GUERNSEY 3 (Loaring 2′; Fallaize 32′; Murray 35′)
HANWORTH VILLA 1 (Bender 40′)
Another trio of first-half goals ensured back-to-back 3-1 wins for Guernsey, who made it four wins out of six in front of the biggest Footes Lane attendance of the season on Wednesday night.
To thank fans for their support in the victory over Binfield at the weekend, the club announced free entry for this one in hope of another bumper crowd to cheer them on in another important game, and Tony Vance’s men didn’t disappoint.
It was almost a carbon copy of the previous Saturday’s triumph, just swap out a Ross Allen strike for one from Sam Murray, and their opponents goal coming in the first half rather than after the break.
Hanworth Villa gave a good account of themselves but couldn’t make their chances count, and the Green Lions were clinical when it mattered.
They had the perfect start, getting on the front foot within two minutes as Allen found himself in space down the left and fired across goal. Murray should have buried it himself from close range but the ball got stuck under his feet. However, he kept it alive and teed it up for Loaring to lift it high into the net from six yards.
It was the perfect start, but the visitors were not perturbed and sought a quick equaliser. Not long after Terry Buss held a rising curler from Allen, Tom Jelley fired well wide from a good position before Tom Bender latched onto a through ball and tested Josh Addison, who passed with flying colours. The same man fired a free-kick over the top midway through the half.
Brandon Wallace found himself in a good possession on the edge of the area after Danny Hale had latched onto a loose ball and driven forward, but the teenager found Buss in the way and GFC had to settle for a corner.
Guernsey doubled their lead shortly after the half-hour and it was Fallaize with a carbon copy of his header against Binfield, this time Dave Rihoy the supplier from the corner.
Four minutes later, and the Sarnians were in dream land. Footes Lane has become accustomed to seeing Sam Murray bury them from close range, but this time he showed what else he had in his locker, clipping home a lovely finish from outside the area after Wallace had laid it across.
Villa made sure they gave their hosts something to think about at the break. Shortly after Addison had kept out Theo Crawford at his near post, Jelly lifted a high cross in from the right. It evaded everyone in the middle, but Bender raced in at the far post to bring it down on his chest and fire an excellent finish back across goal, which looped into the far corner.
The second period was certainly quieter on the action front as Vance’s side just needed to be sensible. Hanworth had a lot of the ball but GFC kept them at arms length.
Allen’s fancy footwork on the left couldn’t bring him a goal after the break as Hanworth scrambled it away at the near post. Guernsey’s number 10 and skipper for the night then exchanged the longest of one-twos with substitute Liam Mahon as he clipped the ball into space on the right, then ran onto the ball as Mahon squared across the box, but he hesitated with his shot and it was blocked.
Wallace’s trickery in the closing stages got him into the penalty area after collecting from Murray, but couldn’t capitalised and skewed it high and wide.
The win wasn’t enough to take Guensey out of the relegation play-off places, but made up ground on Bedfont Sports, who could only draw with Sutton Common Rovers. Unthinkable a few weeks ago, Guernsey are not just one point from safety with games in hand.
The other Isthmian South Central midweek results were as follows: Basingstoke 3-1 Chertsey Town, Bedfont Sports 3-3 Sutton Common Rovers, Binfield 2-2 Thatcham Town, Marlow 4-2 Ashford Town, Northwood 1-2 Walton & Hersham, Southall 1-0 Leatherhead, South Park A-A Chipstead, Uxbridge 1-1 Westfield.
Guernsey: 1 Josh Addison; 2 Dave Rihoy; 3 Joe Alvarez (12 Keanu Marsh, 63’); 4 Tom Dodds; 5 Jacob Fallaize; 6 Tom Vaudin; 7 Matt Loaring; 8 Danny Hale (14 Liam Mahon, 69’); 9 Sam Murray; 10 Ross Allen; 11 Brandon Wallace (15 Keene Domaille, 87’). Not used: 13 Jason Martin.
Hanworth Villa: 1 Terry Buss; 2 Tom Jelley (14 Leon Solomon, 76’); 4 Ben Geraghty; 5 Guy Ansah-Palmer; 6 George Wells; 7 Anthony Foikes; 8 Theo Crawford; 11 Jordan Ellis; 12 Elliott Simpson (15 Shadrac Melembe, 76’); 20 Emmanuel Etskine. Not used: 10 Sam Merson; 16 Mark Shrubb.
Attendance: 737.
Highlights are available now on GFCTV.
