Match Report

Tickets had been sold out weeks before this eagerly anticipated local derby. The "Farnbourettes" got the large crowd going with their dancing display before the game, problem being a few of the players were in danger of peaking before the kick-off!

The game started at the normal Vets breakneck speed of just over walking pace with the midfield quartet of the 2 Chris''s, Toby and Colin using their footballing skills torun the oppositionragged. It''s just a shame that on many occassions the final pass let them down. The "zimmer-frame" end of the ground began to break into a verse of the well known song "all we want is a goal." Unfortunately one was scored but by our near neighbours from Orpington and not FOBG. This was totally against the run of play but the old fellas from behind the Woodman did not let their heads drop.

Our new found goalkeeping star who goes by the name of John "the cat" continued to command his penalty area. It''s just a shame that he forgot to tell Steve who was hit full on the head by a clearance of a back pass. Still as the old saying goes "no sense no feeling". Colesy continued to spray passes to the ever willing wingbacks Pat and Trevor. But still we seemed incapable of troubling the opposition keeper who seemed to defy gravity by getting down low to save a number of blistering shots from the old fellas from Farnborough.

Despite Paul and Storkey giving the opposing defence all sorts of problems the opposition scored a lucky 2nd goal, but still the boys in red kept their heads high and continued to bombard the opposition goal. Finally the crowd had something to cheer about with a fantastically taken goal by Colin to make the score 2-1. Then came the masterstroke, the first being bringing Roger on to play on the left of midfield and the 2nd bringing Keith onto play on the right. Our new found vigour soon rewarded us when Roger cut in from the left hand side and burst the back of net making it 2-2. The lady walking her dog almost tripped over herself with excitement.

FOBG were now in command of the game and it was only a matter of time before the pressure would tell, but nobody could have predicted the quality of the 3rd goal. Storkey received the ball on the left hand side and sent a precise cross into the six yard box which was expertly dispatched in the top right hand corner with his left foot by Keith. The celebration left a lot to be desired as this was such a rare event on a football pitch. It was now just a matter of hanging on for a well deserved victory. Unfortunately the marking went amiss from a corner making the final score 3-3.

A hard fought but sporting local derby ended with handshakes all round and well deserved pints and sandwiches in the bar afterwards.

SECOND REPORT FROM ROGER FRENCH

Having been a spectator at our opening fixture the previous week where we were totally outplayed it was a huge relief to watch the kick-off and see the Vets team string a number of passes together without losing possession. Admittedly Orpington Vets informed us that they were down to 10 men but had drafted in 2 under aged vets to make up for it and promised that they would only play them at the back - as one of these "youth" team players was at least 6 foot and played in central defence I''m not sure how much of a favour it was doing us.

The first 25 minutes saw FOBG applying lots of pressure with good possession and passing but no real attacks on the Orpington goal. As expected there was a lot of space for Steve Blanchard and Pat Mongelard to tidy up and bring the ball forward but following a lucky rebound off an FOBG defender Orpington took the lead against the run of play. Our best chance of scoring came from a rare ball played into the area with Chris Bourlet challenging in the air ending up as the filling in an Orpington sandwich - to be fair both Chris Ponulak and the Orpington defender felt the force of the keeper in full flight.

The end of the half saw Orpington get more into their stride and that could have signalled the usual collapse from FOBG vets. With no changes at half-time the game continued with Orpington pressing forward and within 10 minutes they had doubled their lead. Time for Toby Harlow to act and with 2 subs available and the heat of the day taking its toll, the first of the inspired substitutions took place. On came me (Roger French) and I instantly forged a good link up with the ever reliable Colin Ebdon down the left hand side resulting in some neat passes creating direct attacks on the Orpington goal. The extra attacking option paid off as we pulled one back when Colin found himself unmarked in the middle of the area and eventually managed to control the bobbling ball and slot it into the back of the net.

Cue Toby''s next substitution bringing on Keith Warman on the right side of midfield. With more attacks coming down the left the ball was swung into the penalty area to a rather surprised Keith who quite expertly got his left foot on the end of the cross and more importantly got it into the back of the net to level the scores at 2-2. Some say it was the dazzling blue boots that distracted the keeper but it looked good to me. Having staged a good comeback we now had the bit between our teeth and another well worked move down the left saw Colin play a superbly weighted ball into the box for me to dispatch into the back of the net under pressure from the keeper to make the score 3-2 to us and it felt like we could win the game. But it was not to be as Orpington forced a corner late on and scored what I have to admit was an absolute cracker of a goal on the volley from outside the box giving our keeper John Burgess no chance whatsoever.

The final whistle sounded with us on the attack but all in all a draw was a fair result seeing as Orpington played the entire game a man down.