Guernsey Senior County League 3, Southern Amateur League 2
GUERNSEY football followers have long known that Dave Rihoy is a special talent.
Now the Southern Amateur League, beaten 3-2 at the Track on Saturday afternoon, know it too.
The Belgrave star cracked (pictured) a superb hat-trick to propel Guernsey into the quarter-finals of the FA Carlsberg National League System Cup and the dream of representing England at the Uefa Regions Cup edges ever closer.
Three more wins and Guernsey are in Europe.
The victory was no more than the green-and-whites deserved, a point recognised by Bob Leeds who, a year ago, steered SAL to the title and into the European showpiece in Italy.
‘I’ve no complaints. They wanted it more than we did and we weren’t at the races,’ said Leeds afterwards.
‘Sincere good wishes to Guernsey in the next round,’ he added.
Tony Vance punched the air in a mixture of relief and delight as the final whistle went after a long, long period of stoppage time.
‘They were a good side, but so are we on our day. We had 13 players out there today who stepped up to the plate.’
Although trailing to a fine SAL goal scored in first-half stoppage time, Vance reckoned his men had been the better side throughout and benefited from scouting by a well-known Guernsey face in the UK.
‘I’ve got to thank Steve Sharman [the England Universities manager] and Simon Geall for their excellent information.’
‘We had lots of chances again, hit the woodwork and two blatant penalties rolled into one.’
His final words were reserved for Rihoy, the match-winner with three goals after the break and the third with nearly 90 minutes up.
‘Dave was excellent and a constant threat.’
Guernsey were very worthy winners in a highly-entertaining game watched by, among several hundred, the Bailiff, Sir Geoffrey Rowland.
He will have seen one of the most entertaining senior island matches in a long while and a cogent display from the home side, which augurs well for the second half of the season and the Muratti next spring.
The game was brought forward to 1pm as the GFA took meteorological advice that it would be pouring down by mid-afternoon and there were concerns as to how much water the Track could take.
As it happened the ground looked a picture and played excellently, as did the Guernsey team.
Match report Page 46
Article posted on 23rd November, 2009 - 2.30pm
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