‘Silent assassin’ hailed
TONY VANCE says it is time to replicate GFC’s outstanding away form for their home fans, starting tomorrow night against East Grinstead Town, who sit one place below them in the Bostik South East League table.
The GFC boss expects midfielder Liam Mahon to be fit despite collecting a nasty gash on his ankle in the incident which led to Hastings losing a player to a red card in Saturday’s excellent 1-1 draw.
‘We need to get three points on Wednesday,’ said the manager who was happy to reflect on a performance which began and ended with wobbles, but for much of the game highlighted the improvement of his developing side.
‘They [Hastings] are probably the highest payers in the league and we are now in a position where we can match them on the pitch.
‘In the past we would have parked the buses, but now we are able to compete with them technically. They’ve come a long, long way, this group.
‘For 10 minutes after they scored we were wobbling and last year we would have caved in.
‘But we went three at the back and matched them over the pitch.’
In going three at the back young Thomas Dodds was excellent, said Vance.
‘He took to it like a duck to water and I believe he will turn out to be a centre-back in the not too distant future.
‘He goes about his job so quietly. He’s like a silent assassin.
‘I’d have hated playing against him. He’s that good at stopping people play.
‘It is a tremendous story to see how far he has progressed and he’s now nearly on 100 games and still just 19 years old.’
More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
