'Excellent' Guernsey FC undone by late goal at Leatherhead

Tony Vance led Guernsey FC to their first win since August in their previous game

Guernsey FC boss Tony Vance praised an "excellent" performance by his depleted side as they lost 1-0 at Leatherhead in Isthmian League South Central.

A goal from Ollie Cook eight minutes before the end was the difference.

The defeat by Leatherhead, who are third in the table, left Guernsey in the relegation zone.

"They were knocking on the door, to be fair to them, and they're going to be - they're in the play-offs and spend a lot of money," Vance said.

"But you wouldn't have thought that, I thought we were excellent in our roles and made it very hard for them.

"They were very predictable, but we just needed to make sure we defended in a low block well, which we did.

"They were knocking on the door, we closed it for most of it and there was just one little crack at the end there which they squeezed through.

"It's unfortunate, but the best thing about that is they were desperately hanging on in the last 10 minutes and we had a right good go and perhaps could have nicked a draw right at the end," he told BBC Radio Guernsey.

Guernsey went into the fixture with just two substitutes on the bench as injuries again hit their small squad.

But Vance said his young side again impressed away against a top side - as they did at play-off chasing Southall a few weeks ago:

"We've faced a lot of the top teams with very low resources, everyone knows our story and we struggle with players coming from the island and the logistical problems," he added.

"When you're facing a top group you want to go at full tilt, and I looked at my board yesterday and there were five or six players in the injured column that would (normally) start, so they're back at home and at some point they'll come good for us.

"But if we talk about the group today they were phenomenal, very young lads there experiencing this sort of situation and we're getting better and better.

"Ok, we're second-from-bottom, but over the last eight games I think we're starting to come together."