A Calum Morrissey header on 92 minutes not only secured the Isle of Man’s first win against Guernsey in the NatWest Island Games, it also secured a placed in the final having defeated the Channel Islanders 4-3 at Fardhem.

The IoM applied the pressure early on, forcing a number corners and pressuring their opponents without being able to find a way through

Guernsey began to gain a foothold in the match and saw them take the lead when Matt Loaring was put clear before dinking over the horizontal Damyan Petkov to make it 1-0.

The last four minutes of the first half witnessed some unbelievable scenes. The Manx levelled matters on 45 minutes after Frank Jones’s long-range strike was tipped over the crossbar for a corner.

From the resulting flag-kick, Daniel Simpson curled the cross across goal which was flicked into the path of Daniel Bell to drill home a low strike.

A minute later the Manx took the lead following a counter when Calum ‘The Shire’ Morrissey galloped into the opposing half, his pass freed Simpson on the left whose cross was met by the head of Ciaran McNulty to direct his effort downwards and into the net.

However, on 48 minutes right on the stroke of halftime the Isle of Man didn’t deal with a corner, allowing Loaring to head home an equaliser at the near post.

The Men recaptured their lead on 65 minutes. Matthew Woods passed out onto the right for McNulty whose his cross eluded everybody until Simpson raced in at the far post to tuck home his shot for his first representative goal.

The lead only lasted four minutes though. Following a free-kick, there was mix-up between the Manx defence and goalkeeper Petkov that allowed Jacob Fallaize to head home into the net to make it 3-3.

With the match in added time, the Isle of Man scored a deserved winner when Simpson’s corner was floated in, Morrissey rose highest to plant his header into the roof of the net.

Although there was an anxious moment for the Manx at the other end of the pitch in the last minute, once the final whistle blew it sparked more jubilant scenes from the travelling Manx contingent.

IoM v Guernsey: Damyan Petkov, Chris Cannell (Matthew Woods 40m), Karl Clark, Jack McVey, Liam Cowin, Daniel Bell, Frank Jones (Captain), Stephen Riding, Sam Caine (Daniel Simpson 35m), Calum Morrissey, Ciaran McNulty

PAUL HATTON

Twitter: @Hatty1970