Goals: Ottaway 58’; Dawson 65’; Gnahore 68’.

But for 11 minutes that were their undoing, Guernsey were more than a match for free-spending promotion chasers Ashford United at their first home game of the season on Saturday.

Unfortunately, those 11 second-half minutes yielded three goals for the visitors that saw them stay among the front runners of Bostik South East and, for the time being at least, sent the Green Lions joint bottom.

Callum Stanton didn’t have a meaningful save to make in the first half and Tony Vance’s side created the openings to grab what would have been a merited lead. But they didn’t take advantage and were punished.

The positive is that playing this well in every game will see Guernsey win more than they lose, and they didn’t look out of place against one of the division’s top sides.

Fans may have been expecting a backs-to-the-wall performance but the Sarnians took the game to their highly-fancied opponents and had forced Aaron Lee-Wharton to hold inside two minutes after good football involving Matt Loaring, Dave Rihoy and Kyle Smith saw Charlton Gauvain shoot low across goal (pictured).

Lea Dawson curled narrowly over for the visitors following a scrap for the ball at a corner just a minute before new recruit Will Fazakerley sliced over the bar when put through. GFC had countered with Loaring releasing Rihoy to drive forward before slipping Fazakerley in.

Rihoy then kept Lee-Wharton’s palms warm from the edge of the box and there was more than half-an-hour on the clock by the time Stanton made his first save – a routine one as he plucked Harry Ottaway’s looping volley on the spin out of the air.

Loaring’s low shot from 20 yards after being teed up by Rihoy was easily fielded by Lee-Wharton and Frank Tobin was in adventurous mood as he drove forward from the back and fired narrowly over the bar from distance. He was to do similar in the second half but that time saw his shot fly a few feet wide.

Another key chance went begging right at the end of the half as Smith cut the ball back for Fazakerley, who went near post from the angle but saw his shot blocked by Lee-Wharton. Rihoy and Young fought for the rebound, with the latter going down under a challenge right on the edge of the area. Gauvain hit the resulting free-kick into the wall.

It was more of the same early on in the second half as Fazakerley’s flicked header from Jamie Dodd’s long throw was plucked from under his crossbar by Lee-Wharton and Gauvain drove narrowly high and wide of the far upright with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box.

Those missed opportunities came back to bite the Green Lions just before the hour as Wazir Azeez teed up Ollie Rowe for a dangerous cross from the right corner of the area. Harry Ottaway got free at the far post and stooped to head in for the lead.

It never rains, but it pours for Vance’s side as they were even further behind four minute later. This time if came from a left-flank free-kick that Lea Dawson met with his head to send it past Stanton.

Two more saves from Stanton kept the score at two as he picked a looping Azeez header out the air, shortly after he made his best save of the game when Smith had given the ball away needlessly in midfield, allowing Ottaway to be found to pull the ball back for Ambrose Gnahore, who thumped towards the near post but found his way blocked by the Guernsey keeper.

But he couldn’t keep the score down much longer, and unfortunately played a part in the third as his pass to Dodd saw the defender turn without realising what danger was around him. Gnahore pounced and pinched the ball off Dodd, running through and tucking the ball in at the near post for the clincher.

Other than Tobin’s second distance effort, substitute Carlos Canha sliced a volley wide from close range on his debut after Smith had taken down a Seb Skillen crossfield pass and centred.

Stanton made one more save from Clark Woodcock, another routine one, but when the final whistle game it left the Green Lions wondering what could have been.

Guernsey are joint bottom of Bostik South East after two games, with the rest of the division’s Saturday results as follows: Haywards Heath Town 0-3 VCD Athletic, Herne Bay 0-1 Whyteleafe, Hythe Town 3-0 East Grinstead Town, Phoenix Sports 5-2 Three Bridges, Ramsgate 2-3 Hastings United, Sevenoaks Town 1-2 Horsham, Sittingbourne 4-2 Greenwich Borough.

Ashford United: Aaron Lee-Wharton, Ollie Rowe (Will Thomas 90+3’), Tom Carlse, Jordan Johnson, Antonio Simeone, Luis Morrison-Derbyshire, Wazir Azeez, Lea Dawson, Harry Ottaway (Matthew Day 79’), Siao Blackwood, Ambrose Gnahore (Clark Woodcock 87’). Not used: Joshua Wisson, Fidan Fejzi.