Match Report

Going in to today’s away game against Crofton Albion, Farnborough Young Vets could only manage to muster up a miserly 13 players, this is in stark contrast to the last 3 to 4 weeks in which they would have put a bingo caller to shame in terms of numbers! On the best weekend of the year to date weatherwise we lined up as follows:

Gary Rosslee – GK
Robin Lipscomb – LB
Chris Greenhough – CB
Paul Brett – CB
Richard Davies – RB
George Kleanthous – LM
Daragh Nott – CM
Grant Gable – CM
Jason Miller – RM
Paul Tanton – CF
Pete Harvey – CF

Subs

Darren Burkett
Paul Bailey

From the opening whistle Farnborough knew the pitch was going to play an important role in today’s game, the slight incline was easier to handle than the surface itself which was extremely bobbly in and very close to resembling the Cheltenham racecourse after 4 days of racing on it! It was the Farnborough thoroughbreds who were out of the traps the quickest and they opened the scoring when the home goalkeeper could only divert a pass across the penalty area into the path of an onrushing Paul Tanton who smashed the ball home from 6 yards out - 0-1 OBG's.

Soon after the restart Farnborough’s equivalent of Kauto Star - Jason Miller pulled up with an injury and the management decided to get the windbreakers out onto the pitch and put the lame nag out of his misery, thus resulting in Richard Davies taking the right midfield position and Darren Burkett filling in at right back. Thankfully the OBG’s did not lose their momentum and soon doubled the their lead when their very own ‘Shetland Pony’ Richard Davies caught the Crofton keeper out with an ambitious effort; some say this was supposed to be a cross but either way 0-2 OBG’s

Crofton tried to press forward but found the Farnborough defence impenetrable and the odd occasion when they did get in behind the back four lady luck was not on their side and lo and behold Farnborough soon added a third. This time it was Grant gable (a 4/1 anytime scorer) who was on hand to score his 8th goal of the season and net his second goal in successive games. This came from a free kick which seemed to be in a semi harmless position out on the left wing close to the touchline however his effort evaded every player in the box and nestled into the far post, 0-3 OBG’s. At this point Crofton were simply not at the races!

The half time break saw the obligatory half time sugar cubes, and replenishment of liquid prior to regrouping and taking the field to play the next 45 minutes uphill. The next 45 minutes somehow went quicker than Long Run in the Gold Cup on Friday as Farnborough failed to add to their first half tally and Crofton to their credit enjoyed the best of the second half possession even after they were reduced to 10 men after some handbags or saddlebags were exchanged. Crofton did have the ball in the back of the net only for the ref to disallow the goal for offside, this summed up Crofton’s frustration. Farnborough soon after could have added a 4th when Pete Harvey laid the ball across to Paul Tanton after finding he was put through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, unfortunately Paul Tanton could not finish the attack, his effort hitting the Crofton goalkeeper's trailing leg. Coincidentally you could have got 25/1 with some high street bookmakers on Pete Harvey passing!!

The ref blew for full time and Farnborough came way 0-3 winners, this had not been the best of footballing spectacles but this was another winner for the OBG stable and another clean sheet, our 6th this season.

Next week we have a local derby as we entertain ‘Orpington Vets’ at home

MOM Chris Greenhough, for an excellent each way performance.