The chance to play for promotion is at stake on Saturday as Horsham YM visit Victoria Park for the second time this season for the Southern Combination Premier Division play-off semi-final.
Victory means a place in the final next weekend, which would either be away to Haywards Heath Town or at home to Peacehaven & Telscombe, who face off in the other semi.
A big task awaits Guernsey who face a Horsham side that have beaten them twice this year. A strong second half at Victoria Park wasn’t enough to come back form a 3-2 half-time deficit in October, while it was a disappointing trip away in in February that saw us well beaten 4-0. Just one point separated the two sides in the final table.
Tony Vance has more a or less a full compliment available to him, meaning there will be some disappointed Green Lions left out. That encouragingly means we could see returns for Jacob Fallaize, Brandon Wallace, Will Fazakerley, Simon Arnold or Niall Hainsworth. Callum Le Lacheur and Fin du Port are both one goal shy of reaching double figures for the season.
This is Guernsey’s second play-off experience. Their last was back in 2014 when they lost 3-2 at Leatherhead, Dave Rihoy and Marc McGrath got the Lions back into it after falling 3-0 behind but a late equaliser from Matt Loaring was disallowed.
GFC got back to winning ways against Lancing to secure a home semi-final, their late goals being key with Horsham winning a topsy-turvy game 5-3 at Newhaven. Three defeats in their final six games meant they couldn’t take advantage at the Sarnians wobble towards the end of the campaign.
YM have a few goal threats in the team. Jesse Sentamu, Noel Fisher and Ousmane Dansoko, who all scored on their last visit to the island, are all on double figures, but the main man to watch out for is Richard Pingling, who has eight goals in nine appearances since he signed in February – including two against us. They boost the fifth meanest defence in the league this season and have scored more than 100 goals – although they come up against the league’s top scorers. This is their first serious tilt at promotion since they finished second in the 2017-18 season.
If the scores are level after 90 minutes, the match will go straight to a penalty shoot-out.
Saturday’s match kicks off at 1:30pm. Fans unable to make it to Victoria Park can listen to the full commentary on Facebook Live or our @GuernseyFC X Space, as well as keep up to date with our usual social media posts. A full match report will follow on the website.
With another busy afternoon expected at Victoria Park, please refer to our information page for details of how to travel to the ground by foot, bike, public transport or our Park and Stride initiative.
