Guernsey Press

Negative Green Lions look seasonal gifts in the mouth

AFTER watching his team labour to an insipid 1-1 home draw against nine men, Tony Vance slammed his Guernsey FC team as 2017 ended in forgettable fashion at Footes Lane on Saturday.

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Early opportunity goes begging: Dave Rihoy heads straight at Hythe keeper Will Godman in the game’s first clear-cut opening. (Picture by Ben Fiore)

There have been plenty of low points during the calendar year for the Green Lions but very few will rankle quite as much with their manager as this stalemate with Hythe Town did.

After all, he had watched his team take a 15th minute lead from the penalty spot through captain Craig Young, by which time his team were a man to the good after Will Thomas’ early red card.

But after bring frustrated in witnessing his team sit deep on that lead and for the most part be outplayed, you always felt that play-off chasing Hythe had an equaliser in them – even after Jerson Dos Santos’ harsh dismissal for diving.

And so it proved as, with the pressure still maintained even after that 73rd minute second red card, Mitchell Dickinson struck from a corner on 80 minutes to grab a share of the spoils that were well-deserved.

Afterwards, after spending a lengthy period of time with his players, it was a despondent Vance doing the rounds for his customary post-match media commitments.

‘We were given a late Christmas present and some new year’s joy all at the same time today, but we didn’t take it at all,’ he said.

‘In terms of the start we had, with the sending off for their player and then taking the lead with the penalty, we couldn’t have asked for any more, it was a great platform but one we didn’t build on.

‘If you were watching that game without knowing who had had a man sent off, you would have assumed it was us because they made it look like they were a man better off, as opposed to being one down.

‘That continued as well with nine men and I have to give full credit to Hythe because they were a very good team who, with 10 men and then nine, worked a lot harder than us today.

‘It is frustrating from my point of view because the way we played, in sitting very deep, was the complete opposite of the way that I wanted us to play and the key thing now is for the players to learn from this.’

  • More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.