Match Report

‘Another Sunday, and another game for the Young Vets’ with today’s fixture being our first of 5…..yes 5 away games on the bounce (thank you Mr fixture secretary). Opposition today were Glendale Vets who play at Shelton Sports Club in Warlingham. We had yet to face Glendale so we were not quite sure what to expect as we made the journey to Warlingham with some of us taking the back winding country roads and enjoying the scenic route and then there were some of us that went the very scenic route in Jason Miller's case!

When we arrived it became very apparent what we had let ourselves into! With around 8 football teams in total all playing on the same morning there was a real shortage of places to get changed. The only vacant area we could find to get prepared was what I can only describe as a cross between an illegal dog fighting den, an abattoir, and an XXX adult film set. If you are still not with me, has anybody seen that film affectionately known as ‘Hostel’? You get the picture.

After a last minute pitch inspection and a quick change of boots due to the very very hard and bobbly ground we lined up as follows.

Gary Rosslee – GK
Robin Lipscomb – LB
Paul Brett – CB
Matt Wright – CB
Mark Friend - RB
George Kleanthous – LM
Jim St John – CM
Grant Gable – CM
Richard Davies – RM
Pete Harvey – CF
Paul Tanton – CF

Sub
Daragh Nott
Late
Jason Miller
Sick
Danny Saines

We knew straight from kick off that the pitch would be a “leveller” and make it hard work to play our attractive and easy on the eye - free flowing football that has seen us go unbeaten for the last 5 games. Farnborough made the best of a bad pitch and knocked the ball around well and were overlapping on each flank with notably Robin Lipscomb having his best game in a Farnborough by a country mile. Although Farnborough had the majority of the possession for the first 20 minutes they never actually carved out a real opportunity with most efforts coming from ambitious shots from distance that never troubled the Glendale keeper.

Glendale’s play was pretty direct and was orchestrated by their midfielder who was very comfortable on the ball, and he didn’t mind a bit of banter off of the ball either! In fact he nearly opened the scoring with a swift route one counter attack on the 25 minute mark but Rosslee in the OBG goal was able to turn the ball around the post for a corner. Glendale packed the box and seemed to have the height advantage but failed to convert the resulting set piece.

This then gave Farnborough the wake up call and they soon opened the scoring, Grant Gable was on hand to stroke the ball home for his 5th goal of the season with 30 minutes on the clock to give Farnborough a well deserved lead having enjoyed most of the possession. 2 further goals in quick succession then killed the game off before half time; one courtesy of an own goal which I’m sure Tant has tried to claim since, and an excellent towering header from Jim St John after Richard Davies put the ball on a plate for him with one of his trademark cross pitch balls, trademark roughly translated means he has hit two of them is successive weeks!

With half time fast approaching and no real sign of a Glendale fight back two of the opposition players decided to have a spat with each other which resulted in one of them deciding he had ‘had enough today’ and walked off. The referee was on hand to remove the duo’s handbags from the pitch and play continued. It was quite fortuitous that the player taking an early shower was their “star player”.

The second half saw the introduction of Jason Miller and Daragh Nott, and Farnborough pressed forward for more goals. Glendale did their best to frustrate Farnborough as they packed the midfield but Peter Harvey was able to net his 10th goal of the season courtesy of (and in George's own words) an exquisite through ball from George and Pete was on hand to coolly curl his effort into the top corner past the hapless Glendale goal keeper. 0-4 OBG’s.

The game then became a bit of a dull affair due to the pitch cutting up even further and Farnborough taking their foot off the pedal and going into cruise control but there was still time for a couple of notable events. Mark Friend clearing the ball to safety over his own bar from no more than 2 yards out and Rosslee massively getting mugged up by a routine back pass that bobbled out beyond him for a corner other than that nothing much more to report. The full time whistle blew and we made our way back quickly to the club house in order to commandeer a changing room!

To sum up today, an away win, a clean sheet, some great individual performances today, and some shocking facilities that went down as well as an Andy Gray lookalike at a women’s rights convention! Next week we travel to Cray Wanderers' ground to face Old Albany Park with a score to settle, and even if anybody does turn up late for this match the chances are the oppo will be there even later!