Goals: Pereira 65’, 74’.

Guernsey dominated their Easter Monday encounter with Chipstead to pick up a well-deserved three points thanks to Paris Pereira’s brace at Footes Lane.

The Green Lions had to wait a while to break the deadlock after missing a host of good chances in the first half and could have made it a far handsomer scoreline.

But Pereira was there when it mattered to bag two poachers’ goals in the second half to put him on five goals for the season. There was an element of luck about both goals, but he was in the right place at the right time.

Following a record winless run stretching back to before Christmas, Tony Vance’s side have now gone seven games without defeat and have notched up 10 wins and 39 points for the campaign – both beating last year’s totals with eight games still to play.

Pereira could have actually been on the scoresheet within five minutes as he beat the offside trap and bore down on goal with time and space, but misdirected his shot wide of the far post.

That came three minutes after the visitors should have had an early opener themselves as the GFC defence fell asleep and waited for the linesman’s flag. That allowed Sam Bell to run through on goal but the Chips’ top scorer shot straight at Callum Stanton from the edge of the area.

Other than that, though – aside from Dean Lodge dragging Bell’s low centre wide on the counter attack on 37 minutes – the whole half belonged to the Sarnians.

Harry Tobin dragged Dave Rihoy’s pullback just wide following a quick free-kick, and the latter brought a save out of Michael Sibley after being teed up by Seb Skillen. Ben Coulter also blazed over from a good position in the area after meeting Jamie Dodd’s pullback.

It seems as if the opening goal was only a matter of time, but still the Green Lions couldn’t find the net. Charlton Gauvain drove over from Pereira’s flick-on, and a scramble where the teenager couldn’t get a shot away fell for Tobin to see his low shot fly behind via a deflection.

The Sarnians were pressing high and winning the ball back in attacking positions, and that led to another chance for Pereira on 36 minutes as he drove forward, but the number nine skied it.

A minute later, Rihoy forced Sibley to beat away a powerful shot from the angle and it was that counter that led to Lodge’s aforementioned miss. A similar save denied Gavuvain’s belter, a minute after Sam Page had slid in to make a good block to deny Rihoy on the edge of the area. The Chipstead captain had already made a similar block to deny Tom De La Mare.

So, it wasn’t to be in the first half, but the Green Lions picked up where they left off after the break. First, Rihoy burst forward after pouncing on a loose ball and slotted Pereira into the right channel. His centre took a deflected and bobbled agonisingly across goal and behind. The resulting corner was dragged back to Gauvain on the edge. He struck it sweetly enough but was straight into the midriff of Sibley, who gathered gratefully.

A promising chance at the other end saw Bell drag harmlessly wide after being released into the area. That was followed by Leon Lalor-Dell’s dipping free-kick that Stanton had to get down smartly to push away to his left. A minute later, Rihoy hit a trademark low shot towards the far post from a wide angle, but he dragged it inches wide.

Having survived all Guernsey efforts so far, the Chips sensed that the chips might be up for them and fashioned another good chance from Adaje’s left-wing cross to the far post. Stanton had to react quickly to his left again to parry Lalor-Dell’s well-struck volley that was threatening to creep in at the near post.

The Green Lions got over those minor scares and finally took a deserved lead on 65 minutes.

Glyn Dyer had been introduced early in the second half and had made a really positive impact. His involvement in the opener was to swing a dangerous cross into the ‘corridor of uncertainty’, which curled away from goal but was kept in by Rihoy on the right byline, Rihoy pulled the ball across to the near post where Pereira lunged in ahead of his marker to force the ball over the line and cause both delight and relief in the Garenne Stand.

Vance’s men had the wind back in their sails now and almost doubled the lead with a triple chance just three minutes later. Pereira’s pace and trickery took him past two men before Sibley beat away his shot from the angle. Rihoy teed up Gauvain for the rebound, which was kept out again by a Sibley parry. The ball fell back to Pereira, who struck the near post.

Just a minute after that flurry of activity in the Chips goalmouth, Gauvain got on the end of De La Mare’s hooked clearance and cut inside before seeing his shot deflected into the arms of Sibley.

Any fears that these missed chances would come back to haunt them were allayed on 74 minutes thanks to Pereira’s untidy, but important, second. Rihoy latched onto Stanton’s long punt and slipped the ball right for De La Mare. The midfielder floated a lovely cross towards the far post. Pereira lost balance as he went to meet it but the ball struck him on his lower leg and bounced in (pictured). When your luck’s in, it’s in!

That killed off any fears of a Chipstead comeback, although they did come close to a consolation with two minutes to go, as Bell rose highest to meet a left-wing cross and nod towards goal. Luckily, Dodd was alert to slide in and clear of his own goal-line.

Dyer almost grabbed a spectacular third in stoppage-time, which would have really put the icing on an already tasty-looking cake. A half-hearted flick out of defence dropped towards the substitute on the edge of the area and he opted for an acrobatic scissor-kick that was set to bulge the net had it not been for Sibley reacting quick enough to push it over the top.

But 2-0 was still a very satisfactory scoreline, making for a great confidence boost to kick off a Footes Lane triple header and mark the first of four winnable games, on paper, with three more teams in the lower half of the table to come in the next eight days.

Guernsey remain 20th in Bostik South but reeled in the three teams above them, including Chipstead. The other Easter Monday results were as follows: Ashford United 3-1 Faversham Town, Carshalton Athletic 1-0 South Park, Cray Wanderers 2-2 Greenwich Borough, East Grinstead Town 1-7 Hastings United, Herne Bay 1-2 Hythe Town, Phoenix Sports 0-3 VCD Athletic, Ramsgate 1-1 Sittingbourne, Walton Casuals 0-0 Corinthian-Casuals, Whyteleafe 2-1 Molesey.

Chipstead: Michael Sibley, Matthew Warren, Alex Sargent, Danny Cumber (Dylan Cascoe 65’), Sam Page (c), Matthew Males, Leon Lalor-Dell, Jake Robinson, Sam Bell, Dean Lodge (Ollie Twum 62’), Tobi Adaje. Not used: Antony Williams, Tony Stone.

Booked: Robinson.