Match Report

A bright sunny Mothering Sunday morning saw the Young Vets travel down to Maidstone for their return match having won the home fixture 6-0 back in September. Funnily enough this was only the 3rd time this season in which Farnborough had been able to fulfil both home and away games against the oppo in a severely disrupted first season together.

We had the bare bones of a squad this week missing the likes of Matt Wright, Simon Harvey, Richard Cooke & Darren Mace. We then were dealt a further blow to our numbers when a late call up from the Sunday team saw Jim St John provide them with goalkeeping duties for the morning.

So Farnborough lined up as follows:

Gary Rosslee – GK
Danny Saines – LB
Tony Simpson –CB
Richard Davies – CB
Robin Lipscomb – RB
George K – LM
Neil Connelly – CM
Daragh Nott – CM
Aaron Carpenter - RM
Pete Harvey – CF
Paul Tanton – CF

We did have one substitute:
Andy Cobham – unfortunately Andy was still in Farnborough at the time we were warming up in Maidstone!!!

The early exchanges saw Maidstone have the better possession and their direct approach started to cause a few problems for a slightly beleaguered Farnborough team. Danny Saines at left back was going to be in for a very long day if Maidstone’s right winger or should say ‘ringer’ was to have any say in the matter.

The first real opportunity came from a Maidstone channel ball over the top which left Rosslee as the last line of defence; luckily he was alert enough to charge outside his area to ensure the Maidstone right winger's lob went just wide. The scores remained 0-0.

The second real chance for Maidstone came from another ball from out wide where the forever mobile Maidstone forward glanced a free header downwards and into the bottom right corner which seemed destined to break the deadlock only for Rosslee to get across the goal and get down to smartly save the effort and divert the ball away for a corner. Farnborough had rode their luck again to keep the scores level.

Farnborough eventually conceded the opener when a Maidstone corner, which should have been dealt with alot better by the sleepy defence was coolly dispatched through a crowded 18 yard box to put the hosts one up. 1-0 Maidstone.

Farnborough rallied back straight away and George K shot straight down the goalkeeper’s throat when he had a lot more time on the ball than he realised, it seemed like the equaliser was not to be. Thankfully the ref gave Farnborough a penalty for a blatant handball in the box which the linesman decided not to give; luckily enough the ref was in a more giving mood. Up stepped Rich Davies who coolly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot to bring the scores to one apiece. 1-1.

By now Andy Cobham had finally arrived at the ground and was introduced to the game immediately as cover for the injured Robin Lipscomb so with some tinkering Rich Davies went out to right back and Andy Cobham joined Tony at the centre of defence. The half time whistle blew and both teams had the chance to reflect on the first half and what had been and what lay ahead.

The second half was played at Farnborough pace and we dictated for many spells and how we didn’t create more problems for the Maidstone defence God only knows! But it was Maidstone who somehow restored their lead when their right winger who had given Danny Saines such a torrid morning played a neat one two inside the penalty box and the ball was toe poked into the top corner beating Rosslee at his near post. The score was now 2-1 Maidstone.

Farnborough went in search of the equaliser and the Maidstone goalkeeper did very well to tip over a speculative shot from Pete Harvey from outside the box. Farnborough did find the equaliser from a very unlikely source, Tony Simpson stabbing home the rebound after the Maidstone goalkeeper failed to hold onto a rasping volley from Rich from 20 odd yards out. 2-2 and well deserved.

There was still just enough time for Maidstone to find the FOBG net for a third time only for the ref to disallow the goal for offside much to the relief of the Farnborough players, what followed also brought much relief to everybody involved….the final whistle! So there you had it the score finished honours even in what was a tough game for both teams.

Next week sees us away to Crofton Albion Vets whom we beat 4-1 in the cup last year. When is the next round of that cup BTW???? (Editor's note: It's March 28th home to Lambeth Classics).