Goals: Rihoy 49’ – Smith 33’, 80’; Elliott 59’.

Guernsey were left frustrated again as a mad five minutes midway through the second half decided the game and ensured a club-record seventh straight loss for the Green Lions.

Having matched South Park for much of the game – and looking very much like they could grab a second goal early in the second half – Tony Vance’s side fell behind to very contentious second goal and then a dismissal for Ryan-Zico Black enabled their opponents to take control and dominate the rest of the match. Callum Stanton had to be superb again in making several key saves throughout an action-packed encounter.

Vance was bold with both tactics and selection as he reverted to a back four, leaving club captain Simon Geall on the bench, and Kyle Smith and Sam Cochrane out the sixteen completely. He opted to start Kieran Mahon, who completed a strong 90 minutes for the first time in nearly three years, and go 4-3-3.

And it appeared to be working as the Sarnians won the ball back well and looked threatening going forward, with Craig Young lifting over the top and then sending in a dangerous cross from the left that just evaded the outstretched leg of the returning Matt Loaring after good work involving Mahon and Black.

Stanton barely had anything to do in the first 25 minutes in GFC strong start. His only save in that time was to block from Joe Jackson after Chris Smith had won the ball back high up the pitch and put him through.

Young’s free-kick flew a foot over inside 20 minutes, and five minutes later came Guernsey’s best chance of the half that could have made the outlook so different had it gone in.

The Sarnians countered from a corner and Rihoy and Loaring exchanged glorious crossfield passes, the latter’s being over the top of the defence to send Rihoy through on goal. He was clean through but hit his chance straight at Callum Thomas, who also got up quickly to block Harry Tobin’s rebound.

GFC almost had a second bite at it as Rihoy closed down the dallying Adam Pullin and charged down his clearance. He was forced wide and his cutback was just about scrambled away before it reached Young or Loaring.

It took until after half an hour for South Park to really make a mark on the game as Jack Mazzone’s curler forced a fingertip save from the diving Stanton.

Unfortunately that was a sign of things to come as the Sparks were ahead a minute later. A ball was slotted down the right channel and Jackson was able to pull it back from the byline. Smith was waiting on the edge of the six-yard box to tuck it in.

Smith then smacked the post with an outrageous curling effort and Stanton saved well from both Mazzone – who had cut in following a corner – and Josh Gallagher.

Guernsey had been rattled by falling behind and only had Thomas Dodds’s pop from range that was deflected wide to show for their effort before half time. It was nearly two just before the break as Pullin burst forward from centre-back on the counter. He went one-on-one with Stanton but dragged wide.

It looked like more of the same as Mazzone warmed Stanton’s hands with a routine save at the start of the second half, but GFC were soon level on 49 minutes, which gave their performance another lift.

The Green Lions had Sparks stopper Thomas to thank as he miskicked his clearance straight to Rihoy, who advanced on the keeper and slotted it past him into the far corner.

That kicked Vance’s side into life and Rihoy played in Loaring, who perhaps could have gone around Thomas but opted to shoot early and saw his shot blocked.

Young then missed the near post with a first time shot – Rihoy being the architect again – Harry Tobin’s cross-come-shot from the left wing fizzed narrowly wide and Kieran Mahon narrowly missed the top corner after good build up play.

The Garenne Stand faithful were confident of a second Guernsey goal but it ended up going the other way just before the hour – in controversial circumstances.

A corner from the right found Luke Eliiott, who controlled and fired in – with Thomas Dodds just unable to prevent the ball going over the line. The Guernsey defence were furious with the referee and his assistant as they were adamant Elliott had controlled it with his arm. But their appeals fell on deaf ears and GFC were behind again.

Any chances they had of picking up before they left off before the goal were dashed by a rush of blood to the head by Black, who retaliated for a heavy challenge of himself by flying in on a South Park midfielder at a dangerous height with studs up. There was no question about the red card and it put Guernsey on the back foot.

Every other chance after that fell South Park’s way as they began to toy with the Green Lions’ defence, with Vance’s side severely tiring with a man missing.

Stanton single-handedly kept the score respectable, tipping Kieran Lavery’s free-kick wide, blocking from Smith after Dodd had carelessly played a blind pass straight to him, diving right to divert James McElligott’s cross-shot away with his fingertips (another top-class stop), and holding Lavery’s low shot after he had jinked through.

That doesn’t even include Elliott’s and Smith’s headers wide, Smith’s miscued sitter in front of goal and Jackson’s low shot from distance that rolled past the post.

It all proved too much in the end though as Smith made the points safe 10 minutes time amidst the above flurry of chances. Lavery managed to get past Dodds in the left channel and finished low to give the Sparks an insurmountable two goal cushion.

What had looked so promising for GFC became another afternoon of disappointment as they slipped to second-from-bottom. But they have played most of the top teams in a difficult start and will fancy their chances of picking up a few points in the next few games.

The rest of the Bostik South results were as follows: Corinthian-Casuals 0-0 Whyteleafe, East Grinstead Town 7-2 Shoreham, Greenwich Borough 4-1 Molesey, Hythe Town 1-0 Ashford United, Lewes 2-1 Cray Wanderers, Sittingbourne 3-2 VCD Athletic.

South Park: Callum Thomas, Dean Lovegrove, Luke Elliott, Adam Pullin, Dylan Merchant, Josh Gallagher (Nathan Ayling 72’), Jack Mazzone (James McElligott 75’), Dan Moody, Kieran Lavery (Izzy Adebay 89’), Chris Smith, Joe Jackson. Not used: Jake Gill, Jack Stafford.

Booked: Gallagher, Mazzone, Lavery.