Within seven minutes the Green Lions were three goals to the good through Will Fazakerley and Ross Allen. By the end of the half Sam Murray and Charlton Gauvain had both got on the scoresheet too and by the end of the match GFC had notched three figures of goals for their league season.
‘I thought the first 10 minutes we were electric,’ said GFC manager Tony Vance.
‘There was a lot on the line, two good teams. We had to work really hard for the victory last week and though this game had a slightly different twist to it, these are the ones that can lose you promotion.
‘Last week was the one that could gain you promotion, so we had to make sure that we were clinical after that first 10-15 minutes.
‘Unfortunately, we sort of dropped off a little bit – it’s difficult, I get that – and we got a little bit comfortable, and right at the end of the half we gave away a sloppy goal which is disappointing, but we were dominant and we left a lot of goals out there.
‘They did the [half-time] team talk themselves really, I mean it’s always a difficult one but that goal right before half-time put a little bit of annoyance into us.
‘What we had to do then was go and win the second-half.’
In the second-half Allen scored his second early on before Callum Le Lacheur extended the Green Lions’ lead with 10 minutes to go.
In the final few moments Crawley Down Gatwick put another past Josh Addison.
‘They were all good goals and as I said, I thought we left a lot of goals out there as well,’ said Vance, who had packed his side with attackers, starting six players who could be classed at least as attack-minded.
‘We got into wide areas and weren’t really ruthless and clinical enough and didn’t do ourselves justice in those areas.
‘We’ve had different scorers today and that’s been the story of the season. It’s not been the Ross Allen show or even Muzza [Sam Murray] – he’s obviously been really clinical but it’s nice to see the other lads get some goals as well.’
GFC, the league’s top-scorers, sit third in the Southern Combination Premier, five points behind joint leaders Haywards Heath and Steyning and ten clear of sixth place.
They are back at home on Saturday, with ninth-placed Bexhill the visitors in a 2pm kick-off.
