GUERNSEY           1 (Allen (pen) 45’)
RAYNERS LANE  5 (Keita 19’, 34‘; Dalling 31‘, 42‘; Buchanan 59‘)

Guernsey had an afternoon to forget at Footes Lane on Sunday as they were well beaten by Rayners Lane.

Some truly shambolic defending in the first half, with four goals coming in almost identical fashion, meant that the game was well over at the break despite Ross Allen pulling a goal back from the spot on the stroke of half-time.

It was a much improved second half performance but the Green Lions couldn’t get an early goal to give themselves a slim hope and the visitors added one more to their tally to kill off even the faintest sniff of a recovery and leave GFC in the relegation zone with their survival task that little bit harder. The collective distance from goal for all five goals added together probably only adds up to about six yards.

The Sarnians did actually start brightly and the Lane looked rattled with some rather hamfisted attempts at clearing their lines early on.

But it didn’t take long for them to click, with former Brentford Academy winger Remy Bennison at the heart of it. Guernsey just couldn’t deal with his direct runs at the backline and trickery in the box, although they didn’t help themselves with how much they backed off and let him continue to runs deep into the penalty area.

There was a timely block to deflect his first effort behind in the 10^th minute after he twisted and turned to find space. A free-kick from the left by Anthony Cook almost blew into the top corner a minute later but Josh Addison stuck out an arm to claw it away. The offside flag then denied Rayners Lane the lead as Frank Keita tapped in the rebound after Addison had blocked a low drive from Elliott Buchanen. Again Bennison had been at the heart of the action with the initial blocked effort. He then drew a save from Addison and also hit the side netting after Charlton Gauvain had carelessly given the ball away.

This latter point was turning into a theme with the hosts regularly surrendering possession cheaply in dangerous areas. Their luck ran out inside 20 minutes as Bennison got into the box against and squared across the six-yard box. It might have been Jacob Fallaize who got the final touch but Keita was happy to claim it as the ball was turned in from close range.

In a rare foray the other direction, Allen did well to hold onto the ball despite several challenges and slip the ball through for Gauvain, but the Guernsey number seven was off balance and skewed his shot.

Deshane Dalling could only head straight at Addison when free at the far post, but that only delayed the inevitable as the Lane number 11 was at the front of the queue to tap in a second just after the half-hour, Bennison again the architect after the hosts had given the ball away.

Allen did well to bring down a difficult ball on the edge of the box but could only stab wide shortly before a third at the other end. Guernsey made a complete hash of clearing the ball out their six-yard box, and a slip from Merris allowed Keita to nod in from close range.

The fourth came from GFC losing possession in midfield and Dalling tapping home Bennison’s pass virtually on the goal line on 42 minutes. It should even have been five just a minute later as Fallaize swiped at and missed a routine clearance to leave Buchanen with an open goal, but the number nine someone pushed the ball over when it was easier to score.

Guernsey were afforded a slim hope just before the break as Allen drew a challenge from behind as he was moving away from goal and was sent to the deck. He stuck the resulting penalty in the bottom right corner to finally give the home fans something to cheer, edging ahead in the club's golden boot race for the season as he reached double figures.

It marked the end of one of the worst 45 minutes of defending Footes Lane has ever seen. The only way was up, and so it proved after the break, in performance-terms anyway.

Perhaps things could have turned out differently if the hosts had taken one of the early chances they carved out to reduce the deficit to two. A great move straight from kick-off saw Gauvain eventually square for Sam Murray, but the pass was slightly behind the number nine, who lifted it over.

Allen then collected a quick throw and played in Gauvain, but his low shot was blocked by Endurance Johnson. The number seven also shot from the angle after the Green Lions had worked the ball over to the left of the box, but Johnson parried and then caught.

But the renewed optimism brought about by this start to the half was extinguished just before the hour as Rayners Lane capitalised on a good advantage played by the referee, attacked down the left and another pullback along Buchanen to tap home a fifth from a yard out.

To their credit, the hosts did finish strongly with a few more chances created in the final quarter of the game, largely thanks to the energy brought by substitute Jacques Cauvain and Brandon Wallace.

Fin du Port was unable to muster enough power to beat Johnson with a low drive after Cauvin had collected from a switch of play to the left and teed up his team mate. While great work by Gauvain on the left saw him beat his man and find Allen in the box, who did very well himself to engineer a shot, but Johnson grabbed hold of it just before it snuck in at the near post.

Allen and Gauvain had shot blocked in quick succession after good work by Cauvin on the left, while a ricochet from a du Port shot send the ball spinning towards Murray, but he could only find the side netting from the angle.

A win for South Park over Ashford Town on Sunday makes them harder to catch, even with games in hand (with two of those coming away at the top two) – this is one that Guernsey really could have done with winning.

Ashford Town 0-2 South Park (Reigate), Binfield 1-1 Badshot Lea, Hanworth Villa 2-0 Westfield, Horndean 1-2 Raynes Park Vale, Kingstonian 1-1 Hayes & Yeading United, Leatherhead 3-0 Harrow Borough, Moneyfields 1-1 Ascot United, Southall 1-5 Farnham Town, Sutton Common Rovers 1-4 Hartley Wintney, Uxbridge 4-0 Metropolitan Police.

GUERNSEY: 1 Josh ADDISON; 2 Niall HAINSWORTH (20 Alex WARD, 74’); 3 Jamie DODD (c); 4 Tom DODDS; 5 Tom VAUDIN; 7 Charlton GAUVAIN (22 Fin PATTERSON, 83’); 9 Sam MURRAY; 10 Ross ALLEN (26 Zach GILMAN, 86’); 12 Fin DU PORT; 18 Dave MERRIS (21 Jacques CAUVAIN, 57’); 24 Jacob FALLAIZE (17 Brandon WALLACE, 62’).

Booked: Gauvain, du Port, Fallaize.

RAYNERS LANE : 1 Endurance JOHNSON ; 2 Anthony COOK (c) ; 3 Tariq STRAKER ; 4 Mohamed KAMARA ; 5 Germaine DUA ; 6 Myles ANDERSON ; 7 Remy BENNISON ; 8 Frank KEITA (c) ; 9 Elliott BUCHANEN ; 10 Josh GREEN ; 11 Deshane DALLING (14 Daniel UCHECHI, 89’).

Booked: Bennison, Keita.

Attendance: 372.

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