Goals: Gauvain 15’; Mahon 30’ – Dos Santos 24’, 88’; Cundle 33’, 50’; Landais 80’.

The positivity generated from such a positive start to 2019 away from home was brought back down to earth with a bump at Footes Lane as Guernsey slumped to a 5-2 defeat to East Grinstead Town on Wednesday night.

Ropey defensively all night, not handling the wet and windy conditions well, the Green Lions were nevertheless a joy to watch in an attacking sense in the first half, finding space and joy down the right and scoring through Charlton Gauvain and Liam Mahon, but were pegged back twice.

It was anyone’s game at the break after a thoroughly entertaining first half, but the Sarnians lost that attacking impetus in the second half, got a bit unlucky with the visitors’ third but then granted them two absolute gifts late on that Callum Stanton will want to forget quickly, which killed off any hope of salvaging a result.

After a quiet opening five minutes, GFC grew into the game and threatened several times early on as Matt Loaring’s flicked looping header from Carlos Canha’s chipped cross was plucked from mid-air by goalkeeper Brannon Daly and Paris Pereira – who was marking a century of appearances for the club – swivelled in the area and saw a low shot gathered following a corner.

The Wasps sent out their own warning early on as Mitchell Chapman’s low shot had Stanton scrambling to his left as the ball rolled wide.

Almost every good chance Guernsey had in the first half came from exploiting space down the right, and that led to the first goal as a good interplay between Canha and Mahon saw the ball delivered into the area for Pereira. His first touch was a little heavy, which allowed Daly to close him down quickly and block the shot.

The resulting corner caused a mad scramble in the centre of the area and the ball was eventually half-cleared to Gauvain, who fired the ball back through the crowd and saw it skip along the wet surface and into the bottom corner from 20 yards out.

Will Fazakerley was hungry for his first goal since November but twice got a little too far ahead of the ball as he met low deliveries from the right from Mahon – who had been found with a great searching pass from Thomas Dodds, also making his 100th appearance – and Gauvain, both times firing wide of the near post.

Those chances came either side of East Grinstead’s first leveller, which came from a counter on 24 minutes as Ben Wilson intercepted and switched the play with a pinpoint pass out to the right for Jerson Dos Santos. The former Corinthian-Casuals forward cut inside and skipped past Matt Loaring’s challenge, before producing a quality finish as he lashed it high into the roof of the net from the angle.

Guernsey did not let this deter them, though, and got at their opponents quickly again. Shortly following Fazakerley’s second effort, there were two more close calls in quick succession as Pereira’s shot was diverted away from goal. Mahon kept it alive on the byline and pulled it back for Loaring but a timely sliding challenge from Wilson ensured the shot was blocked.

Stanton made his first meaningful intervention on 27 minutes as he showed quick reflexes to tip over a bullet of a header from six yards from Dos Santos, who got on the end of a right-wing cross after GFC has carelessly given the ball away again on the edge of their own area.

That was a let-off, and the Green Lions took full advantage by edging back in front on the half-hour. Canha’s initial cross had been snuffed out but Fazakerley’s perseverance forced a poor clearance from Andrew Cooney from his own byline. Pereira seized upon the loose ball and teed up Mahon on the edge of the area, and the midfielder stroked the ball into the corner with pinpoint accuracy – a lovely finish.

Unfortunately, that’s where Guernsey’s evening peaked as they were soon pegged back again. Building play from the back, the ball eventually found its way to Dos Santos, who slipped the ball into the right channel for Gregory Cundle. The Wasps’ top scorer opted for the early shot, which beat the challenge from Tobin and perhaps caught Stanton off guard as the striker steered the ball across goal into the far corner.

East Grinstead nearly went in front almost immediately as Dos Santos claimed a loose ball in the area and worked himself a yard of space, but was leaning back as he struck his shot and lifted the ball just over.

GFC did offer up one more effort before the half was out as Fazakerley took advantage of a loose ball caused by a surging run from Tobin and fired narrowly over from 18 yards, but they were breathing a sigh of relief four minutes before half-time as Dos Santos again jinked around the defence and smacked the crossbar with a rising drive that had Stanton beaten.

Half-time offered a chance for the Green Lions to regroup, and a change of shape saw them go to three at the back. But the Sarnians seemed to lose their structure and didn’t show anything anywhere near the attacking promise of the first half.

The visitors turned the game around within five minutes of the restart thanks to an element of good fortune. Chapman muscled Mahon off the ball outside the area and his low shot forced a parry from Stanton, with the ball squirming away from him as he went to gather, allowing Cundle to scramble the ball past him and over the line for 3-2.

Guernsey offered resistance in the middle part of the half but only managed to create three meaningful chances. Either side of the hour, Carlos Canha ran onto Mahon’s pass into the area and drew a block from Daly, and Jamie Dodd got a head to Dave Rihoy’s corner only to see it scrambled away in the six-yard box. Dodds also cleared the bar from the right corner of the area midway through the half.

Mounting pressure from the hosts meant there was still hope of a result, but those hopes were extinguished with 10 minutes to go as substitute George Landais broke free down the right. His shot to the near post should have been straightforward for Stanton, but rather than making a routine block, a rare error saw the keeper divert the ball over his shoulder and into the far corner.

Dos Santos blazed over the bar after East Grinstead were again gifted the ball in midfield, while a towering header from Fazakerley dropped kindly for Daly at the other end before the striker also saw a shot snuffed out after he had been teed up by Pereira.

The Wasps’ fifth and final nail in the coffin on 88 minutes was the biggest present of the lot as Stanton committed goalkeeping suicide. He did well to bring down a looping back pass from Dodd, but rather than play the ball back to his captain early, he tried to turn on the ball and deceive Dos Santos. Instead, he got himself in a mess, allowing the number 10 to take the ball off him and evade the sliding challenge from Dodds to earn himself a tap-in.

That completed a miserable evening for Guernsey who dropped to 14th in Bostik South East having been leapfrogged by their conquerors.

The other midweek results were as follows: Faversham Town 2-1 Hythe Town, Greenwich Borough 0-1 Phoenix Sports, Herne Bay 1-5 Ramsgate, Horsham 1-1 Hastings United, Sevenoaks Town 1-1 Whitstable Town, Sittingbourne 0-2 Ashford United, Three Bridges 3-4 Haywards Heath Town, Whyteleafe 1-3 Cray Wanderers.

East Grinstead Town: Brannon Daly, Callum Emptage, Karn Miller-Neave, Ryan Johnson, Andrew Cooney, Ben Wilson, Leo Mazzone (Jack Bray 70’), Mitchell Chapman, Gregory Cundle (George Landais 76’), Jerson Dos Santos, Oliver Boulding (Matthew Day 90+1’). Not used: Abodje Yao.

 Booked: Miller-Neave.