Green Lions caged as Curfews hit six on the road

Chertsey Town arrived in Guernsey yesterday under a little pressure, after two drawn matches- and yes, by their standards, that’s pressure! How most of our clubs would like the pressure of being unbeaten since mid September and six points clear at the top!

The hosting Green Lions were in fine form, with four wins from their previous five, games which had seen them score seventeen goals, and, having never managed a win against the Curfews would have hoped that, just perhaps, they’d find them a little vulnerable. Sadly for the majority of those watching on, there was little vulnerability on display.

It took only twelve minutes for the visitors to break the deadlock, Gianluca Botti picking up a long kick from keeper Nicholas Jupp, controlling it, and making no mistake with the finish. Eleven minutes later they were two up, Reece Robbins robbing a defender to finish, and on thirty two minutes it was three, Botti scoring his twenty fourth of the campaign- three of them having come against Guernsey.

At this point, the hosts found their roar. Almost immediately Ross Allen got a goal back- that’s ten in fourteen matches this season for one of the most reliable goalscorers you’ll ever see at our level- and just after the start of the second half the hosts really gave the crowd hope, as Matt Scoring Loaring took his tally to fifteen in twenty six to bring his side to within a goal of their visitors. That hope, however, was soon dashed.

Just before the hour mark the visitors got into gear once more, and Wayne Ridgley made it four-two, a fabulous finish into the top corner- and with eighteen minutes left a Chad Goulter header made it five. Still they weren’t finished, and in added time Oliver McCoy made it six- McCoy capitalising on a defensive error to score his sixteenth of the campaign.

That, finally, was that. Chertsey are now nine points clear of second place Marlow, with nine games to go for both sides. Guernsey remain in fourteenth.

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