Report from the Guernsey FC Forum here....

Allen brace sees off determined Terrors

Guernsey FC 2 Tooting & Mitcham United 1

The Terrors may have struggled on their travels throughout the season having lost 8 of their 12 away games but they put in a battling display in front of an official gate of 1,114 at Fortress Footes Lane, -a crowd bolstered by well over 50 travelling fans who created a lot of noise in support of their team.

It could be argued that Tooting deserved to take something from this game given their gritty performance but as has often been the case, Ross Allen proved to be the significant difference and it was his first half double that gave the Green Lions all three points.

With the kick off delayed by 30 minutes due to the late arrival from Gatwick of the plane carrying the Tooting & Mitcham squad it was not too much of a surprise that the opening minutes were somewhat guarded. The only incident of note being the third minute booking of Jamie Dodd after catching Max Noble, an offence that the quietly effective referee, Matthew Donohue deemed worthy of a yellow card.

The visitors were the first to settle with the strong, powerful Sol Pinnock impressing but it was Noble who was to keep the Green Lions defence on their toes throughout the game; proving to be a busy, industrious player and difficult to knock off the ball when in possession.

The Terrors may have initially seen more of the ball but perhaps a little against the run of play it was the home team, after nine minutes, who made the important breakthrough. The origins for the goal started deep in the Guernsey half as Matt Loaring, who once again ran his socks off throughout the full ninety minutes, slipped a neat pass to Dave Rihoy who in turn quickly played the ball down the right to Allen. The goal scoring maestro still had plenty to do, but in true Allen fashion, the Guernsey number 10 turned his defender inside out, not once, not twice but three times before creating the time and space to slot the ball home and past a well beaten Paul Smith. Yet another splendid individually crafted goal by the man who has magic in those quick feet.

Three minutes later Tooting created their first clear chance as, following a corner; Pinnock’s snap shot from twelve yards out cleared the bar. And it was Pinnock after 18 minutes who found space, wide on the left, but his cross shot failed to test Tardif. A couple of minutes on and the same player was once again involved as he set up full back Nathan Gordon, but his cross that begged a decisive touch from the head of Frankie Sawyer just evaded the nippy number 10.

The match had by now developed into an open game with the ball being played to feet by both teams and almost immediately Guernsey countered as Heaume, Loaring and Mahon combined to set up Allen but his effort failed to test Smith as the ball flashed across the face of the goal. The home side, after 26 minutes, then had a great chance to double their advantage. Nigel Hutton, who looked more than assured at right-back, delivered a teasing cross into the box, the ball eventually found its way to Matt Loaring whose effort was on target but was to be well parried away by Smith.

However, the Green Lions did not have to wait too long to finally fashion their second goal and though the build-up was good, the finish proved to be down to the alertness and poaching of that man Allen. Heaume and Rihoy, not the first time had combined and linked well with Loaring. The wide-man delivered a deep cross that was met by Heaume who nodded the ball back into a dangerous area seeking out a green shirt. However and somewhat inexplicably Colin Hartburn met the ball and elected to head it back to his keeper. Wrong option! His touch was weak and in stepped Allen, first to the ball and forcing it home and over the line for a true poachers goal and his 37th of the season.

Minutes later Allen almost snaffled a third when he ran on to a clever looping pass from Glyn Dyer, the forward beat the advancing keeper to the ball but his lofted effort fell just wide of the far post.

The reality by now was that the trio of Loaring, Rihoy and Dyer, supported by Dom Heaume were constantly asking questions of the Tooting back four and though the visitors did create chances for themselves the difference was that Guernsey had Allen who took his chances and Tooting did not.

If the first half had seen Guernsey dominate the ball, the second period was to be a contrast. The opening 15 minutes may have been lacking in any real spark, but it was clear that Craig Tanner had delivered a decent halt-time talk because his team started to play much better and were more creative than the first 45 minutes. As had been the case in that first half it was Max Noble who was the man pulling the strings and the Guernsey back four, superbly marshalled throughout by skipper Sam Cochrane, were certainly kept busy and had to be on their game. As such Tardif’s goal was rarely threatened during the first twenty minutes or so of the half.

On 63 minutes, Allen picked up a yellow following a clumsy tackle on Gordon. Elliott Simpson was soon to replace Robinson and within two minutes GFC’s advantage was halved. Out of the blue, from the left Tardif was forced into a sharp save, but his parry fell kindly at the feet of Pinnock who was the first to react and finish decisively, setting up a nervous final 25 minutes for the home side.

Tardif five minutes later had to be alert and was very quick off his line to thwart Sawyer and moments later a deep cross from Troy Williams needed the Lions defence to be attentive to head clear the goal threat.

The home side had been offering little in the way of an attacking threat and with Tooting seeing more of the ball they were understandably looking the more dangerous of the two sides, -but GFC have a special player amongst their ranks and it was Allen on 74 minutes who broke from the half way line, running at pace to let rip with a cracking shot from the edge of the box only for his effort to be majestically tipped over by Paul Smith. Following a weak clearing header, Loaring then struck a shot from a similar distance but his effort was wide of the intended target.

The final 10 minutes saw Tooting up their efforts to find an equaliser and on three occasions their centre half Jordan Cheadle was involved but on each occasion he could not find the finish his side craved, notably on 82 minutes a clever pass from Pinnock saw the big number five fail to hit the target, then on 87 minutes his free kick was easily saved by Tardif.

Cheadle was then involved at the other end as he illegally stopped a storming run from the inspirational Loaring and picked up a deserved yellow card.

The referee added four minutes to the game and still Tooting pushed forward and right at the death Simpson and Pinnock combined but the number 9’s finish was weak and Guernsey had held on to take all three points despite a valiant effort from this team that normally struggle away from Imperial Fields……but on this occasion they can return home with their heads held high whilst the Guernsey faithful can be thankful that they now have a team more than capable of closing out competitive games such as this one in their favour.

Allez les Verts

John Marquis  

Woohoo, they worked.

Here's some more (suffice to say these people were just a few of the Terrors horde that turned up in Guernsey) :--

For more Guernsey photo's see here :--

http://s1112.photobucket.com/user/DavidPenn/slideshow/Terrors%20in%20Guernsey
 

A great set of photos, Mr P!!!!
 

Mmmmmm - that's me told ! 

Mind you, I like the sound of Red & White quartered shirts. 

No offence taken old thing. 

I think a vote of thanks is in order Mr. Dee Pee! a good memento of a wonderful day, hopefully with Craig at the helm, many more will follow.