Allen hat-trick beats Hillians in Guernsey

Prolific Striker Ross Allen fired a hat-trick as Guernsey were the victors over Burgess Hill Town in this play-off battle fixture.
the travelling Hillians party of players and Officialsthe travelling Hillians party of players and Officials
the travelling Hillians party of players and Officials

It had been a bad start to the day for the Hillians as they were made to wait at Gatwick Airport for seven hours before being able to board the plane to the Island which ruined the Hill’s match preparation and the game kicked off half an hour later than scheduled due to this.

The game started evenly with both sides passing the ball around nicely although there was a lack of efforts in front of goal.

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Hill, missing Greg Luer, Neil Watts and Curtis Gayler, had their first sight of goal when a clearance by Green Lions keeper Chris Tardif hit Sam Fisk and the ball fell nicely to Pat Harding, but he shot tamely at the keeper.

Minutes later the lively Allen hit a shot on the turn but the effort was comfortably saved by Alan Mansfield and then Ryan-Zico Black headed over the bar from a free kick.

Veteran midfielder Paul Armstrong had a long range effort go over the bar from 25 yards and then it was straight up the other end as Matt Loaring played in Marc McGrath who shot wide when through on goal.

On 37 minutes Allen gave the hosts the lead when Loaring broke down the right and slid the ball to Allen, who, with his back to goal, turned well before shooting home.

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The visitors looked to hit back and Joe Keehan played a good one-two with Harding which resulted with Keehan having his effort saved by the feet of the Guernsey keeper.

Max Miller came on for Scott Kirkwood at half time as the Hillians started positively in search of an equaliser and applied plenty of pressure.

Keehan had two chances in as many minutes, with his first shot blocked for a corner and then had a long range effort easily saved which was followed in the 57th minute with Curd having a header go wide from a Spencer Slaughter cross.

Despite all the early pressure in the second half it was Guernsey who doubled their lead in the 65th minute against the run of play when a quick break saw Kieran Mahon slide a ball through for Allen to round Mansfield and fire home from a tight angle for his 150th goal in his 112th game for the Green Lions.

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Hillians heads did not drop and they pulled a goal back when Armstong’s free kick from out on the left looped over everyone and into the far corner of the net to give Hill hope with 14 minutes left on the clock.

Despite going in search of an equaliser, Hill had another effort blocked before the hosts quickly broke and Allen completed his hat-trick with a low shot into the bottom corner.

There were a few travelling fans from Burgess Hill who made the long journey, some by plane and some by boat and there was also 60 plus people who watched the game live in the Clubhouse.

Hillians: Alan Mansfield, Spencer Slaughter, Toby Pointing, Danny Curd (Dan Perry 87), Lee Denyer, Scott Kirkwood (Max Miller 45), Darren Budd (Joe Kay 67), Joe Keehan, Paul Armstrong, Sam Fisk, Pat Harding.

Not used: Will Miles & Stuart Tuck