Goal: Stanton (OG) 86’ – Young 13’; Pereira 55’.

The mood around the Guernsey camp has been significantly lifted in the last few days and it was given a great boost on Saturday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at 10-man Faversham Town on Saturday.

Despite some very nervy moments in the dying moments as the hosts went route one – Callum Stanton was again excellent – Tony Vance’s side produced an accomplished away display in the face of a tough examination and, at times, hostile atmosphere as the hosts and their fans became increasingly irate with the referee.

Craig Young’s lovely finish early on was added to by substitute Paris Pereira’s second goal in two games in the second half, which sandwiched a red card for Faversham’s Matt Bourne.

The Lilywhites pulled one back late on, which will go down as a Stanton own-goal with the Sarnians claiming he was fouled, but the on-loan stopper produced two brilliant saves in stoppage-time to keep Guernsey’s noses in front in a tense finish.

Vance had the rare situation for an away game of being able to select his travelling squad rather than piece one together – which meant leaving some big names at home – and his side’s new-found confidence saw them start strongly. Matt Loaring drew an early hold from Simon Overland as he headed Tom De La Mare’s right-byline cross at goal.

GFC were defending resolutely and counter-attacking well, and it brought them rewards in the 13th minute.

Young hit a lovely pass out to De La Mare, who was causing plenty of problems on the right flank, and raced into the area to receive the returned pullback. He turned and stuck a lovely curler into the far corner with his left foot.

Faversham were building and improving though, and made Callum Stanton work in the middle stages of the half.

Liam King had already dragged a low shot narrowly wide across goal with his left foot and Izzy Adebayo’s low drive from the edge of the box had Stanton scrambling as the ball rolled wide of his left-hand post.

Stanton then showed his alertness to prevent a Jamie Dodd own-goal, diving left to claw the ball around the post after the centre-back had diverted a cross towards the Guernsey net.

Bourne was guilty of missing a sitter of a header at the far post when free at a corner, and Stanton threw up an arm to divert Chris Barnard’s rising drive over the bar just after the half-hour mark.

The Green Lions were given another boost just before the break when Bourne received his marching orders. He stuck out a foot to poke the ball away from Young, but caught the Guernseyman on the leg.

The referee deemed it a dangerous high foot and pulled out a straight red.  The hosts were furious and made their distain of the official well-known for the rest of the game. It seemed harsh at the time, but a look back at the GFCTV footage later suggested that it was the right decision.

A goal and a man to the good, GFC’s confidence grew further and they were capitalising on slack passing from Faversham and winning the second balls, which led to the second 10 minutes after the break.

Kieran Mahon’s industry won possession back in midfield. He drove forward, battling his way through the Faversham defence, eventually forcing the ball to Pereira, who was clean through.

The forward, whose confidence has skyrocketed after his late winner against Molesey, was sharp and slotted the ball low across goal just out of Overland’s reach and it nestled in the far corner. It made it two in two for the forward, whose first ever goal for the club had come on the same ground nearly four years earler.

Substitute Seb Skillen nearly capitalised on more careless use of the ball in the hosts’ penalty area but cleared the crossbar with his curling effort just after the hour.

The Lilywhites had plenty of determination though and despite their one-man disadvantage, grew stronger and stronger. George Monger found Ernest Okoh on the left wing with a precise pass, and the wideman’s cross was flicked just wide of the far post by Ryan Cheek. 

Okoh then cleared the crossbar by some distance with a free-kick and Sam Bewick’s hit from range was deflected wide.

The pressure was cranking up on the Guernsey defence but it was standing firm, but that all changed in the final minutes as Faversham clawed one back with less than five to go.

Luke Griffiths hooked a high ball back into the box and Stanton jumped to intercept it. But he appeared to be knocked off balance by a home forward as he rose, causing him to simply help the ball into his own net. He claimed to have been fouled and took a whack to the jaw but Guernsey pleas fell on deaf ears as the Bournemouth loanee received lengthy treatment.

That made for a very nerve-racking final few minutes as Faversham continued to pepper the Guernsey penalty area with a sustained aerial assault. Mark Lovell’s downward header bounced narrowly past the far post in the 90th minute before Stanton dusted himself down to produce two excellent stops to save all three points for his side in stoppage-time.

The first was his most impressive as Griffiths expertly brought down a high ball and fired at goal from outside the area. Stanton was already on his way to his left to block it but it took a huge deflection to divert it towards the other corner. Stanton reacted brilliantly, somehow adjusting himself in the nick of time to claw it away.

One final attack came Guernsey’s way in the 94th minute as Cheek flicked the ball on and it looked destined to find the roof of the net had the Sarnian stopper not thrown out his arms to pluck it out of middair.

The Green Lions had survived the late onslaught to move up to 17th in the table and claim their first back-to-back wins for a whole year.

The other Bostik South results were as follows: Carshalton Athletic 4-4 Ramsgate, Corinthian-Casuals 2-0 Shoreham, East Grinstead Town 0-3 VCD Athletic, Horsham 0-3 Cray Wanderers, Lewes 3-0 Molesey, Sittingbourne 1-0 Hythe Town, South Park 1-3 Chipstead, Thamesmead Town 2-4 Greenwich Borough, Walton Casuals 2-1 Hastings United. 

Faversham Town: Simon Overland, Sam Bewick, Reion McFarlane (Ryan Cheek HT), Chris Barnard (Luke Griffiths 68’), Matt Bourne, Dan Carrington, Izzy Adebayo (Toby Greenfield HT), George Monger, Liam King, Mark Lovell ©, Ernest Okoh. Not used: Jake Lovell, Rabbit Kiabalenga.

Booked: Bewick, Cheek, Greenfield. Sent off: Bourne.