Match Report

Sat here watching the uninspiring Man Utd V Liverpool FA cup match on TV it has reminded yours truly of Farnborough Young Vets match against Old Tamponians this morning and seeing as the match is as dull as dish water what better time to conjure up the match report? Well it's either that or I’m going to fall fast asleep on the couch!

On this crisp January morning up at Farrow Fields with ground being soft underfoot and not surprising considering the recent various degrees of weather we have had as of late we lined up as follows.

Gary Rosslee – GK
Robin Lipscomb – LB
Tony Simpson – CB
Matt Wright – CB
Chris Greenhough – RB
George kleanthous – LM
Jason Miller – CM
Grant Gable – CM
Rich Davies – RM
Pete Harvey – CF
Adam Dawson – CF

Our subs today saw the return of Danny Saines, and Daragh Nott to the fold alongside Paul Tanton. Paul Brett had made the journey only to go lame before the game courtesy of his rib injury sustained last week which he assured me had not been nothing to do with being on the piste last week!

The first half as a spectacle was as exciting to watch as watching paint dry with neither team really carving out too many opportunities but Farnborough still found themselves a goal down at the break courtesy of a penalty kick which was given after Chris Greenhough handled in the area. The Tamponian forward kept his cool to send Rosslee the wrong way to break the dreadlock…….I mean deadlock!

Farnborough carved out no more than 3 half chances which were all clumsily saved by the Tamponian keeper, Pete Harvey also saw a header go the wrong side of the bar after some good link up play on the right wing. Just before half time Grant Gable became the latest Vets player to go lame after an aerial challenge, at this time the news from the physio room is that it could be a nerve problem. The ref (Paul Parsons) blew for half time 0-1.

After some rallying half time words and some tactical changes - Nott for the injured Gable, Saines for Miller (also injured) and Tanton for Davies, Farnborough started the second half the better team and saw a lot more of the ball which was now starting to get even more difficult to get down and try and play with due to the bobbly surface. Adam Dawson started to make several excellent runs ghosting past Tamponian players like they were not there but still the Tamponian keeper continued to pull off saves but again most of them were ones he was unaware of, but to be fair he did his job to keep the oppo’s lead intact. With Farnborough continuing to press for the equaliser Paul Tanton received the ball out wide on the right flank and floated in a gem of a ball into the Tamponian box but his cross then eluded everybody including the goalkeeper who watched the ball sail over his head and nestle into the net. 1-1 (albeit fortuitous).

Farnborough built up a head of steam and now had the momentum to press forward for the winner but often the final ball played was the wrong choice or it simply wasn’t executed correctly and with each wasted OBG attack the Tamponians would find themselves in acres of space to counter attack with their dreadlocked centre forward at the heart of everything. With 10 minutes left Rosslee was called into action to make his first save of the match smartly denying an effort 12 yards out to keep the scores level and then Farnborough went down the other end and Daragh Nott saw his 30 yard strike cannon off the bar.

The ref put everybody out of their misery and blew for full time, and maybe Farnborough will feel they should have won this encounter today but again this was only our second game in 8 weeks and we are still unbeaten this year! What did strike me as ironic was that we would be playing a team aptly named Tamponians on a day where the moaning slowly started to creep back into our play and at times it was just like we were 11 blokes who had their “time of the month”!!!

MOM Chris Greenhough for a non-stop performance, special mentions must go out to Daragh Nott and Adam Dawson as well.

Our thanks to Paul Parsons for refereeing at very short notice.

Next week we are away to Princes Park who were formally known as The Welsh Tavern, we have a 3-0 victory over them this term already but we mustn’t take that for granted.