GFC staying up after a game of two halves
Guernsey FC manager Tony Vance says the second half of Sunday’s game with Northwood was ‘horrible to be involved with’ as his side drew 3-3 having been three goals ahead going into the break.
The point on the day was enough to secure survival in the Isthmian South Central for another season, and the GFC boss says his side have been ‘much better’ in recent weeks to break their run of six straight defeats.
‘We were excellent in the first half – we were right on the money going forward and looked really dangerous,’ said Vance.
‘We found a way to unlock their defence on a number of occasions and had a number of final third entries.
‘The second half was horrible – they had a guy with a long throw and he had the wind behind him, so I knew we were going to face an onslaught.
‘We need to find a way to be able to deal with that sort of football because it’s becoming more and more apparent in our league.
‘Teams are having a lot of success with direct football, which is so frustrating. It is not the football I want to see but that’s just the way it is.
‘At the end of the day it was all about getting the point, but it was a shame not to win from that position.'
The manager praised the 'outstanding' Tom Dodds and was pleased with his attacking play while taking the opportunity to give Ross Allen a rest.
‘The group have turned it around in terms of our performances, and hopefully on Wednesday that result will come against Hartley Wintney.’
Vance also reflected on the season as a whole as GFC enter the final week of their 2023-24 campaign having just ensured their survival and described it as a ‘positive’ one for his team.
‘We have scored 20 more goals than last year, which is the equivalent of scoring once more every other game and that is really pleasing – it is exactly what we wanted to do this year.
‘The problem is we’ve conceded way too many goals from mistakes and set pieces.
‘It is a raw young group and the funny thing is if we’d got a couple of results in the last few weeks, which we have definitely threatened to do, we would be in 13th, even after a run of six defeats.’
GFC play their final home game of the season on Wednesday evening, as they welcome Hartley Wintney to Footes Lane. Kick off is at 7.45pm.
