Match Report

We kicked off in the glorious autumnal sunshine against Princes Park Vets who until last week we were all none the wiser about who they were or what they were like, that was until Roger “Statto” sorry I mean “Statler” French informed yours truly that they were a newly formed / merged side from the Welsh Tavern Vets from Stone, Dartford. So I trawled through the archives and it slowly started coming back to me. But what was even more mysterious than our opposition today was how Aaron Carpenter bagged a brace in the corresponding fixture this time last year???

Another interesting fact that Roger kindly shared with me is that in our brave display against the Met Police the previous week we managed to keep a certain Peter Garland of Newcastle, Tottenham and Charlton fame at bay for 90 minutes. (I can just picture Matt Wright now retelling his heroics for many years to come around the dinner table)

So we lined up today as follows

Gary Rosslee – GK
Rob Lipscomb – LB
Paul Brett – CB
Tony Simpson – CB
Darren Burkett – RB
Neil Connelly - LM
Grant Gable - CM
Paul Tanton – CM
Richard Davies – RM
Pete Harvey – CF
Dave Garratty – CF

Subs were:

Gary ‘Landkreuzer’ Bell
Danny Saines
Mark Friend

Choosing to kick off with the sun behind us Farnborough enjoyed most of the early exchanges but failed to create any real notable chances, and this would leave them open to a Princes counter attack where they had several players very comfortable on the ball who looked like they could cause no end of trouble. As the game went on Grant Gable who was making his debut today started to adapt to the fast pace that is Vets football having previously been a Sunday XI player and he started to put his influence on the game from the midfield with many a crunching tackle although sometimes not entirely legitimate according the referee, you could sense this would be one of the referee's more busier mornings!

Farnborough then had 3 or 4 decent opportunities in quick succession two of which fell nicely for Dave Garratty who was making his first appearance this season since his cameos last year and maybe ring rust had got the better of him on a couple of occasions when he should have done better. Farnborough then thought the breakthrough had come when Pete Harvey raced through goal bound only to be chopped down last minute which appeared to everybody in a red shirt to be inside the box for a stonewall penalty but the referee had adjudged the foul to have happened just outside and Pete’s momentum had carried him into the 18 yard box, a dubious decision and one we hoped would not come back to haunt us!

With 10 minutes remaining in the first half Pete Harvey was put through one on one again only to be scythed down by a Princes defender on the edge of the box. Had this have been a league game the Princes player would now be having an ‘early bath’. From the resulting free kick Richard Davies shaped a low drive around the wall and the ball nestled nicely into the bottom corner to give Farnborough a well deserved lead although the visitors' goalkeeper may have felt he should have done better. 1-0 Farnborough.

Princes Park nearly grabbed an equaliser almost immediately from the restart after their forward had met an early cross from out on the left with a towering header only to see it crash off of the angle of the bar and the post- a sigh of relief for Farnborough and the slenderest of leads going into half time. Half time Farnborough 1 Princes Park Vets 0.

Second half and Farnborough were now playing in to the bright midday sun, and although we lost our way for a while with Princes asking all the questions they never really had any end product. Farnborough then got the ball back on the floor and started to pass it around and created a number of excellent opportunities this time Neil Connelly blasting over from 18 yards out when Pete Harvey had cleverly cut the ball back to him in open space. Darren Burkett was unlucky with a volley at the far post that he couldn’t aim goalwards and Paul Tanton drew a fine save form the keeper who got down quickly to his left hand side to keep Princes in with a shout.

Just when it looked like one of those days a low drilled Pete Harvey corner was clinically finished by Neil Connelly through the crowded area from a set piece that looked like it had just come off of the training ground, just desserts 2-0 Farnborough.

Two nil soon became three nil as Grant Gable's shot come cross from outside the box looped over the keeper and into the far corner of the goal. 3-0 and surely game over now!?

Princes Park to their credit and probably due to some tired Farnborough legs found themselves in some good positions and had a couple of decent chances one notably saved by Rosslee (who was having his quietest game in the last 3 weeks) who was on hand to parry an effort 8 yards out and then smother the rebound. The OBG’s defence were solid all game and continued to deal with everything that Princes threw at them. That’s was until Gary ‘Landkreuzer’ Caldwell "Bell" mowed down their centre forward for the referee to have little choice to give the visitors a penalty and sure a lifeline if only a slim one back into the game. The resulting penalty however nearly ended up smashing a window from one of the houses in Strawberry Fields that backs up on to the pitches! The score remained 3-0 Farnborough.

Farnborough could have added one or two more to their account today but in the end it was not meant to be as the ref blew for full to a game that at some points got a bit on the niggly side and which meant that after refereeing just the one match this season Lawrie was already going to need to buy a new whistle not to mention some lip balm for his chapped lips!

MOM was a very close contest which was ultimately won by Grant ‘De Jong’ Gable who just pipped Dave Garratty. Other notable performances were Pete Harvey with his tireless running and constant ability to draw the foul every the time and to all of our 7 defenders that were used during the game. Well done lads.

Next week we have no fixture which means a well deserved break to some of us before the following week's game against The Buff where they will be looking too settle the score / scores!