clean sheet for the first time in almost a month.

"It's been a tough week for us, three games in a week is never easy, especially starting with the result that we did at Sheppey," Powell told BBC Radio Jersey.

"But to go to Three Bridges and get a point, and to come here against a really good side - every credit to Whyteleafe, they played great football, went about things in the right way - I just thought defensively we were a little bit too good for them.

"We put out fires before they got going and every credit to Euan and his team in front of him, I thought they were excellent all over the park."

The win moved Bulls up to 13th in the division, although their exploits in the FA Cup and FA Trophy mean they have up to four games in hand on the sides around them.

"I don't think we've lost to anyone in the play-offs so far," added Powell.

"So it's been a cracking effort, but we've got to make this place a fortress.

"I think we started that pretty well this season with two draws, this is a really big win for us but we've got to follow it up now. Faversham's a really tough test away from home next week and then we play Three Bridges [again] after that.

"Once we come out of these two games I think we'll have a better idea of where we are, we'll have a run of games that are probably more winnable on paper and we need to get after it - we need to start making hay now."

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