Angry Vance says his ‘boys’ are weak
THEY are down to 17th and two of the three sides below them have two games in hand.
It is fair to say the early season optimism of Tony Vance and GFC fans has evaporated and another home defeat, this time at the hands of Phoenix Sports, did not improve the mood of the GFC manager.
Having seen his side lose a fifth game on the trot, this time after twice leading, he was not pulling punches.
‘I’m angry and I’m frustrated. We were sublime at times, we led 2-0 and it should have been 3-0, Faz missed with a simple header, but we allowed them back in, we dropped off.
‘I could recognise it from the sidelines and suddenly we were backs to the wall a little bit and that’s when you need strong leadership, you need influences on the pitch and you need people to really dig in. We didn’t have that twice today, at 2-0 and 3-2.
‘It was frustrating to go in 2-all because we had been really good and I was really angry at half-time. We should have had them out of sight.’
In contrast, Phoenix boss Paul Bryon was happy and the singing emanating from the visiting dressing room showed how the Londoners viewed their escape.
‘It was a good game of football, but not a good game for my heart,’ said Bryon.
‘I thought defensively we were poor and let in three poor goals, but I have to say the third goal [Matt Loaring’s second] I’m not going to see a better one for a long time. The strike was absolutely outstanding.
‘We got the breaks at the right time.
‘Two good sides, an even battle and it could have gone either way.’
Bryon heaped praise on his match-winner, ‘Big Jeff’ Duah-Kessie, whose hat-trick took his tally to the season to 14.
‘He is brilliant, Jeff. He gets accolades, he scores goals and he beats teams, priceless. But there is a little fella playing alongside him, our No. 8, an 18-year-old whose movement allows Jeff to score his goals and he’s a bit of an unsung hero.
‘I’ve just got to keep Jeff fit.’
The win lifted Phoenix up to third, level on points with second-placed Hastings.
As for their title hopes, Bryon played them down.
‘We work on a small budget, we are a small club, we just want to finish as high as we can.
‘There’s some big and good teams in there. The likes of Hastings are a level above us. Then you’ve got your Ashfords, your VCDs and your Crays, Hythe. It would be a massive achievement to go up.’
And with seasoned semi-pros like Duah-Kessie leading their line, they have experience GFC are crying out for, as Vance recognises is a fault of his group.
‘They are young boys and we are playing in a tough league against good players, but at times we are playing the best football, at others we are weak. It’s really frustrating me, to be honest.’
