Fazakerley reaping rewards of hard work

The young striker has already matched his goal tally for the whole of last season this campaign, with his sixth and latest strike earning GFC a point in the 1-1 draw at Haywards Heath on Tuesday evening.

With nine points from their opening half-a-dozen games – all away from home – the Green Lions are enjoying their best start to a season at this level and Vance is delighted to see Fazakerley thriving alongside returning star Ross Allen.

‘He has done really well. Last year was a difficult year for him, it was his first year, this year he is absolutely relishing it,’ said Vance.

‘Obviously, he has got Ross up front with him and to a certain degree the pressure is off him. However, he is excelling and he is a real asset for us at the moment, which is absolutely fantastic to see.

‘He’s got a tremendous work ethic, it hasn’t just come as a fluke… he’s getting the fruits of his labour there, that’s for sure.’

It was an opportunist finish from Fazakerley on this occasion, capitalising after both Heath centre-backs missing Jamie Dodd’s direct ball from the back to lob goalkeeper Luke Glover and equalise Trevor McCreadie’s earlier penalty.

Vance admitted that his side were lucky to come away with a share of the spoils. ‘It was a little bit wobbly at times, to be honest. [Haywards Heath] played well and, if I’m honest, we’re probably lucky to get a point.

‘Although they didn’t really trouble Callum [Stanton] too much, they had a few chances from which they probably could have done better. They were a real threat their front two, the big lad was an absolute handful and the striker alongside him was very lively. So we had to try and control that threat as best we could and I thought in the first half we were not good at that… second half we were a bit more comfortable.

‘Once they got their goal I thought we’d struggle to score but [it was a] great finish by Faz.’