Hutton seals three vital points for Green Lions

Angus Mackay interviewed by Matt Lihou

Video courtesy of GFCTV in partnership with kings.gg

Farnham Town 1, Guernsey FC 2

IT MAY be one of the oldest footballing cliches in the book, but Guernsey FC won the ultimate game of two halves last night after an excellent second-half showing was enough to see off Farnham Town.

At half-time with the hosts deservedly leading 1-0 through Chris Yates' added-time goal, things were looking pretty bleak for the Green Lions after a very poor showing up to that point.

But following some tactical tinkering by coach Tony Vance, who deserves much credit for his role in the turnaround, GFC were infinitely better after the restart and created numerous chances in the second half.

In the end, it was Nigel Hutton, pictured above, who was the hero with his 77th minute winner, after Dom Heaume had earlier equalised. And in truth, it was one-way traffic during those 45 minutes, with a number of players impressing.

The man who shone for the duration, though, was an old face as Angus Mackay was superb at centre-back upon his return from a six-month injury layout, while Matt Drillot's work rate saw him also impress after the break in his first start for the club.

However, those were the only bright sparks in an otherwise disappointing opening for the visitors, whose only real chance of note early on was Hutton's powerful back-post header that forced a fine reaction save out of Farnham keeper Mike Strudley.

Adam Wareham came close with a curling free-kick at the other end, while Joe Samuels was smartly denied by teenage GFC keeper James Hamon, but it was after 26min. that the hosts squandered their best opening yet.

David Cooper surged down the right and into the box, squaring to Jack Dillon, who could only poke his shot straight at Hamon from a glorious position when he really should have done better.

Samuels also should have scored when he flicked wide Matt Bunyan's cross from close range, but they did finally get the reward for their first-half superiority in added time.

Bunyan had been denied by the woodwork just seconds before the goal, with Dillon repeating his teammate's feat by looping Wareham's wicked cross onto Hamon's crossbar.

This time, though, the rebound dropped nicely for Yates, who buried home into the unguarded net and gave GFC a mountain to climb after the break.

But after pushing Heaume further forward, the big man won virtually every header for the remainder and was absolutely superb, allowing Hutton and Ross Allen more space to carve open the Farnham defence.

They were rewarded on 56min. with the equaliser, Heaume volleying home into the bottom corner after a brilliant chase and cross under pressure from Glyn Dyer down the right-hand side.

It was now all green in the attacking stakes and Allen hit the foot of the post after rounding Strudley, with Rob Webb's superb slide then denying Heaume the subsequent rebound effort.

Allen spurned another good one-on-one effort soon after, while Farnham's one threat came when Jamie Dodd's mistake allowed in Dillon, but Hamon did well to turn the effort around the post.

That proved decisive when Heaume won yet another header in flicking on Jacques Isabelle's ball forward to put in Hutton, whose first touch was excellent and set him away on goal.

He kept his composure well to drill a low effort past Strudley and make it 2-1, a fully deserved turnaround for the Lions, who may look back on this as a defining night in their quest for promotion.