Match Report

There was nothing “welcoming” about today’s home fixture against Wellcome Vets for two reasons in particular. Firstly the unbearable October heat courtesy of years of aerosols destroying our planet and secondly the way Farnborough conducted themselves today out on the pitch.

The kick off was slightly delayed and Rosslee in the Farnborough goal appeared as dehydrated as the as ‘Farrow Fields’ themselves after the week's heat wave. Asked why he was so dehydrated he commented "I don’t know why - I drank sh*t loads yesterday.".

Farnborough lined up as follows

Gary Rosslee – GK
Brett Cheesman – LB
Matt Wright – CB
Paul Bailey – CB
Richard Davies – RB
Jason Miller – LM
Grant Gable – CM
Danny Clark – CM
Daragh Nott – RM
Simon Davies –CF
Pete Harvey – CF

Subs
Dave Rainsbury
Paul Tanton

Farnborough sensed from the early exchanges that Wellcome may have been without the first or maybe even their second choice keeper today so tried to pepper their goal with an array of efforts but very few seemed to actually trouble the inexperienced keeper and it was actually Wellcome who had more efforts on target in the first half. Wellcome were not to be completely outplayed and most of their potent play was orchestrated by their centre forward whom you could tell was probably a very decent player a few years ago prior to age and the extra pounds finally catching up on him.

As time passed and the sun got hotter (and the tempers started to boil – more on that later) Farnborough almost snatched the lead when Paul (previously working on his) ‘Tan–ton’ was unlucky not to connect with a perfectly squared pass by Pete Harvey with the open goal gaping just yards out. But to be fair it would have been an unjust lead to take into the half time break, as it was Wellcome who carved out at least 4 very good openings in the first half but could not find a way past the rather hung over Rosslee in the Farnborough goal. Wellcome saw Rosslee make 3 one-on-one saves and also had another effort from the edge of the box thwarted with a smart save low down to his right hand side to keep the scores intact at half time. 0-0 half time and Farnborough tried to take some of the positives from the first half but that didn’t take long due to the negativity within the team.

Second half saw a change of personnel as Dave Rainsbury came in at centre back and started off impressively as he coped with the best player on the opposition’s side. Farnborough pressed for the opener and Simon Davies saw his header go the wrong side of the bar. Farnborough were then undone amidst the cries for a foul as the lively Wellcome forward seemed to nudge into the back of Dave Rainsbury on the edge of the box in order to get himself in on goal and slide it under the onrushing Rosslee. The cries for a foul were ignored by Danny Saines. 0-1 Wellcome .

It wasn’t long until Wellcome doubled their lead and again the Wellcome centre forward was in the thick of the action. He received the ball 40 yards out and ran at goal completely unchallenged before he let fly with a right foot shot that nestled into the left hand side although Rosslee in the OBG’s goal would have felt a little disappointed not to have kept it out as he did get a hand to it albeit not a strong enough one. 0-2 Wellcome.

Farnborough were now at 6s and 7s with each other; the moaning and bickering was really starting to put a dampener on the game; such was the frustration that Grant Gable was suggested to cool off in the dug out for 10 minutes following an unnecessary altercation in the centre of the park. By this time Wellcome now had probably their 4th or 5th choice goalkeeper in goal for them as their original #1 had crumpled in a heap after injuring himself taking a goal kick and thankfully Simon Davies was on hand to start the OBG fight back.

The emergency / emergency / linesman/ emergency goalkeeper had done well to save an initial effort but Simon Davies was alert enough to score from the rebound to halve the deficit and then moments later was involved again as Danny Saines awarded Farnborough a penalty after Simon Davies was tripped in the box to give Farnborough the lifeline. There seemed to be some controversy around this decision and Wellcome felt very aggrieved by this, their thoughts and words turning the air as blue as their shirts. This prompted the parents on the top pitch to remind the older players below that there were “women and children” present in earshot!! Richard Davies stepped up to net his 3rd penalty in 2 weeks to level the scores at 2-2.

With the game in the balance the last 10 minutes or so were end-to-end action as both teams pushed for the win. Jason Miller hit the woodwork directly from a corner while Danny Clark cleared off of his own line following a Wellcome corner. Pete Harvey thought he may have won the game for Farnborough but his excellent free kick from the right hand side was headed off the line and then Rosslee was able to save a last effort with his feet after a mazy run by the Wellcome winger saw him in on goal with an excellent chance to win the game for the visitors.

The game finished 2-2, which in the end seemed to be a fair result as Wellcome won the first half and Farnborough were in control in the final 45 minutes. Next week sees the visit of the Met Police which is always a very hard fixture and this will be one where we will all need to be playing together as a team and encouraging each other because if we conduct ourselves anything like today against the Met we will be banged up!!

At the time of writing this match report and in light of the recent match betting allegations surrounding a Mr Rooney the authorities have also been alerted after an anonymous figure placed a single £5 bet on Paul Tanton to score this season ;)