Goals: Fazakerley 45+1’; Allen 90+1’.

Guernsey marked their return home in the best possible manner with a statement victory over Marlow on Saturday.

After a month of games on the road Will Fazakerley and Ross Allen scored in stoppage time of each half respectively to avenge last November’s 6-0 thrashing and get off to a great start in a tough, jampacked March that includes six of the promotion-chasing top seven.

Everyone from back to front carried out their individual tasks to the letter to make for a satisfying afternoon for Tony Vance.

The Green Lions started on the front foot and created all the openings in the first quarter of an hour, with Allen drilling wide from one of the Sarnians’ traditional corner routines.

Charlton Gauvain then stretched to reach Matt Loaring’s cross only to see his header bounce into the ground and loop over. Allen then won a 50/50 challenge on the halfway line to start a counter attack and took the shot on early from 35 yards, but Simon Grant fielded it in the Marlow goal.

Momentum then swung the visitors’ way for the rest of the half, but GFC kept them at bay. Jamie Dodd was in the right place to block with this head as Jordan Brown met a short corner, Junaid Bell hit the wall with a free-kick, and Lucas Hanley passed the first test of his home debut with two saves in a minute, first blocking from Louis Rogers as he shot on the turn, then pushing away Brown’s rising drive.

Five minutes before the break, the referee ignored a blatant trip on Gauvain, allowing Marlow to go onto counter. Luckily, Hanley was on at his near post to keep out Kameron English’s drive.

Isaac Olorunfemi snatched at a chance and dragged wide, then Nmandi Nwachuku smashed over after benefitting from a ricochet before being denied by Hanley from 25 yards,

Ben Le Tocq then had a huge role In the outcome of the came all within the space of a couple of minutes. First, he made up for a sloppy pass by chasing Bell all the way back into the area and executing a perfect recovery tackle to deny a certain goal.

Moments later he turned provider as Guernsey took the lead against the run of play in first-half stoppage time. He made good use of the wind in hitting a high free kick in his own half, and the Marlow defence went to sleep, with one defender leaving the ball to bounce through to Grant, and the other not tracking Fazakerley, who drifted into space to nod it beyond the away keeper into the net.

The perfectly-timed goal buoyed GFC going into the second half. Gauvain was soon testing Grant before Dodd headed off target from a free-kick after the ‘keeper had charged out his area and fouled Allen.

Allen had claims to have been fouled again in the area on 52 minutes as he picked up a poor goal kick from Grant, headed for the area and went down under pressure from Chapple. While everyone else was busy appealing, Allen got to his feet and took aim but was denied by Grant.

Guernsey’s mettle was tested for a 20-minute period from around the hour mark as Marlow increased the pressure, but they kept them at bay to leave Hanley with little to do.

Nwachuku hit the side netting following a corner, while Bell skied from distance and then fired wide.

Loaring cleared the crossbar after cutting in from the right as the game entered its final 10 minutes, but the Green Lions did make the game safe in injury time.

Gauvain went to ground after a nudge from Olorunfemi near the right corner of the box, and Allen bent it beautifully around the wall into the right corner with Grant flailing at it. It was a sweet moment for Guernsey’s number 10, who had been somewhat of a target for rough treatment from the visitors during the game.

Thatcham Town’s victory over Staines Town meant the Sarnians had to settled for a jump of just one place in the table, but now have a cluster of teams above them well within their sights.

The rest of the results from Saturday were as follows: Ashford Town 0-3 Chipstead; Bedfont Sports 6-0 Chalfont St Peter; Bracknell Town 3-0 Northwood; Chertsey Town 4-2 Tooting & Mitcham United; Hanwell Town 1-3 Binfield; Staines Town 2-6 Thatcham Town; Uxbridge 0-2 Basingstoke Town; Westfield 1-2 South Park.

Marlow: 1 Simon Grant; 2 Curtis Chapple (17 Khalid Simmo, 82’); 3 Isaac Olorunfemi; 5 Adam Richards; 17 Junaid Bell; 8 Chris Ovenden; 9 Nnamdi Nwachuku; 10 Devontae Romeo; 11 Kameron English; 14 Jordan Brown (16 Ashleigh Artwell, 59’); 18 Louis Rogers. Not used: 4 Tristan Campbell; 15 Richard Whittingham; 19 Glenn Yala.

Booked: Grant, Rogers.