‘Faz’ back as Vance eyes nine out of nine
THE big guy’s back.
Will Fazakerley will be back on the Guernsey FC bench today at the start of what is a week of huge possibilities for the Green Lions – three win-able home games in eight days.
But can they take that chance to put themselves seriously back in the Isthmian South East playoffs picture?
Having Fazakerley as a returning option after 15 weeks out, Tony Vance certainly hopes so.
‘He’s raring to go and he has been champing at the bit. And, in fairness, we have missed him,’ said the coach ahead of the Sittingbourne game.
When the sides met in late September Vance’s men were thankful to sub Seb Skillen’s last-gasp winner for taking all the points.
At the time GFC were in the midst of a unpredicted great run of away form which they have managed to maintain all season long.
That third win in four was enough to leave them sitting fairly pretty in seventh spot and all these months later they are just one place worse off.
Vance would have taken an eighth place finish back in August. Not now.
But the last time the ‘Brickies’ were in Guernsey – September 2018 – they edged it 2-1 after the Green Lions handed them the points on a plate, Frank Tobin gifting a winner on 81min.
That day Sittingbourne kicked long and Vance moaned: ‘It was like playing Wimbledon’.
Sittingbourne bullied GFC into submission that day, but Vance is confident that won’t happen again today.
‘Unsurprisingly, they’ve got a different manager now and a slightly different approach.
‘They are doing fairly well and they will be competitive, but not many teams bully us now.’
The home form remains an issue, though – eight points out of a possible 27 is letting them down at a time the club have, so surprisingly, the second-best away record in the division.
SQUAD
Stanton, F. Tobin, H. Tobin, Strawbridge, Dodd (capt.), Dodds, de la Mare, L. Mahon, Loaring, Legg, McKane, Renouf, Skillen, Canha, Allen and Fazakerley.
