Green Lions must become more ruthless says Vance

Charlton Gauvain’s early goal seemed to be enough for the Green Lions to continue their 100% record against the hosts since moving to the Isthmian South Central.

However, strikes at the death from Nabeel Ghannam and Ashley Sheppard meant Tony Vance’s men left the mainland empty-handed.

The result means GFC remain 15th in the table on three points after their first four games.

‘It was very frustrating, we should have put the game to bed in the first half,’ said boss Tony Vance.

‘I suppose it was quite similar to the South Park match because we had chances in the first 25 minutes and did not take them.

‘We are just not ruthless enough, we do not want to score enough, and that is a real issue, because it gave them the opportunity to come back and got what they probably deserved after putting the pressure on in the second half.

‘The game management from us was poor.’

Guernsey got off to the dream start as Sam Murray’s cross found Gauvain, who made no mistake in heading home in the sixth minute.

Gauvain continued to cause problems to the Sutton Common Rovers backline and had an effort stopped well by goalkeeper James Dillon just shy of the half-hour mark.

The hosts began to grow into the game and just before the break they were awarded a penalty, but Josh Addison came to his side’s rescue and saved the spot-kick.

Substitute Brandon Wallace had a chance to create breathing room for the Sarnians as he burst into the box before having his effort denied, while Addison made another good save at the other end from close range.

Wallace went close again in the last 10 minutes as his chip went just wide, but it was the home team who were the ones to eventually find the back of the net, equalising thanks to Ghannam in the 90th minute.

Sutton Common Rovers were not content with just a point, either, scoring again in the 97th minute to snatch a last gasp victory.

‘It hurts that we have lost from a winning position – you look at their two goals and they’ve literally just smashed it twice and it’s gone in, whereas we try and walk the ball in and the longer we take, the less of an opportunity we have to score,’ said Vance.

‘It seems like we always want to score the perfect goal instead of just smashing it in and finding the back of the net, which is how 95% of goals are scored.

‘Josh Addison was a big positive, he did not deserve to be on the losing team, especially after saving a penalty.

‘The effort was definitely there from everyone, it was a really hot day, and we had enough to win that football match.

‘The other frustration is when you look at where we are compared to where we should be in the table.

‘We should be second at the moment, because we should have got a point against South Park and we should have won at the weekend.

‘We’ll be analysing the game and I hope there is a bit of soul searching from the players when we see the chances we have that we’re not taking.’