Game ‘ruined’ by disputed red card
THE controversial sending off of Charlton Gauvain yesterday saw any hopes Guernsey FC had of adding to their points tally over the bank holiday weekend dashed and left Tony Vance irritated to say the least.
Coming off the back of Saturday’s 4-0 loss away to Ascot United, the Green Lions were well in the game against South Park, despite having just fallen behind to Sam King’s goal early in the second half, when star man Gauvain was shown a straight red card after a long discussion between referee and assistant on the far side of the pitch, near the GFC dugout.
The Garenne Stand crowd were left bemused as to what had happened with the break in play lasting the best part of six minutes, but it left the home side with a mountain to climb and ended up succumbing to a 1-0 defeat.
‘Charlton in frustration has said a comment to the referee, he was frustrated with the decisions, but the linesman thought he racially abused him, which is absolute rubbish,’ said Vance.
‘Obviously, emotions were high from the assistant because he thought what was said was something else. Everyone on the pitch and off it has written witness statements... but what can you do?
‘But I have to say I felt the referee handled it really well, given the situation he was put in, so well done to him,’ added the GFC manager, though he said the game was ‘completely ruined’ by the dismissal.
Vance had already been left annoyed by the South Park goal in which scorer King was yards offside in the build-up, but because he was ‘inactive’, play continued and he was then totally unmarked to turn the ball home from close range.
‘These ridiculous offside rules that the powers that be come up with cost us a goal. OK by the letter of the law, it’s not offside, but I’ve said this many times, I’d hate to be a defender now. It’s ridiculous,’ Vance said.
Match report in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
