Goals: Lindo 22’ – Rihoy 50’; Griffin 84’.

Guernsey marked their milestone 500^th competitive match with a first away win of the season in their final outing before Christmas.

It was the Green Lions’ oldest and youngest players on the day, Dave Rihoy and Jack Griffin, who completed the second-half turnaround for the Green Lions to give Guernsey fans an early Christmas present of three vital points that took them out of the relegation zone for the first time in months.

It was never going to be as straightforward as it looked on paper, with Binfield looking for a new manager bounce having changed head coaches in midweek in a bid to stop the rot that hadn’t seen them win a league games all season. Had they won on Saturday lunchtime, they would have been just three points of the Green Lions with a game in hand.

Jordan Kelly, usually focused purely on coaching these days, made his first start in goal since October 2021 with Josh Addison unwell, and made it lucky number 13 with his first ever win in a Guernsey shirt.

Guernsey started brightly but couldn’t make their possession count, getting themselves into good position but unable to find the final ball. They were punished midway through the half as the Moles gave their new manager a great start. Debutant Ethan Lindo worked himself time and space in the box before rifling the ball past Kelly.

The visitors came close to a leveller in first-half stoppage time after some neat play down the left. The ball found it’s away across the box for Owen Wallbridge to run onto, and his drive whistled just over the top.

It had been another example of the Sarnians making opportunities for themselves but not taking them, but they put that swiftly to bed after the restart. Wallbridge took possession on the edge of the area and his ball inside allowed Rihoy to take it in his stride and slam it past Azaze, a milestone 80^th GFC goal for the versatile veteran and his first since April 2019.

Ross Allen narrowly missed the target on 55 minutes, firing across goal after meeting substitute Joe Alvarez’s corner.

The chances were still few and far between, and Binfield survived GFC’s intial rally that followed their equaliser. The Green Lions were grateful for a strong arm from Kelly to turn over a ferocious effort from Jimmy Bamgbose.

The winner came with just over six minutes of normal time to play. Allen did superbly to keep the ball in play as Kelly smashed a long clearance forward that looked like it was destined to bounced out on the right touch line. But Allen brought it down with an excellent touch, drove down the line and whipped the ball across goal, where Griffin slid in and got just enough to turn it in from six yards.

There was somewhat of a late assault from the hosts but nothing that duly troubled Kelly and the Green Lions kept them at arm’s length on for a significant win. Tony Vance’s side can look forward to a home game against bottom-half Sutton Common Rovers to round off 2023 having moved out of the dropzone.

BINFIELD: 1 Aymen AZAZE; 2 Shimron EATON; 3 Liam CAMPBELL; 4 Connor JEANES; 5 Ahmed HAIDARY (16 Charlie GEORGE, 58’); 6 Benjamin STALLARD; 7 Troy MURRAY; 8 Daniel LEWIS; 9 Ethan LINDO; 10 Dontaye WHITTAKER; 11 Jimmy BAMGBOSE (12 Max DRAKE, 75’). Not used: 14 Valentino Alanezi; 15 Tyrone Knight; 17 Thomas Henry.

Booked: Lewis.