Ross up there with best
THE packed Garenne Stand were settling into their seats as Paul Johnson blew his whistle to start the second half at Footes Lane on Saturday.
THE packed Garenne Stand were settling into their seats as Paul Johnson blew his whistle to start the second half at Footes Lane on Saturday.
And as they shuffled about,
squeezing past already seated fans and shared a quick word or three with familiar old faces, behind them Ross Allen had received the restart from Matt Loaring and made a bee-line for the Cobham goal.
In 10sec. from the blowing of the whistle to start the half, Allen slalomed past four or five players – I'm taking someone else's word for this as my view was blocked by someone taking his seat – and then shot past the magnificent Robbie Whittaker for the Green Lions' third goal of a mightily impressive win.
I saw the clinical denouement of Allen's first of the afternoon and competitive goal No. 37 for the striker in this maiden season for GFC and by the final whistle he had secured his seventh hat-trick of the campaign, a truly remarkable effort which begs two questions.
1: Just how many will he score by the time May arrives and 2: How does the GFC No. 10 compare to the greatest centre-forwards this island has produced since the first competitive balls were kicked in 1893?
The goals total he might yet achieve this winter is something we can all only guess at.
Where the hottest striker in the entire Combined Counties League stands in the history of the domestic game, is less a case of guesswork and more a question of self-opinion.
Is he better than his dad Craig?
How does he match with Kevin Le Tissier, or for that matter John Loveridge?
And what about the pre-war great Harold Dorey?
Well... I think we can safely say young Ross is a step up from Harold, although the Green Lions striker might care to look at the old North and First Tower great's Muratti scoring record with some envy.
Pre-war football was undoubtedly pedestrian compared to the modern game and it is this crossing of eras which makes sound judgment so difficult when comparing like for like.
But in terms of forward play there is no sounder judge than Marcus Le Tissier. This is a man whose playing days date back to playing alongside the electric Loveridge, who was great in the air as well as on the ground, in Muratti football. He also saw the best of his brother-in-law Ray Blondel, and scarcely missed a match involving his son Kevin at his peak.
He will also have seen Craig Allen before and after his pro days in North American football.
Marcus, who has been a regular down the Lane this season, did not prevaricate when asked how Ross compares with the perceived best.
'I think he's probably on a par with them all, certainly in terms of finishing.
'But I don't think he has the pace of Kevin or John Loveridge.
As for comparing father and son Allen, Marcus said: 'Craig was the same as Ross and he knew exactly where the goal was. Craig was probably a little bit more skilful on the ball, in terms of dribbling.'
So there we have it.
I would not be churlish enough to disagree with Le Tissier senior, but would add that the way Ross is progressing – he is a far superior player than two years ago, largely due to a less greedy approach – the current No. 10 may go on to become the best of the lot.
But, before he can lay claim to that honour or anyone can definitively argue he is tops, the scoring needs to embrace a few victorious Muratti finals and not be restricted to slotting home the pens.
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WHO in their right mind could claim that the Green Lions have not been mightily impressive this season?
With a brand of stylish and balanced attacking football they ripped apart Cobham time and again last
Saturday, and as usual the team's high fitness levels ensured that their opponents would not live with them beyond the hour mark.
One old unblinkered St Martin's star of the seventies, who took a punt on a season-ticket back in late summer and has not regretted it one bit, told me that he was really taken by the
impressive fitness levels of Tony Vance's men – not to mention the style of the approach play which has, at its heart, a vision from the manager to play the proper way and enjoy access to two high-class midfield prompters in Ryan-Zico Black and Angus Mackay.
I'm sure come Muratti time Craig Culkin will recognise the threat these two wily playmakers pose to the Reds.
As good as there has been locally?: Ross Allen is as good a finisher as the father of Matt Le Tissier has seen over the past half-century.
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JAMES BLOWER has made an impressive introduction into his new role as the GFA's director for representative football.
He is showing himself to be a man of action as well as generally wise words.
I now feel a whole lot more confident that youth football in Guernsey can now bottom out and move forward, with Blower working behind the scenes and Steve Ogier providing the expertise in terms of coaching and a development eye.
But I must take exception with Blower on one thing: his suggestion that it is unrealistic to win more games against Jersey simply due to the comparative size of populations.
As far as I am aware, the ratio of Sarnians to Caesareans has not changed much over the past century, but in youth football at least, Guernsey has always punched its weight.
Why, I seem to remember that until we got hammered 5-1 in the 1987 Star Trophy we went 15 Schoolboy Murattis without losing.
In fact, despite the disparity in size of populations, Guernsey still leads the overall schoolboy series by a narrow margin – 39 to 35 by my swift calculations.
The Junior Muratti series has been increasingly dominated by the Caesareans over the past decade but the Reds' series lead is not a gaping one, merely 45 to 32.
So while I recognise it is unfair to expect Guernsey sides to enjoy too much success at South and West Counties level, beating Jersey should always be a realistic and very achievable target.
We just have to get our act together at youth level to start regularly winning again.
THE creation of the Guernsey FA Cup was a bright idea which showed initiative to breathe new life and worthwhile additional football into the domestic programme.
But that was eight seasons ago when there was no such thing as the one player one club rule and no split with the social leagues. Now, the time has come with no sponsor, no major financial incentive to win it and no sign of a reconciliation with the Saturday and Sunday clubs, to draw a line under the competition.
These succession of 14-0, 18-0 and lopsided scorelines are embarrassing mis-matches which waste everyone's time.
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APOLOGIES for my careless error earlier this week in suggesting England Athletics' visiting support officer Christine Benning was once Christine Boxer.
Not for the first time my eyes on reading a set of old results deceived me.
In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics women's 1,500m final Christine Benning was fifth and fellow Brit Christina Boxer sixth.
The phrase blind as a bat comes to mind.
YOU can clearly see where currently injured island footballer Ben Coulter gets his engine from – his impressively fit dad Trevor.
Coulter snr. demolished the British age-group rowing record for 100 kilometres last Sunday, a quite stupendous effort, as was that of all those members of the Guernsey Rowing Club who are on the way to raising £10,000 for the MS charity. Together they have been the island's team of the month, let alone week.
