Super sub Rihoy earns GFC a share of the spoils

Video supplied by Guernsey FC in association with www.kings.gg

Guernsey FC 2, Peacehaven & Telscombe 2

REFLECTING on it in the cold light of day, taking a point off the league leaders was always going to be seen as one gained by Guernsey FC.

After the dramatic late manner in which it was achieved, after the way this contest with Peacehaven & Telscombe unfolded, none of the home fans at Footes Lane can be disappointed with a draw either.

In fact, quite frankly, Peacehaven will be kicking themselves that they did not take full advantage of a Green Lions team off their best in the biggest manner since their poor start to the season in August.

Tony Vance spoke after the game of watching a Guernsey team five years in the past and in all of his time in charge of firstly the Sarnian representative team and now GFC, there can have been few more frustrating afternoons – with both referee Dan Robathan, who received stick throughout for a poor display, and with his own team, who as Vance later admitted, were relying single-handedly on Ross Allen.

This mini-blip of four games without a win is nowhere near a crisis yet and one look at the top of the Ryman South table proves exactly what many have said – the competitiveness of this league is unlike most others.

GFC will have a chance to respond on Wednesday against pre-season title favourites Hastings United, but they will have to play much better or risk leaving with the defeat they were fortunate to avoid here.

The fans were quick to blame Robathan but, in truth, his decisions had little outcome on the result, although it was baffling to see four GFC players enter his notebook, with few from Peacehaven, whose tackling was more on the reckless side.

Vance's biggest gripe was the failure to add more than four minutes of stoppage time on, as well as Robathan's failure to inform him of the length of the extra period, with both sides knocking on the door for the winner.

Even when they are well below their best, it is encouraging to see this Sarnian side show the character that is now a given, as they could well have won the match at the death through a never-say-die mentality that is now engrained.

But in purely technical terms, too many players were off their game at the same time, with the biggest problem being too eager to go from back to front, particularly to Allen, far too quickly.

More often than not, it meant balls easily being dealt with by the big centre-back pairing of captain Ash Jones and Dan McLaughlin, or giving visiting goalkeeper Antony Di Bernardo regular catching practice.

When they did get the ball down and play, Peacehaven's pressing and willingness to close down the space saw them regularly overrun the Lions, who made life difficult for themselves in a pulsating opening couple of minutes.

Not for the only time, GFC gave away the ball cheaply with less than 90 seconds gone and Jamie Brotherton surged down the left, reached the byline and cut back, where the advancing Steve Metcalf beat Tom de la Mare's desperate slide and stroked home first time.

But, as already mentioned, the character in this GFC team is a sight to behold and they were level from the next attack, making it 1-1 with still less than three minutes gone.

A ball in should have been dealt with by the Peacehaven defence, but it was not as a combination of heads tried to clear it under pressure from Dom Heaume and only managed to get in each other's way.

When the ball finally dropped, Heaume impressively poked home into the bottom corner.

Judging by this start and the league records of both sides, you could have been forgiven for thinking it would turn out to something akin to a rugby score.

You could also see why Peacehaven's goals for and against column is relatively high, as they played with an open nature and seemingly went out there to enjoy themselves, without any fear of their opposition.

That approach saw them on top for the rest of the first half, albeit without creating many clear-cut openings, aside from the free-kick that saw them retake the lead moments short of the half-hour mark.

From one of a number of fouls awarded by Robathan on the edge of the area, Josh Jones crossed to the back post and it was Tom Burton who leapt highest to head home into the roof of the net, despite the initial confusion by many who thought it was an own goal.

It was a deserved lead and with GFC still creating some chances through individual brilliance rather than trademark flowing team moves, it was a thrilling first 45 minutes of an end-to-end affair.

However, that changed after the break and, in truth, the second half was as dull as ditchwater for the vast majority of the remainder, only coming alive in the last few minutes when both teams took the handbrake off and went for it.

Kieran Mahon came off the GFC subs bench at half-time to add some bite to midfield in place of Ryan-Zico Black, while Vance introduced both of the big attacking names he had omitted from the starting XI, namely Dave Rihoy and Marc McGrath.

Rihoy was straight in the action when he was quick to a ball over the top, only for Di Bernardo to block the effort, while the same man created a glorious opening for Allen, a beautiful through ball putting him through.

However, Allen's first touch was uncharacteristically heavy and Di Bernardo scrambled out to smother.

In the last 10 minutes Burton should have sealed the win, forcing Chris Tardif into a fine stretched low save and that proved critical on 85min., Rihoy rounding off his excellent individual cameo display with the equaliser.

Alex Le Prevost pumped a ball into the box again, this time to the far side where Heaume leapt highest with a great header back across and despite Allen being denied the chance to get a shot off, the ball fell for Rihoy.

He kept his cool to skip one challenge and coolly slide into the bottom corner.

Allen and Jamie Dodd both had attempts as GFC sensed an unlikely win, although they should have lost the game at the other end, but Tardif made a stunning stop to deny Charlie Walker and then Brotherton fired high and wide.

That second chance in the dying seconds of stoppage time was gilt-edged and saw GFC get out of jail for a point that could yet still prove vital in the months to come.

TEAMS

Guernsey FC: Tardif, Mackay, Cochrane (McGrath 72), Le Prevost, Dodd, Black (Mahon 46), de la Mare, Loaring (Rihoy 56), Heaume, Dyer, Allen.

Peacehaven & Telscombe: Di Bernardo, Marzetti, Jones, McLaughlin, Metcalf, Lawley, Cotton, Burton, Brotherton, Jones, Walker.

Referee: D. Robathan.