Tooting & Mitcham United 1-1 Guernsey
Walters (pen) 2′ – Fallaize 29′
Guernsey’s first game of 2022, and first outing in more than a month, saw them pick up a well-earned point in South London as they overcame an early setback to share the spoils with Tooting & Mitcham United.
After the Green Lions fell behind to an early penalty at Imperial Fields, Jacob Fallaize marked his return to the side with a headed equaliser shortly before half-time, atoning for conceding said spotkick.
The point was that much sweeter for the challenges that the Sarnians had to face, with several players on the trip having been unable to train properly after suffering Covid, before you even consider the lack of match practice.
An injury to Callum Stanton in training during the week, and the unavailability of Jordan Kelly and Josh Addison, meant that Tony Vance was without a recognised goalkeeper as late as Friday night. After a lot of hurried calls, former Leeds United goalkeeper Will Huffer, in between clubs, stepped in as an emergency signing and had an excellent game.
Dave Rihoy also returned to the side after a long absence, while Tom Jackson joined Fallaize in making his first appearance since rejoining the club.
There were no signs of rustiness in the first half as, the Terrors’ goal and one other good chance aside, GFC were much the better team before the break, and should have had more to show for it than a solitary goal.
But they had the worst possible start as Fallaize bundled over Samuel Faniyan in the area as the hosts went straight on the attack. Waters converted it coolly for 1-0 inside two minutes, sending Huffer the wrong way.
After some important last ditch defending by Thomas Dodds, Matt Loaring should have got his side back on level terms straight away as Oliver Pain failed to hold Kyle Smith’s low centre under pressure from Ross Allen. It ran loose eight yards out but Loaring ballooned it over from point-blank range.
It seemed the Sarnians had left their shooting boots back in the Channel Islands as Allen sliced high and wide from close range after a Tooting clearance had been charged down. Allen then ran into the channel to pick up a free-kick from Liam Mahon but Pain got down to hold his curling effort towards the bottom corner.
Huffer’s first test was to comfortably field a low effort from Faniyan, and he showed good reactions on 20 minutes to tip the ball wide after Shamal Edwards had reach a crossfield ball and cut inside Dodds just inside the area.
Smith deserved more on 24 minutes after good build-up by the visitors, the ball was eventually flicked towards him and he turned brilliantly in the area to roll his man and on the stretch, got a toe to the ball to loop it towards goal, but it dropped just wide to the right of the goal.
Guernsey got the equaliser their play deserved just before the half-hour. Liam Mahon opted for a short corner to brother Kieran, who had a better angle to whip in the cross. Jacob Fallaize attacked it and headed home at the far post.
Fallaize breathed a sigh of relief a few minutes into the second half as he was caught out by a ball over the top to allow Faniyan in. Luckily for Guernsey, he was faced with a tight angle and Huffer saw his poke across goal roll wide.
Smith came close to firing the visitors in front on 68 minutes as the home defence were caught out by a low free-kick into the box, but the number nine drove it wide.
Overall it was a much quieter, scrappier second half, mainly with a few half-chances for Tooting that were cleared away or well off target. Guernsey defence stood firm superbly.
There was a scare as the game ticked into stoppage-time as a half-cleared free-kick was drilled back towards goal by Edwards, but to Guernsey’s relief, it bounced wide. Huffer also plucked the ball out the air as Nathan Daly’s long throw was flick towards goal.
Guernsey dropped to the bottom of Isthmian South Central as a result of Chalfont St Peter winning their fixture, but it was a positive start to the year and there are plenty of games in hand to overtake the group in the bottom half of the table.
Saturday’s other results were as follows: Basingstoke Town 1-3 Northwood; Binfield 1-2 Chalfont St Peter; Chertsey Town 2-0 Ashford Town; Marlow 2-1 Chipstead; Sutton Common Rovers 0-1 Bedfont Sports; Thatcham Town 3-1 South Park; Uxbridge 0-1 Bracknell Town; Westfield 0-2 Hanwell Town.
1 Oliver Pain; 2 Marco Figueredo-Correia (14 Billy Brown, 74’); 4 Mark Waters; 5 Nathan Daly (c); 6 Cory Walters-Wright; 7 Nathan Gordon; 8 Baye Ndiaye; 9 Samuel Faniyan; 11 Shamal Edwards; 15 Michael Dixon (18 Jordan Clarke, 74’); 16 Nikolai Krokhin. Not used: 3 Dean Hamlin; 12 Leevi Bassett; 17 Anwar Ceesay.
Goal: Waters (pen) 2’. Booked: Walters-Wright, Daly.
1 William Huffer; 2 Thomas Dodds; 3 Ben Le Tocq; 4 Tom Jackson; 5 Jacob Fallaize; 6 Kieran Mahon; 7 Dave Rihoy (15 Keanu Marsh, 72’); 8 Liam Mahon (14 Glenn Le Tissier 86’); 9 Kyle Smith; 10 Ross Allen (c); 11 Matt Loaring. Not used: 12 Tyler McKane.
Goal: Fallaize 29’. Booked: Fallaize, Jackson.
Attendance: 329.
Highlights will be available on GFCTV over the weekend.
