Farleigh Rovers 1, Guernsey FC 5
THE Green Lions strolled to the most comfortable of victories to stay on course for the Combined Counties Division One title.

It was one-way traffic for virtually the entire match, until the hosts applied pressure late on and, if the visitors had been more clinical in front of goal, it could easily have been double figures.

Ross Allen and Dom Heaume gave GFC a more than merited half-time lead.

Then a quickfire double from Ryan-Zico Black and Dave Rihoy early in the second period made the points safe before Glyn Dyer put the icing on the cake shortly after the hour mark.

A host of chances were missed by the visitors during the remainder of the match, in which time Farleigh Rovers scored a consolation from the spot following substitute Scott Bradford’s handball.

Backed by an extremely vocal away support, Guernsey were on the front foot almost straight away and always looking dangerous going forward.

Dyer fired harmlessly wide on 6min. before Rihoy stung the palms of Oliver Waiton from the edge of the area four minutes later.

Allen had the ball in the net in the 20th minute after Heaume centred with his head, but the striker was flagged offside.

It seemed only a matter of time before the Green Lions made a breakthrough, with Black being allowed the space to dictate play in midfield and full-backs Simon Geall and Jason Winch playing like wingers as they foraged forward time and again, taking advantage of Farleigh’s inability to keep possession.

In the next 15 minutes, Heaume hit the post after a clever one-two with Allen, Rihoy and Strawbridge both had efforts blocked in a goalmouth scramble following a corner, Winch headed over and Dyer hit the side netting with a speculative shot.

But it took until the 36th minute for GFC to break the deadlock through hotshot Allen.

That was inevitable, but it had taken longer than expected.

Dyer’s through ball saw Heaume centre the ball from the byline and Allen was perfectly placed just yards out to head into the roof of the net.

A shot from Rihoy flew wide soon after, and Heaume struck the woodwork a second time, his header from Black’s corner striking the crossbar, before his luck in front of goal changed just before the interval.

He could not miss from close range after Black’s first time shot from Rihoy’s square ball was deflected into his path.

It took just three minutes after the restart for Black to register the visitors’ third.

Dyer’s free-kick was headed out, but Winch reacted quickest, heading back towards Allen, who teed up the midfielder to fire home from the middle of the penalty area.

It was only another four minutes before the points were in the bag, with Rihoy finishing from about 15 yards following Heaume’s centre.

Geall, Rihoy and Dyer all shot wide before the latter rounded off the afternoon for the Green Lions on the scoring front. He was given the room to advance to the edge of the box before unleashing a low left-footed strike beyond Waiton’s outstretched dive into the bottom-right corner.

It was all too easy for Guernsey, with chances being created at will.

Heaume sliced high and wide before substitute Matt Loaring fired over twice and saw a third close range effort blocked by Waiton.

Winch, too, could have scored after a one-two with Loaring, but shot high across goal on the stretch.

The left-back was also to spurn a chance in stoppage time right in front of goal as the Green Lions continued their gung-ho approach, but not before an improvement in Farleigh Rovers’ performance.

With just under a quarter of an hour remaining, winger Simon Mensah cut in from the right and unleashed a bullet of a shot that was destined for the top right-hand corner but for the fingertips of Chris Tardif, who had flung himself to his left.

Substitute Joe Doherty provided the impetus for the hosts’ consolation, as it was his cross on the counter-attack that struck the outstretched arm of Bradford for a penalty.

Striker Craig Prendergast stepped up to fire the ball high to Tardif’s right to blot the Lions’ copybook on what otherwise was a stroll in the park.