Match Report

Sunday the 3rd of October saw us host Wellcome Vets to the hallowed turf that is Farrow Fields and we hoping that we had not lost any of our momentum courtesy of last week's fixture against Maidstone being postponed.

We lined up as followed

GK - Gary Rosslee
LB - Corporal Gary Bell
CB - Tony Simpson
CB - Paul Brett
RB - Darren Burkett
LM- Neil Connelly
CM - Daragh Nott
CM - Matt Wright
RM - Robin Lipscomb
CF - George Kleanthous
CF- Paul Tanton

Subs

Danny Saines
Brett Cheesman

One notable absentee was Pete Harvey ESQ who “didn’t realise” he was going away to Spain at the weekend. Word on the Costa del Sol is Pete flew into Spain to open negotiations with a Spanish expat Vets team where he hoped to see out the rest of his playing career in the sunshine!??

After a substantial amount of rain over the past 4 days the top pitch had somehow remained impeccably hard and dry and Farnborough kicked into a strong wind. Within 5 minutes Wellcome may have felt they should have taken the lead albeit from a fortuitous effort. Their lively centre forward unleashed a daisy cutter 18 yards out which took a nasty kick off of an ill placed divot in the 6 yard box and with Rosslee already committed to make a routine save low down he was somehow able to react at the last split second and deflect the ball onto the crossbar and gratefully gather the rebound.

Wellcome pushed forward again aided by the wind and Rosslee was on hand to thwart another Wellcome chance this time saving with his body from a one on one opportunity when the winger seemed to have an eternity on the ball to pick his spot. The OBG’s welcomed back Paul Brett in defence today who after a 3 week absence looked like he had never been away and when he wasn’t on hand to deny the Wellcome attacks, Tony Simpson was there to mop up and make his customary well timed tackles (a side to Tony’s game I think we will all agree has improved ten-fold, I lost count of the amount of penalties he gave away last year!).

Farnborough themselves also carved out a couple of good opportunities in the first half with George Kleanthous stinging the keeper's hands when put through one on one and Darren Burkett was whipping in some excellent crosses from the right flank that were there to me finished but alas Farnborough were unable to react to any of them. Farnborough then went one nil up or so they thought they did when Matt Wright clinically finished off a Daragh Nott ball that was squared across the goal for him however the referee who had initially waved away the chants of offside strangely decided to change his mind and disallow the goal after numerous protests from the Wellcome players. The score remained 0-0.

There was still time in the first half for Wellcome to carve out another chance and again Rosslee was equal to it in the Farnborough goal. So half time approached with the score goalless and Farnborough could have been forgiven for thinking they should have gone in at the interval a goal to the good.

With the second half now underway and some tactical substitutions in the form of Danny Saines and Brett Cheesman at left and right back respectively Farnborough were now playing with the wind and were creating a lot more chances; this however left them vulnerable to the counter attack and Rosslee was called into action once more when there was a mix up in the box after Tony Simpson was caught in two minds and failed to clear a ball out this time Rosslee saving with his legs.

Farnborough were unlucky not to break the deadlock when Brett Cheesman floated in an exquisite ball from the right flank to the unmarked George on the edge of the box whose guided bullet header fizzed just past the wrong side of the post.

The next chance fell to Wellcome after the Farnborough defence fluffed a clearance from a corner which fell nicely to their midfielder on the edge of the box who struck the ball sweetly through the crowded area yet Rosslee again was equal to it acrobatically tipping the ball over the bar for a corner. With its end to end action surely this game was not going to be a goalless affair, was it?

The wily management team of Neil Connelly and Paul Tanton decided that further changes in personnel were needed and decided to reintroduce Darren Burkett back into the game but this time playing him in a more central midfield position and what happened next will go down in OBG’s Vets football folklore. The Wellcome goalkeeper for some reason was far over to the left hand side of his goal when he punted the ball downfield but with the wind very much against him the ball hung up in the air and didn’t go as far as he had hoped, with his very first touch after coming back on Darren struck a beautiful first time volley into the unguarded net from 40 yards out. It was one of those goals that if Andy Gray was analysing on Sky Sports he would have said the following ‘TEEEEEEK A BOOOOOOOOO SON’ 1-0 Farnborough courtesy of a world class finish and some tactical genius from the dugouts!

Wellcome were not finished however and nearly levelled the score immediately but Rosslee was on hand yet again to keep his sides lead intact, this time saving from a point blank volley that had “certain goal” written all over it, the question on everybody’s lips was ‘had Rosslee stepped in something up on Farrow Fields that morning?!'.

Farnborough were then able to put the game beyond Wellcome with a carbon copy of their earlier disallowed goal in the first half. Again Matt Wright finishing emphatically from a low drilled cross into the box, 2-0 Farnborough.

The ref blew the whistle for full time and Farnborough had made it unbeaten in 3 games with a hard fought victory against a good footballing team who played well on the break. Next week we face the Met Police at home on the big pitch but are already missing a few players so watch this space to see if the game is definitely on or as Shaw Taylor would say ‘keep em peeled’.