Vance loving old and young talents
JUST a point off the play-off places, games in hand on four of the sides above them, plus all those home matches to come in the second half of the campaign.
It’s all looking good for the Green Lions, who in beating Sevenoaks Town 1-0 chalked up their 100th competitive home win in their ninth season.
Tony Vance would not disagree, especially now he has found a front-line who, in terms of skill and creative thought, are perhaps the match for any side in the BetVictor South East division.
After the Sevenoaks Town win, the GFC boss purred over the quality now at his disposal and featuring players at opposite ends of their careers – 16-year-old Alex Scott, Charlton Gauvain, 18, and 32-year-old Ross Allen.
Coming on as an early sub for Carlos Canha, who had suffered a smack to the head that left him groggy, Scott was highly impressive.
‘His ball retention and the way he dribbles with the ball, I think he dribbles with the ball quicker than when he runs.
‘He is good, very good,’ said Vance, and you would have to go a long way to find anyone in disagreement.
As for Allen?
‘The way he holds onto the ball and brings others into the game ... his balance, too, and those are the bits people don’t give Ross enough credit for and the strike for the goal was outstanding.
‘The difference this year is we have got players on the same wavelength as his and they all look after the ball.
‘It was a good set piece goal, the players worked it well and I thought we were a threat going forward but defended as if it meant everything.’
Indeed, the GFC boss got an almost complete performance from his side.
The vast majority were on the top of their game and the back-line wonderfully resilient.
‘I wouldn’t like to guess how many corners and crosses we defended and to be fair they were a good team.
‘It’s credit to the players digging in. We don’t win many games 1-0 and it is a tough league to do that. It was a great performance, to be honest.
‘The team defended so much as if they wanted a clean sheet and, yes, we got a little bit of luck but we troubled their goalkeeper more than they did ours, and we should have had a blatant penalty on “Doddie” which would have made things easier.’
