Last-minute Allen special nabs point

It was the second equaliser for the hosts, with the first coming courtesy of substitute Matt Loaring’s first touch of the game in the 52nd minute.

The 2-2 scoreline lifted the visitors two places to 12th, but the Green Lions are most definitely looking down the table, rather than up, and will have been relieved to hear news of a late Chertsey equaliser which kept Ashford Town down in 16th – one place and one point behind Guernsey and with a vastly inferior goal difference.

Manager Tony Vance commended his players for their ‘incredible’ upturn in form over the last two months, but nevertheless rued a missed opportunity to register a win, blaming a ‘flat’ first-half performance.

‘That was probably two points dropped,’ he said. ‘We’re a few wins from being safe. We’re down there, but I think what really needs to be commended is what the players have done – from when we were rock bottom and everyone was writing us off, and we were travelling with 11 or 12 players. What they’ve done in the last two or three months has been nothing short of incredible to be honest.’

He described the first half as ‘a non-show’ from a Guernsey point of view, with Chipstead winning the majority of second balls and several over-hit forward passes letting the visitors off the hook.

There was no lack of endeavour from either side in those opening 45 minutes, but goalmouth action was conspicuous by its absence.

The game needed a goal and the opening exchanges after the break gave the 701 fans at Footes Lane hope that it would come from a home player.

Instead, it was the strongly-built but rapid Andy Somo who broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, hammering the ball in off the near post from close range after a neat through-ball opened up the home defence.

There were shouts of encouragement from the Garenne Stand along the lines that there was plenty of time for the hosts to get back into the game, but it took little more than a minute for parity to be restored.

Jacob Fallaize played the ball along the right touchline to man-of-the-match Keanu Marsh, who burst past full-back Charlie Kennett and raced towards the byline before cutting inside adroitly enough to leave centre-back Teddy Perkins on his backside. He then lofted the ball into the path of the onrushing Loaring, who buried a powerful header at full pace past keeper Matt Kerbey.

The buoyant mood survived only four minutes, however, as Somo repeated the trick, springing the offside trap to slot a second past Josh Addison – this time to the Guernsey keeper’s left.

Guernsey took a lot longer to find an equaliser the second time around but it was well worth waiting for.

A Dave Merris corner was met by the head of Charlton Gauvin before ricocheting off a defender away from goal.

Flanked by Chipstead’s two biggest players, Gauvain then dived to head the ball – two feet off the ground – towards Allen on the edge of the area. He ran on to it, flicked it up with his right foot and then struck a sweet and unstoppable left-foot shot through a crowd of players and high into the net.

It terms of technique, it must surely rank in the upper echelons of Allen’s 282 goals for the club.

Guernsey have now found the net in 14 consecutive games, but do have concerns at the other end, with Fallaize having to play through the second half while clearly hobbled by a strong tackle from Somo at the end of the first.

With Joe Alvarez also carrying a knock and needing to come off, the match ended with the hosts fielding just two recognised defenders and seven forwards.

‘We’re not out of the woods yet,’ Vance admitted.

Guernsey’s next match is against eighth-placed Southall at Footes Lane on Sunday at 2pm.