Goals: Allen (pen) 45+1′ – Gogonas 67′.

Guernsey’s big day out was a triumph in all but the final score as fans packed Victoria Park for its grand opening.

A crowd of more than 2,200 were in attendance for the Green Lions’ first outing at their new home, with Ross Allen adding his name to another milestone as he became the first player to score at Victoria Park.

But the Sarnians were pegged back midway through the second half and didn’t really have the belief in themselves to go on and win the game. They have ended their losing streak but a point probably doesn’t do their survival bit much good in truth, especially with South Park and Ashford Town winning again.

It was a cagey start after the pre-match fanfare, with Matt Loaring’s scuff from outside the area the first effort on goal. It was possibly sneaking wide anyway, but was pounced on by Michel Verga to be sure. There were also a couple of efforts comfortably off target from the visitors.

Charlton Gauvain dragged wide from the angle after Allen had seized onto a knockdown from Sam Murray and laid the ball off after 20 minutes. Billy Nutbeam then lifted over from the edge of the box but Josh Addison looked to have it covered had it been on target.

Addison held well as Tobi Adaje shifted into a yard of space and hit a rising drive just before the half-hour. The half was nearly out when the hosts made the breakthough.

Having been gifted three easy catches from crosses during the first half, Verga’s confidence in coming out and claiming would have been high. On this occasion though, he didn’t factor in the wind holding up Dave Merris’ return ball into the area, causing him to clatter into Murray instead and the referee duly punished the clumsy challenge with a penalty.

There was an odd nervous hush from the crowd as Allen stepped up to take the penalty but the roar when it wrongfooted Verga and nestled to his left was one to savour – the first ever goal at Victoria Park and it was fitting that it was our record scorer who has been on the journey since the very beginning.

The referee initially returned the favour to the visitors six minutes into the second half as an attacker went down after a supposed tangle with Jacques Cauvin. But the view from the stand is that another Westfield player had in fact pushed Cauvin into another visiting attacker and after a lengthy stoppage and discussion with his assistant, the referee reversed his decision and Guernsey’s luck was in.

Gauvain and Allen combined well to create a chance for the former, who let fly with a rising drive towards the near post from the edge of the box, but Verga held. Not long before that, Gauvain had centred low for Murray to meet the ball in the six-yard box – normally bread and butter for the big number nine but his confidence is perhaps low due to a goal drought and he couldn’t make the killer touch and Verga held.

Westfield nearly levelled just after the hour as Adaje cut onto his right foot in the area and took aim. Addison would have initially been unsighted by the defenders in front of him, which made his reactions even more impressive as he pushed the ball wide.

But that was just prolonging the leveller, which came just a few minutes later, midway through the half. As Westfield worked the ball across the pitch, too much space opened up for them on the left, allowing the overlapping Nutbeam too much time and space to pick out the run of Manolis Gogonas, who fired high into the net from near the penalty spot.

The game became scrappy now, with an out of form GFC struggling to fashion clear cut chances in a nervy final quarter. The closest they came was when Gauvain collected from a throw in but curled off target from the corner of the area.

There was a scare at the other end with 10 minutes to go as Adaje’s cross-shot whistled across goal and wide, and Guernsey sent a couple of set pieces into the box in injury time that wouldn’t quite drop to a green shirt. In the end it was probably a fair result that the points were shared.

The gap to safety is now seven points and so it will require a monumental effort from the Green Lions in their final six games as well as some favours elsewhere if they are to achieve a great escape.

Saturday’s other results were as follows: Ashford Town 3-0 Badshot Lea, Farnham Town 3-0 Sutton Common Rovers, Hanworth Villa A-A Ascot United, Harrow Borough 1-0 Hartley Wintney, Horndean 1-6 South Park (Reigate), Leatherhead 3-2 Kingstonian, Metropolitan Police 1-2 Binfield, Moneyfields 3-2 Southall, Rayners Lane 1-0 Hayes & Yeading United, Raynes Park Vale 1-4 Uxbridge.

1 Michel VERGA; 3 Billy NUTBEAM ; 4 Caleb WRIGHT (c); Kyle BAILEY; 7 Jack BEADLE (12 Sekou Toure 80′); 8 Andrew CROSSLEY (6 Malik Shittu, 80′); 9 Manolis GOGONAS; 10 John ADEBIYI (2 Theo WHITE, 54’); 11 Tobi ADAJE; 15 Sam BALOGUN; 16 Lui EDWARDS (17 Abid MERALI, 89’). Not used: 14 Will Taylor.

Booked: Verga, Crossley, Wright.