Guernsey Press

Green Lions serve up a reminder to rest of league

Guernsey FC 2, Hastings United 0 ON A night when some feared the worst, Guernsey FC emerged from their Ryman South slump in magnificent style at a buoyant Footes Lane.

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Guernsey FC 2, Hastings United 0

ON A night when some feared the worst, Guernsey FC emerged from their Ryman South slump in magnificent style at a buoyant Footes Lane.

Facing the league title favourites Hastings United, a side not used to conceding goals, while being out of form themselves and without top scorer Ross Allen, the Green Lions went into this one as underdogs.

But at the end of a fine performance, they had once again showed they can compete with anybody at this level and, with it, reignite a promotion bid that the rest of this 24-team league will take even more seriously after this showing.

GFC were strong throughout and returned to the good passing football that manager Tony Vance craves above all others.

On a perfect night for football, this was arguably the most complete performance GFC have ever produced at 'the Lane'.

Their boss had given them a very public dressing down after Saturday's poor performance and made some big calls in the wake of that draw, as he opted to start without captain Sam Cochrane and Ryan-Zico Black, leaving both on the bench.

The 4-3-3 that has been his trademark for so many years was in place and with the ball-playing centre-back pairing of Angus Mackay and Alex Le Prevost quite superb, Vance can look back with satisfaction on a team selection well made.

Tom de la Mare again shone, first at right-back before switching to centre-midfield upon Kieran Mahon's injury withdrawal, but it was the man he replaced at the heart of the action who produced a man-of-the-match display.

So often in and out of the starting XI, Mahon produced arguably his best display in a GFC shirt to run the show until his substitution in the 75th minute, going a long way to allowing GFC to take total control of the contest.

Although the quality of the football and defending from both sides – Hastings were by no means playing poorly – meant that genuine chances were pretty rare, it was a joy to watch a GFC display that saw the number of misplaced passes able to be counted on one hand.

It was also encouraging to see GFC play with patience and they needed it, as despite having more of the possession early on, there wasn't a clear-cut opportunity at either end until the 26th minute of proceedings.

By then, de la Mare had fired over the bar from a GFC half-chance, while a strong Bailo Camara run at the other end preceded a completely mishit shot, but nothing was as gilt-edged as the opening created by Matt Loaring.

After beating his man down the right and bearing down at goal from a tight angle, he opted for a pull-back rather than shot – a good decision.

But from 10 yards out and in a glorious position, Dom Heaume's weak shot didn't trouble Hastings keeper Josh Pelling.

The magnificent Mackay prevented a certain goal with a crucial backward header from a pinpoint Camara cross, before, seconds later, Hastings had a huge penalty shout turned down.

Josh Hare got to the ball first and went down from Mahon's sliding tackle, but referee Jason Richards waved away the appeals.

But, in truth, that was as big a scare as GFC had in the first-half and, had they not gone in at the break ahead, they would have been disappointed.

As it was, Heaume intervened in stoppage time to ensure that was not the case.

The dramatic move started when Dave Rihoy's trickery beat two defenders from deep, one expertly, before his run saw the ball roll across to Loaring, who beat Pelling with his effort but saw it come back off the foot of the post.

Heaume then got to the rebound but could only make a couple of forceful block tackles, which saw Pelling come out to punch away, but only straight at Rihoy and the ball ricocheted across to Heaume, who volleyed home.

It was like ping-pong in those few seconds, but, in the end, it was an excellent finish by Heaume to send GFC into the dressing rooms in buoyant mood.

That good work was nearly undone straight after half-time when Chris Tardif misread a deflected cross and the usually unflappable keeper spilled it to Ronnie Dolan, but Mackay's covering work saw him get his body in the way for a crucial block.

Some of the crosses coming in from the right-hand side from Tom Vickers and Hare were awkward to deal with, but the home defence dealt with them well, while a couple were just too good, eluding everybody.

After that spell of defending well, GFC started to make the running again and got the crucial second goal just after the hour mark, albeit in somewhat fortuitous circumstances.

Rihoy's shot had deflected off Sean Kelly inches over the crossbar and, from the resulting corner, Glyn Dyer opted to cross rather than go for the short corner that seemed to be popular until that stage.

It was whipped in low at the near post and should have been dealt with by Pelling, who could only turn the ball into his own net for a calamitous mistake that should be credited as an own goal, despite a couple of GFC players claiming a crucial touch.

That settled any lingering nerves within the crowd, but for the players, it kept them on the same vintage path they had walked all evening, even when Mahon's withdrawal forced a personnel reshuffle.

Jamie Dodd marauded down the left to force a smart save from Pelling at his near post, while Tardif also made a couple of routine parries, as Hastings tried their hand from distance a bit more.

It could and should have been 3-0 with the last attack of the game as good work between de la Mare and Marc McGrath saw the former's effort smothered by Pelling ahead of the final whistle.

It was not quite the icing on the cake, but for Vance and GFC, there perhaps hasn't been a more satisfying result in quite some time.

TEAMS

Guernsey FC: Tardif, de la Mare, Mackay, Le Prevost, Dodd, Mahon (Isabelle 75), Dyer, Loaring, Heaume, Rihoy, McGrath.

Hastings United: Pelling, Hare, Judge, Kelly, Gilbert (Woodley 77), Vickers, Olorunda, Dolan (Darby 67), Camara (Ellis 67), McCreadie, Adams.

Referee: J. Richards.

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