Match Report

Luckily enough for those of us who bothered to turn up (not mentioning any names Aaron & Pete) the game at Wickham Park was not called off despite the fact we had a torrential downpour and more to the point that Wickham had not been able to field a full team at all this season as apparently many of their of their players had decided to join the more financially stable ‘Lloyd Golden Oldies’ during these hard times!

Well if football is known as the “beautiful game” then this had to be equivalent of her very ugly sister who no doubt cleaned up the night before trick or treating without the need of a mask!

We lined up (soaking wet through) as the following.

GK – Gary Rosslee
LB – Paul Garrett
RB – Darren Mace
CB – Tony Simpson
CB – Andy Cobham
LM – Neil Connelly
CM – Daragh Not
CM – Matt Wright
RM – Rich Davies
CF – George K
CF – Paul Tanton

Subs (nice and dry under the shed end)
Steve Watson
Simon Harvey

We kicked off playing downfield and it wasn’t until the second half that it became how apparent the pitch actually slopes.

This would prove to be a frustrating time for our outfield players and to be fair it is not like our boys to moan much is it??? Every pass unless hit absolutely perfect i.e. 6 inches off the floor would be intercepted by the ever present Rain Rooney or Chris Puddle! With both teams struggling to find their feet, quite literally we took the lead through George (Special) K when he rounded the goalkeeper with ease courtesy of the ball stopping in a great big sodden part which then gave him time to take another 39 touches before clinically finishing form a matter of yards out! 0-1 to Farnborough.

We looked pretty comfortable after that and carved out a few other half chances, to be fair every time the ref blew his whistle we presumed the game would be abandoned so fair play to him. His whistle did blow on one occasion that sticks out clearly in my mind as he pointed to the spot after the normally “so solid” (nothing to do with the So Solid Crew who are electronic and urban musical collective whose hits include "Oh No" and "21 Seconds") Tony Simpson brought down their player in the box for a blatant penalty, they would even have had trouble turning that one down at Old Trafford!

Their player dispatched it to the goalkeeper's despairing dive and although the FOBG GK got something on it, it was not enough to prevent the score line from becoming 1-1.

This gave Wickham Park the impetus to push on looking for second goal and they almost scored form a speculative swerving dipping shot form the edge of the box which considering the conditions was excellently tipped over by the FOBG GK for a corner.

We gratefully scored a second goal courtesy of good work from Neil Connelly out on the left whose cross (some say shot) found George K at the back post who slid in to make it.1-2 to Farnborough.

We scored undoubtedly the goal of the game when the FOBG GK cleared a dodgy back pass down field which was flicked on by Neil Connelly into the path George K who somehow managed to chip the ball over the oncoming - bobble hat wearing Wickham goalkeeper for his hat-trick and Farnborough’s 3rd. 1-3 Farnborough.

Half time approached and the introduction of Simon Harvey and Steve Watson meant that Paul Garrett could warm himself under shelter with a snout and Daragh could put a nice dry top on over his pristine white tennis T shirt he was probably still wearing underneath all ready for his nice little trip to Herne Bay – WHY????

This half would be an uphill struggle to say the least and Wickham Park didn’t take long to score their second goal of the game; a regulation cross from out right came across the box and Tony Simpson swung a foot at it to clear it out of the danger area, but there was just one slight problem…………………the ball never actually made it to his foot as it stopped in the quagmire and the grateful Wickham park player latched onto the ball to slot home from 6 yards out! 2-3 Farnborough.

Wickham continued wave after wave of attack forcing some good saves from the FOBG GK one in particular save came straight out of that well known book only available on the continent called “how to look good punching and parrying” luckily enough the forward who latched onto the rebound to steer the ball home into an empty net watched as his shot went literally centimetres wide!

We needed another goal to put the game beyond doubt and finally got it after some good unselfish play by Paul Tanton who finally broke the offside trap (considering there were no linesmen for either side today it kind of seemed a silly tactic to play but hey what would I know!) and Paul passed the ball BACKWARDS to the grateful George K to grab his 4th goal of the day. 2-4 Farnborough.

The whistle went for half time and everybody was grateful to have (a) played a game in good spirits and also (b) not to have been hurt due to the terrible conditions after all we all have work this week, well unless your name is Matt Wright or Neil Connelly!

A big thank you to Danny Saines who helped out Wickham Park and actually had a very good game (for once).

MOM was George K for his 4 goal haul, and what was his award for that excellent performance you may ask?...............Yes you guessed it, he had to take the kit home this week!!

The good news is West Ham are at home on Wednesday night so maybe George can drop the kit off somewhere near Upton Park? I heard there is a launderette in a well known place in the East End called Walford, just ask for a lady called Dot. ‘Oooh I say’.

Roll on next Sunday where we make the daunting trip to near the Ferrier estate to take on Crofton Albion in the cup. Oh well look on the bright side if we lose in the cup at least we can concentrate on the league!!