Match Report

Farnborough made their away journey to Oakfield Park in Wilmington, which is a ground that will be etched forever in Paul Tanton’s memory. However Paul assured us it was nothing to do with one of his trademark Ronny Rosenthal-esque misses in front of goal; no this was where he once broke his collarbone when he was younger and with the pitch doing its best to resemble a half-pipe skate ramp you could have been easily forgiven for thinking he did it by falling off his skateboard!!

Farnborough lined up as follows

Gary Rosslee- GK
Matt Wright – LB
Paul Bailey – CB
Paul Brett CB
Richard Davies – RB
Neil Connelly –LB
Grant Gable – CM
Danny Clark - CM
Rowan Foggit - RM
Pete Harvey – CF
Paul Tanton - CF

Subs
James St John
Mark Friend
Danny Saines

To say this is the one of the worst pitches Farnborough have had to play on would be an understatement however they won the toss and opted to kick up hill and down hill all at the same time! Farnborough enjoyed the better spells early on and should have taken the lead when Rowan Foggit’s effort from just a few yards out was smartly saved by the quick feet of the Princes Park goalkeeper to keep the scores intact.

Paul Brett and Paul Bailey (congratulations to the latter on the birth of his second child) did well to keep the energetic Princes Park centre forwards at bay considering the Sunday morning sun was trying its hardest to make life difficult for the pair of them, that was up until the referee gave a very soft penalty against Paul Brett and Princes Park took the lead 1-0.

Paul Tanton had Farnborough's best chance of the first half but his effort at the second attempt went the wrong side of the post with the just to keeper to beat. Then Farnborough’s heads dropped as Princes Park doubled their lead and again from a very fortuitous move. The ball was delivered into the box and somehow got sandwiched between forward and defender but fell kindly to the forward who then had time to smash the ball into an empty net after Rosslee had gone down to ground maybe a bit too easily. 2-0 Princes Park. The home team could have possibly grabbed a third before the break but Rosslee was on hand to save with his feet to make amends for the second goal. The half time whistle blew and Farnborough went into the break with some harsh but truthful words from Danny Saines. He hit the nail on the head when he came to the conclusion that nobody from the Farnborough team this season seemed to be enjoying themselves or playing with a remote smile on their faces. With these words ringing in their ears Farnborough set out to get back into the game.

With the sun now shining heavily in the Princes Park defenders' eyes Farnborough played with a lot more confidence and enjoyed the ball for the first 10 minutes of the second half. However with that said Princes had the first effort of the second half as Jim St John now on as a sub lost his man from a corner but luckily for him the header went over the bar. Danny Clark throughout the game linked up well with Pete Harvey in a Beardsley / Shearer fashion (I’m not sure which one was which though) and played a perfectly weighted ball to Pete just inside the box and although he still had a lot of work to do he neatly slotted the ball home into the bottom left hand corner from 12 yards out to halve the deficit, 2-1.

Farnborough thought they had equalised moments later as Pete Harvey’s cross cannoned off the upright and with the Princes keeper still on the floor Rowan Foggit’s first time header just went agonisingly wide. The Princes Park keeper then pulled off an excellent save low down to his right when Pete Harvey had created some room for himself to let fly with a great effort 20 yards or so out. The equaliser looked like it was definitely coming for the away team but for all of Farnborough’s possession and guile they nearly got caught out with a sucker punch as the Princes Park forward found himself through on goal and in an excellent position but Rosslee saved well to keep Farnborough in the game.

That was definitely the wake up call Farnborough needed and they soon got a well deserved equaliser, Rowan Foggit who ran tirelessly all game was on hand to smash home when the ball was not cleared in the box. 2-2. Farnborough now pushed forward for the winner but that elusive third goal would just not seem to come for them. The ref blew for full time and Farnborough had salvaged a draw out of the game, which was definitely a “game of two halves”.

MOM was very tight with the likes of Paul Bailey, Matt Wright & Pete Harvey all having solid games but Danny Clark just shaded it.