Match Report

Today’s football match wasn’t just a case of Avery Hill v Farnborough or “the teachers” versus the students no it was also a tale of two villages. In the red corner ‘Farnborough Village’ which is famous for its Christmas lights ceremony that is only rivalled by the one in Oxford Street, London, the “Bowls Shop”?? And home of the OBG’s. And in the blue corner Kidbrooke Village, (formerly known as the Ferrier Estate) which as I understand will be a completely new and vibrant London community, offering an outstanding choice of quality, sustainable new homes and apartments by Berkeley. This will prove to be an exciting, challenging regeneration project, one of the largest in Europe no doubt, and will transform the lives of all who are connected with it. As well as new homes, it will offer parks, sports facilities, shops, bars, restaurants, schools, healthcare and community facilities, a hotel and a new transport interchange offering rail connections to the City and West End, including London Bridge in as little as fifteen minutes. It sounds impressive doesn’t it, but the old saying ‘you can’t gift-wrap a t*rd’ continually springs to mind’!!

Unbeaten in seven matches we lined up as follows

Gary Rosslee – GK
Neil Connelly – LB
Matt Wright – CB
Tony Simpson – CB
Mark Friend – RB
George Kleanthous – LM
Grant Gable – CM
Richard Cooke – CM
Daragh Nott – RM
Pete Harvey - CF
Paul Tanton – CF

Subs
Danny Saines
Richard Davies

It is safe to say that for the first 40 minutes Farnborough gave the teachers a lesson in football and took the lead ironically from a schoolboy error! The Avery Hill left back playing the ball across his own box which Pete Harvey intercepted and finished with ease. 0-1 Farnborough. Avery Hill had no real response to the goal and soon were 2 goals adrift after George Kleanthous poked a toe out to divert a speculative effort which quite possibly the keeper would have saved to make it 0-2 to Farnborough.

Pete Harvey then helped himself to his second of the game to make it 0-3 and it seemed all over bar the shouting.

With 5 minutes remaining till half time Avery Hill had not even mustered a shot on target so you didn’t need to be a maths teacher or scientist to work out that there was no way back for them. That was until Rosslee managed to drop a corner goalwards where the Avery Hill attacker gratefully stabbed the ball home in between the 2 defenders on the goal line! HOWLER BY ROSSLEE! 1-3 Farnborough and a possible lifeline for Avery Hill?

Thankfully Farnborough restored their 3 goal cushion with the last kick of the half, this time the Avery Hill keeper took a leaf out Rosslee’s book by making a mess of a tame shot that he was unable to hold onto and Daragh latched onto the rebound. 1-4 Farnborough half time.

Half time saw Avery Hill introduce a couple of “fresh” faces and you could have been forgiven for thinking the substitutes were the teachers' pupils!! From there Avery Hill enjoyed more of the ball in the second half, so much so that they actually recorded Farnborough’s first chance in the second half, an over zealous pass which caused the keeper to get down low to palm away to safety. Fortunately for Farnborough that what the 2 Avery Hill substitutes had in pace down each flank they lacked in football brains as they showed their inexperience and opted to shoot rather than play the easy ball when they had got in behind the defence which was quite often.

Farnborough then scored the goal of the game which saw Pete Harvey net his hat-trick, this time finishing emphatically after a great bit of link up play involving George & Grant Gable. 1-4 Farnborough. Avery Hill managed to nick a second goal after Farnborough failed to clear a corner to reduce the deficit but by now the damage was done and the ref blew for full time. 2-5 Farnborough.

A solid display today against an organised team who this time were not affected by the half term, remember last time we beat them 11-0!!

Next week, it's time to dust down those life insurance policies as we are away to the Met Police, and we have it from a very reliable source that the pitch down The Warren is in very good ‘nick’!!