It has to rank one of the greatest, if not, the great performance from an Isle of Man women’s team when they defeated Aland 3-0 at Dalheim in the NatWest Island Games on Wednesday.

The Manx had met the Scandinavian side on five previous occasions and had not beaten them in each of those meetings.

It was a highly-organised performance from the Isle of Man based on work ethic, high-tempo, dominating and closing down their opponents at every opportunity - the Manx could have easily added to their tally.

Aland didn’t know what hit them straight from the offset as the IoM started to carve out the opportunities early on, one such chance seeing Jade Burden being put clean through only to drive an angled shot straight at the goalkeeper.

At the other end they had to be thankful for their goalkeeper Kayleigh Greggor who pulled off a superb one-handed save when Aland looked certain to score.

The Manx’s persistence was finally rewarded on 27 minutes, finally unlocking the Aland defence. Gawne’s corner found the head of Kym Hicklin to direct her effort into the net and give the side a deserved lead.

Just before the interval the IoM had a great chance to double their lead when Sarah Wignall’s long-range, speculative strike hit the crossbar as the Manx entered the interval buoyed and full of confidence.

With 49 minutes on the clock the Isle of Man doubled their lead. Following a clever passing move, the ball was played wide on the right to Gawne whose cross found the head of Burden to direct her effort into the goal and score her first goal of this year’s Games and nine goals in total within this competition.

Lisa Costain went close to netting following a defensive mix-up, lifting her effort narrowly over the crossbar. However, the Manx got a deserved third on 72 minutes. Following an intricate move engineered along the left, Wignall worked a one-two with Alex Honour and the former passed inside across the six-yard box where Burden charged into place home her shot.

Buoyed on and cheered by members of their men’s squad in the closing stages, the Manx held on to clinch a memorable victory which sent the Manx players into celebratory delirium.

The Isle of Man finished as group winners and will now play the Isle of Wight tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm.

IoM v Aland: Kayleigh Greggor, Shannon Groves, Kym Hicklin (captain), Sarah O’Reilly, Casey Halsall, Sarah Wignall, Anna Dillon, Beck Corkish (Holly Sumner 55m), Lisa Costain (Alex Honour 63m), Eleanor Gawne, Jade Burden (Chloe Teare 93m)

PAUL HATTON

Twitter: @Hatty1970