Match Report

So this was it, today was the final game of the season it almost had that feeling that you get on Christmas day around 7ish at night when the realisation finally sinks in that it is all over for another year!

Going in to today’s match we were able to boast the following the following statistics in still only our second season together.

Played 25 Won 14 Drew 5 Lost 6 For 79 Against 41

This season had also seen several new faces in the shape of Grant Gable, Paul (Bodge) Bailey & Jason Miller, all whom have added to the strength of our squad however over the past few weeks Farnborough had struggled to rustle up the regulation 11 players hence why we had to call upon 3 rather younger players to help us out today against our older namesakes The “Senior Vets” Today at Farrow Fields for season finale. It was good to see the likes of Tony Simpson, George Kleanthous, Matt Wright & Neil Connelly show their support to their fellow team-mates,

The “Younger Vets” lined up as follows

Gary Rosslee – GK
Robin Lipscomb – LB
Paul Parsons – CB
Paul Bailey – CB
Richard Davies – RB
Lee Cleaver – LM
Grant Gable – CM
Tom Smart – CM
Rhyse Elliott - LM
Paul Tanton – CF
Pete Harvey – CF

Subs

Danny Saines
Steve Blanchard jnr

Farnborough “Young Vets “ broke the deadlock with no more than 10 minutes on the clock when Pete Harvey was adjudged to be controversially onside and he managed to slot the ball home at the second attempt after going through one on one with Gary Fentiman in the “Senior Vets” goal 1-0 Young Vets.

From the restart The “Senior Vets” had the majority of possession and soon created their first chance of the match as Ian Shoebridge was played in behind the defence but Rosslee in the Young Vets goal was alert enough to charge out and halt the attack which led to a “Senior Vets” corner. The resulting corner was claimed under no real pressure by Rosslee and he was able to give the Young Vets some breathing space. Farnborough’s Young Vets then doubled their lead albeit from a fortuitous one-two pass between Pete Harvey and a blocking defender, however you could not take anything away from the actual finish itself as Pete Harvey showed the presence of mind to spot Gary Fentiman off of his line and deftly chip the ball home for a 2- 0 Young Vets Lead from inside the 18 yard box. Mickey Gearing's whistle soon echoed out for half time.

The second half saw a welcome return of Paul ‘He knows where the goal is’ Smith to the Senior Vets fold and it was the Senior Vets who started the brighter team and they enjoyed much more of the play and although sometimes they lacked that final ball they showed real intention to get themselves back into the match and they almost found a breakthrough when (in the words of the Senior Vets match reporter) Mehmet Bozyigit broke clear of the younger vets defence to create a one-to-one which gave Gary Rosslee in their goal the opportunity to show how invariably good he is in such situations – and our best goal opportunity was lost.

Steve Blanchard Jnr then showed that the goal scoring touch must skip a generation his family as he netted the 3rd goal for the Young Vets and surely condemned the Senior Vets to their 9th defeat of the season, however many around the ground thought that his effort may have been a cross but seeing as there was no other red shirt within a 5 metre radius in the opposition box we will have to give the benefit of the doubt that Steve Jnr’s speculative effort came off. 3-0 Young Vets.

The Senior Vets continued to play the better football but alas were unable to reap any fruit from their labour and soon Rhyse Elliott made the score one short of a mirror of last season’s finale at 4-0 to the Young Vets with a an excellent angled drive that Fentiman was unfortunate not to save. 4-0.

Mickey Gearing's full time whistle signalled the end of another eventful season for both teams involved today and already yours truly is already missing the smell of sweat and dirt and tears but enough about Pete Harvey – roll on next season!!

Well done to all this season, and a big thank you to the mgt.