Key moments went against Green Lions in Badshot defeat
Guernsey FC were left feeling hard done by as they suffered defeat at Badshot Lea on Saturday.
The ‘Baggies’ won 4-2 at Westfield Lane where the Green Lions were bemused by decisions to disallow them a goal on the stroke of half-time and then to issue a straight red card to Tom Dodds on the hour mark, with both incidents occurring when the hosts were 2-1 ahead.
‘I’m not blaming the ref for the game, however they are key moments which have gone against us,’ said GFC manager Tony Vance.
‘With that “goal” it’s 2-2 at half-time. Instead, you are still behind then you come out for the second half and 15 minutes later you are down to 10 men.
‘It was a game we could have won. Their front three were very good, to be fair, but that aside I thought we were at least a match for them.
‘With 10 men, though, it is tough and that’s from key moments, key decisions. It was a frustrating day.
‘We deserved something from the game and I think it says a lot when the opposition apologise for the decisions we had to endure.’
Jonathan Sanchez had given Badshot Lea a 10th minute lead before Matt Loaring equalised on 20min.
Anuar Ceesay restored the home side’s advantage just before the half-hour mark before the first of those crucial decisions when Charlton Gauvain drove the ball into the net but Ross Allen was adjudged to be offside.
After the turnaround, Dodds was sent off for a tackle that was strong, as the footage shows, but arguably fair and the award of the free-kick annoyed GFC, let alone the red card that followed.
‘He actually got the ball first as the deflection of it shows, but at the time we were told [the red card] was for a dangerous two-footed challenge, which it wasn’t,’ said Vance, who indicated that GFC might appeal the decision.
‘It makes it much harder when it should be 2-2 at half-time and then you are playing 10 v 11 for the last half-an-hour.’
New Baggies signing Kareem Akinibbi made it 3-1 eight minutes later and although Gauvain did eventually get on the scoresheet, his goal was quickly cancelled out by Akinibbi’s second.
‘We had a period of 30 minutes in the first half where we dominated the ball, but if you are looking for why we didn’t win the game, perhaps we did not get the ball forward early enough within our possession build-up,’ Vance said.
‘If we had done that, we probably would have got something out of the game.’
The GFC boss had a word of praise for Loaring, whose goal was his 92nd for the club and brings him level with Dom Heaume in second place on the all-time scorers list.
‘It is really impressive from Matt.
‘A lot of Dom’s games were when the standard was not so difficult. Dom would have undoubtedly scored goals at this level too, unfortunately for us he retired early, but I think it makes Matt’s achievement significant.’
