Report and photo by Paul Hatton

ISLE OF MAN 3 - 0 FALKLAND ISLANDS 

ECAP Isle of Man Men’s manager Blane Slattery got his debut Island Games off to a winning start by beating the Falkland Islands 3-0 at St Martin FC on Sunday afternoon.

It is very much a new-look squad which includes only one member from their Gold medal squad from Gotland 2017 (Matthew Woods) and ten out of the starting eleven making their Island Games debut. 

It was the sixth time they have met the South Atlantic team at the mini-Olympiad, however, the first twenty minutes saw the Falklands frustrate the Manx which saw three players getting booked. 

The IOM started to settle and started to take control, this bore fruit when they were awarded  penalty on 30 minutes which Brody Patience drove home his spot-kick into the bottom right. With 43 minutes on the clock, the Manx doubled the lead with Robbie Ward’s 30 yard free-kick eluding everybody including the Falkland goalkeeper who mis-judged the cross before the ball going into the net.

After the break, the IOM were always in control and they netted a deserve third on 65 minutes; Ryan Gartland tucking home a shot into the goal ensuring that they maintain their 100% record against the South Atlantic side and this will give the team confidence going into their next fixture, against the Shetlands, on Monday evening.

Starting line-up: Adam Killey, Matthew Woods (C), Stewart Smith, Philip Kelly, Morgan Naylor, Robbie Ward (Kyle Watson 66m), Tiernan Garvey, Danny Gerrard (Chris Bass Jnr 80m), Ryan Gartland, Brody Patience, Jay Chatwood (Josh Ridings 66m).