‘We nearly pulled off a miracle, didn’t we?’ said Tony Vance.
‘Firstly, we took it to the final day, which was brilliant in itself, then we did our bit by winning. Of course, we were hoping for Met Police to do us a favour, which was always going to be the tough bit.
‘But I am really proud of everybody. To get to 42 points when in February we were on 21 is a magnificent effort.
‘We took a risk with what we did this season in terms of our playing style and the young group of players we used, but we had stagnated for so long. The foundations are there now, with that group and Victoria Park, to look forward with positivity.’
After 12 years at step four of non-league football, the Green Lions were unable to retain their Isthmian South Central status on Saturday despite finishing their season with a flourish.
GFC were outstanding as they completed their 42-game campaign with a resounding victory at Harrow Borough, but they also needed a favour elsewhere if they were to survive and it was not forthcoming as the only side they could overtake going into the final day, the Metropolitan Police, scored two late goals to win 2-0 at Sutton Common Rovers.
It was a dramatic day before a ball had even been kicked with travel delays meaning the Green Lions barely had time to warm up before adhering to the strict 3pm kick-off time.
That did not prove to have an adverse effect on GFC, though, as they went ahead on 15min. when Jacob Fallaize headed home a Charlton Gauvain corner kick.
They doubled their advantage just before the break as Fin Du Port fired into the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area to score the club’s 1,000th goal in league competition.
GFC sealed the win just two minutes into the second half when Gauvain headed in Brandon Wallace’s cross, and so all eyes turned to Sutton Common Rovers where the game had been goalless at half-time with the Met Police knowing that they would stay up if they avoided defeat.
It took until the 83rd for the boys in blue to make the breakthrough with Izvnna Ikebuasi putting them ahead against their already-relegated hosts.
Mason Galloway added a second two minutes later to seal GFC’s fate as the Green Lions ended up one point from safety.
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