Vance happy with a job well done
‘MAGNIFICENT’ was Tony Vance’s verdict on the performance that saw Guernsey FC pick up a hard-earned point at Isthmian South-East leaders Cray Valley PM on Saturday.
With the lion’s share – or should that be Green Lions’ share – of their remaining matches at home, too, it is no wonder the GFC manager had the air of a satisfied man after the 1-1 draw in which Ross Allen gave them the lead from the penalty spot before Francis Babalola’s deflected strike late on equalised for the table-toppers.
‘You can see why they are top of the league – they’re a good side – but you can also see why we’re seventh in the league after 12 games with 10 away,’ said Vance.
‘After 15-20 minutes we worked out how they were playing and started to control the situation, control them – OK we weren’t exactly ripping up trees but we had the game in control and I thought we deserved going 1-0 ahead.
‘There was a lot of pressure from them in the second half going down the slope, but it took a deflected goal to deny us the win.’
Vance was particularly pleased with how his side dealt with the threat Cray Valley posed and limited the amount of work goalkeeper Callum Stanton was required to do, but that left the manager a little disappointed that they did not leave the Badgers Sports Ground with three points.
‘When you are in a winning position, it’s frustrating, but out of the 12 games 10 have been away from home, which is over half our tally [for the whole season], so we’ve got a significant lot of home games and we’re in a good position,’ he said.
‘Another test next week with Hastings at home, they’re obviously a good outfit, but we’ve taken on Cray Valley away from home, got a point and maybe deserved a little bit given the situation.
‘They’ll feel aggrieved that they didn’t get more than a point, but you’ve got to hurt the goalkeeper and generally I thought we contained them very well.’
