Last month the Green Lions were in total control of the game away to the Stags when they were 4-1 ahead with 20 minutes to go, but an injury to a home player led to the abandonment of the match.
GFC travelled for the rearranged fixture on Tuesday night short on resources, particularly in defence with Jacques Cauvin who scored twice in the original clash among several unavailable, and the home side capitalised to secure their safety in the Southern Combination Premier Division while denying, for now, the Green Lions their chance to cement a home play-off semi-final.
Although Tony Vance did have half-a-dozen of his Muratti semi-final players back in the squad having missed the weekend defeat at Wick, Gil Hunter was the only regular centre-back in the group and he started on the bench, along with fellow teenager Fin Patterson, due to this weekend’s upcoming Junior Muratti.
It was apparent from an early stage that the visitors could be in for a tough night on a very bumpy pitch with Josh Addison just managing to recover to clear the danger after he miscued a clearance.
They fell behind after five minutes when the makeshift defence was unable to cope with a quick counter-attack and Callum Kimber slotted home from close range.
Midhurst, who had won just one of their last 10 games, doubled their lead 10 minutes before half-time in bizarre circumstances as the assistant referee raised his flag for offside in the build-up but the referee played on, with the ball having apparently coming off a GFC player, and Owen Pelham scored the resulting one-on-one.
Home goalkeeper Ricardo Mendonca made a couple of excellent saves to keep GFC at bay during the first half, but immediately after the turnaround Addison had to do likewise to keep the gap to two.
The Stags continued to look dangerous on the counter as GFC committed men forward looking to reduce the deficit and the third goal came with 10 minutes remaining when substitute Ralph Anelay curled a lovely strike into the top corner from outside the box.
GFC are still favourites to finish third, but need three points from their final two games to guarantee it as things stand.
They are away to Pagham on Saturday before finishing their regular season at home to Lancing a week later.
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