Cameroonian a great Guy, says delighted Valley manager Lim
Defender-turned-striker Gerard Ambassa Guy repaid the faith shown in him by Happy Valley when he bagged a hat-trick in his side's 4-0 thrashing of Double Flowers in a First Division match last night.
Guy, known as 'JJ' to his friends, notched his first hat-trick since his teenage days to kick-start the champions' league campaign at Mongkok Stadium.
The Cameroonian, who usually plays in the heart of defence, played a pivotal role in Happy Valley's first win of the season with goals in the 15th, 85th and 88th minutes as Double Flowers slipped to their third straight defeat.
A delighted Guy said: 'I am very happy to have scored a hat-trick and I have to say it's been a long time since I played up front. But playing in this position is not entirely new to me because I represented Cameroon at under-17 level as a striker.'
Happy Valley team manager Lim Fong Kee was pleased with Guy's performance up front, saying the team turned to the 23-year-old because they had run out of options.
'With Rochi [Putiray] still suspended, JJ was the only person who could do the job and I had faith he could do it. I just knew he would score. Personally, I thought he would score two goals.
'He showed he was comfortable in that position by scoring three goals. We have been having problems up front because we didn't really have a striker to begin with. But JJ showed he was up to the job,' said Lim.
Lim was still far from satisfied with the champions' win, saying they looked patchy at times, and sat back for too long when leading 1-0 at half-time. Guy scored first with a header from a Lo Kai-wah cross. But spectators had to wait until the 82nd minute before the champions added to the tally with Kwok Man-tik hammering a powerful free-kick home after Guy was fouled.
Guy notched his second goal with five minutes to go when Lo beat the offside trap to neatly square the ball to an advancing Guy, who made no mistake from close range.
The Cameroonian then completed his hat-trick three minutes later when he weaved his way through the Flowers' defence before planting a low shot past Chan Sau-yin.
Meanwhile, South China twice came back from a goal down to share the spoils with Rangers in a 2-2 draw.
Rangers led 1-0 at half-time through Anilton Conceicao. Brazilian Rogerio Sandro equalised five minutes after the break. Rangers regained the lead through Chan Yiu-chun in the 70th minute before Au Wai-lun equalised with a spot kick five minutes from time.
