Match Report

An emphatic victory and comprehensive performance to push us upwards into the right direction and take us to three league wins on the bounce.

In ideal playing conditions and an excellent pitch, the Guild marched successfully onwards increasing their run to three straight wins and no defeats in the last four league matches. However, the game did not start that well for the Guild as it was the Broms who got the better start as the Guild started the game playing against the slight wind.

As early as the 5th minute the Broms could have gone ahead but the attempted swivel shot from the Broms forward was well saved by Hawkes in the Guild net. The Guild defence looked slightly sluggish in responding to situations and that was our undoing after 20 mins when the Broms went ahead. Lack of marking in our box after a decent cross saw Broms win two free headers in the box, the second header bulging the Farnborough net.

Cleaver B picked up an ankle injury and was replaced by Graham.

It was time for the Guild to wake up and they duly obliged. Within minutes of the restart we got a deserved equaliser when Williams L smashed a 35 yard pile driver over the keeper and into the net, a truly great goal.

Moments later some excellent team play saw Perkins release Graham down our left hand side. In delivering the pass, Perkins took a whack for his troubles and the referee quite rightly waved play on. Graham raced through and finished superbly over the Broms keeper to equalise. However, the goal was very harshly ruled out for offside and the Guild was not even given the advantage and Broms somehow ended up with the free kick; the Guild was left without a goal, an injured player and no ball!

By now the Guild had really started to play and the tempo of the game had risen and was an attractive match to watch. The goal gave us more momentum and now the Guild had the upperhand with Williams L flashing a header just wide.

At the half we were relatively pleased with the performance. The tempo of the game was very high, we had grown into the game and our slow defensive start now looked organised, structured and composed. The second half started and it was all us. It seemed to be a question of how many we could score as opposed to if we would win. Within 5 mins of the restart we were ahead when a set piece corner was driven in by Williams J and was met sweetly by the head of Selmes whose bullet header flew into the corner. The celebration showed how much we wanted this.

The killer third goal arrived on the hour and was a perfect, text book example of how to counter attack. We broke down the Broms attack and the ball was fed to Perkins who fed Williams J out wide. Williams J opened up his afterburners and blazed down our right hand side. His pinpoint cross found Perkins at the front post who had continued his run and converted from close range. A brilliant team goal; end to end in a matter of a few seconds.

Cooke J replaced Williams L; Cooke R replaced Williams J.

With around 10 minutes to go a fourth goal arrived when the ‘returning-from-injury’ Cooke used all his guile and composure, rounding the Broms keeper and coolly slotting home after a magnificent through ball from his elder sibling.

4-1 should have been 5-1 when Perkins once again slotted home from close range, but the cross from Cooke R was cruelly adjudged to be offside. 4-1 it finished and it was the Broms that welcomed the final whistle.

Overall I was very pleased with an impressive display which was richly praised from the sidelines. Some of the supporters have been up the club and watched Guild sides play for years (some back to the 60’s) and heaped deserved praise on the team. Players should really be impressed by those types of accolades. From a personal prospective, this is one of the best performances I have seen from any team at the Guild. A true indication of how good we are when we stick together, have belief, high availability and spirit. I know I go on like the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket, but when we play the way we did on Saturday you can clearly see the benefit. All my relentless moaning, texting and e-mailing suddenly becomes worthwhile!

Man of the Match was so difficult to pick and this was reflected in the voting. 6 different players were recognised across 17 votes. The manager’s vote went for Abbott which matched the player’s vote as well picking up the lion's share of 7 votes. Abbott’s no-nonsense and simple approach to the game is both effective in breaking down the opposition's attacking play and setting up our own possession play and attacks. Energetic without the ball and economic with it! (Personally, I’m just pleased that he finds his way to the ground in his Rover-Tardis!).

The whole defence as a unit (Inc GK) sorted out some of the early problems we had and were brilliant for the remainder 75 minutes of this fixture. The defence coped admirably with a very pacy and lively attack. The midfield dominated proceedings and really stretched Broms in both directions. The forwards gave the Broms defence problems all the time with their non-stop movement, interplay and finishing. All the subs had a positive impact on the game at important times and it was pleasing to see the bench be so positive given the difficult selection decisions.

Broms are a good team with plenty of pace and movement to trouble other teams and we comprehensively beat them and inflicted their heaviest defeat of the season. This fact should give us bags of confidence to progress our little league run. This week we have Sutton Athletic away. At our place we were unlucky not to get all three points and only narrowly lost out to the odd goal when we played them in the cup with a depleted squad at their place. Sutton is a good strong side and we will have to again be at our best to beat them. However, play like we did this week and I am positive we can bag the points

Farnborough: 1. Hawkes; 2. Small; 3. Eales; 4. Judge; 5. Warren; 6. Abbott; 7. Williams J; 8. Selmes; 9. Williams, L; 10. Perkins; 11. Cleaver, B:

Subs: 12. Graham for 11. Cleaver B; 14. Jon Cooke for 9. Williams L; 13. Cooke R for 7. Williams J
Subs not used: 15. Davis and 16. St John

Bromleians Sports: 1. Malpin; 2. Powell; 3. Walker ©; 4. Harrigan; 5. West; 6. Donne; 7. Hollingsworth; 8. Alpan; 9. Stewart; 10. Kwesi; 11. Odesola

Subs: 14. Keroma; 15. McKenzie; 16. Wheeler