| GUERNSEY | 3 | – | 2 | STEYNING TOWN |
| Allen 12′, 30′ Goubert 66′ | Brewer 37′ Allen 90′ |
Guernsey dug in with 10 men to hold on and inflict only a second defeat of the season on Steyning Town after a thrilling finale in front of their biggest crowd of the season at Victoria Park on Saturday.
The Barrowmen were unbeaten in 17 league games and their only two defeats of the campaign have come at the hands of the Green Lions.
George Goubert’s first goal for the club had put the Sarnians 3-1 up midway through the second half, adding to Ross Allen’s first-half double, but Josh Addison was sent off soon after for a foul on the edge of his box. Without a recognised keeper on the bench, forward Will Fazakerley took on responsibility for the gloves and despite being pegged back late on, defended heroically to hold onto three precious points and close the gap on their second-placed victims.
A point would have been considered a decent result but Guernsey started with the purpose of winning all three, almost creating a chance straight from kick-off. But Steyning are in the title hunt for a reason soon settled down. They should have benefited from a poor pass out from Addison on eight minutes, but Ryan Worrall dinked wide of the near post as he closed in on goal, Addison atoning but spreading himself enough to narrow the angle.
The hosts’ opener on 12 minutes was a beauty. Gil Hunter spotted Allen’s well-timed run between defenders and dinked a lovely ball from the halfway line into his path. The captain ran onto it and, with Mitchell Bromage stranded, lifted the bouncing ball over the keeper and into the net.
The Greens grew in confidence from this and were now the better side, with the visitors a little stunned and now struggling to get a foothold.
Allen bagged his brace on the half-hour, finishing on the rebound from a tight angle as he ran onto Callum Le Lacheur’s ball into the box and saw his initial shot saved.
The Barrowmen were unlucky not to halve the deficit immediately as Alex Brewer got in behind. He tucked his shot past Addison but the ball rebounded mercifully off the foot of the post and to safety. Brewer then looped a header over from a corner.
The visitors were growing back into it not and pulled one back on 37 minutes. Worrall was given too much freedom to trot forward towards the edge of the box. His low shot lacked power but Brewer got to it to turn it home into the corner, wrongfooting Addison who was tracking the initial effort.
Brewer should have equalised soon after but blazed over from point blank range as the ball was pulled back to him.
With a lead to defend in the second half, Tony Vance’s side were keeping Steyning at arms length other than a good save from Addison to get a hand to the ball to turn it wide after Harry Heath got in behind. It was the first meaningful chance of the half for the Sarnians on 64 minutes that led to the third goal. Several GFC players were coming back from an offside position as a ball went forward, but substitute George Goubert stole in with a late run and caught Lateef Oladokun napping, bursting past him and tucking the ball under Bromage and into the far corner from a tight angle.
The goal was a huge relief to restore the two-goal cushion but the momentum was flipped on its head just four minutes later as Addison tripped Heath on the edge of the box and the referee deemed it enough of a goalscoring opportunity to give the Guernsey keeper his marching orders, leaving the hosts to see out the final 20 minutes a man short.
Fazakerley volunteered to see out the game between the sticks, his first action being to hold the resulting free-kick from from Dion Jarvis.
Save for a header from Conrad Honore that bounced across goal and wide, the 10 men were dealing well with the pressure that was now inevitably to come their way, especially after Steyning introduced the league’s top scorer Stan Bridgman from the bench.
But they needed a gift for a chance to get back into the game as Heath received the ball in the box and hit the deck despite no apparent tackle coming in from a defender. The referee fell for it and awarded the penalty. Fazakerley must have got into Bridgman’s head with whatever he said to the striker, who went top left and sent the ball over the top via the crossbar.
A reprieve, but only momentarily as in the 90th minute, Steyning delivered another ball into the box and Marcus Allen hooked home from close range – and there would be at least eight minutes of injury time to see out.
There was a scare on 92 minutes as a shot from distance was parried by Fazakerley and bundled home from inside the six-yard box by Heath, but the offside flag came to Guernsey’s rescue.
Honore was sinbinned for dissent late on which meant it finished 10 apiece, but Guernsey continued to repel their opponents for what turned out to be more than 10 minutes injury time, save for a couple of wayward headers from corners, and passed what was their biggest test of character this season – a game in which they almost certainly would have crumbled late on in last season. A young back three of Jacques Cauvin, Gil Hunter and Ben Solway were particularly magnificent.
The mean means Guernsey close the gap to Steyning to eight points but with two games in hand, all the more important given that Horsham YM, Peacehaven & Telscombe and Newhaven directly behind in the table all won.
The Green Lions have come through two games against promotion chasers with six points when two draws would have been credible. Now they need to back it up with a tricky midweek away trip to Bexhill United on Wednesday.
Saturday’s other Southern Combination Premier Division results were as follows: Bexhill United 4-1 Crawley Down Gatwick, Eastbourne United 5-0 Roffey, Haywards Heath Town 3-0 Forest Row, Horsham YM 4-1 Seaford Town, Lancing 0-3 Peacehaven & Telscombe, Lingfield 1-0 Little Common, Newhaven 4-0 Wick, Pagham 2-0 AFC Varndeanians, Shoreham 3-3 Midhurst & Easebourne.
GUERNSEY: 1 Josh ADDISON; 7 Charlton GAUVAIN (14 Simon ARNOLD, 86′); 9 Sam MURRAY; 10 Ross ALLEN (c) (19 Will FAZAKERLEY, 52′); 11 Brandon WALLACE (20 George GOUBERT, 57′); 15 Ben SOLWAY; 16 Gil HUNTER; 17 Callum LE LACHEUR (2 Niall HAINSWORTH, 64′); 18 Dave MERRIS; 21 Jacques CAUVIN; 22 Fin PATTERSON (5 Tom VAUDIN, 89′).
Booked: Cauvin, Gauvain, Arnold. Sent off: Addison.
STEYNING TOWN: 1 Mitchell BROMAGE: 2 Max BLENCOWE; 3 Conrad HONORE; 4 Finn DANIELS-YEOMANS; 5 Lateef OLADOKUN (15 Callum DOWDELL, 75′); 6 Marcus ALLEN; 7 Alex PLUMMER (16 Stan BRIDGMAN, 59′); 8 Ryan WORRALL; 9 Alex BREWER (17 Evan HOARTY, 75′); 10 Dion JARVIS (c); 11 Harry HEATH. Not used: 12 Tegan FREEMAN; 14 Jared RANCE.
Booked: Blencowe, Honore, Plummer, Jarvis. Sinbinned: Blencowe.
Attendance: 921.
