Match Report

Now for a football team that can normally boast a squad of over 20 players we somehow could only muster up a bare XI in our home fixture today, granted we did have 12 players “on paper” but Paul Tanton very sportingly agreed to help make up the numbers for our opposition Santos Vets who only managed to turn up with 10 players themselves.

Farnborough lined up in the first half as follows

Gary Rosslee, GK
Danny Saines, LB
Matt Wright, CB
Andy Cobham, CB
Darren Burkett, RB
Neil Connelly. LM
Jim St John, CM
Daragh Nott, CM
Jason Miller, RM
Pete Harvey, CF
Simon Davies, CF

Subs:
None

The game couldn’t have been more than 60 seconds old when Peter Harvey, recently Farnborough’s answer to Fernando Torres (clearly confidence player) was gifted with a free header just yards out from a Jason Miller inch perfect cross out wide right, 1-0 to OBG’s. The home didn’t take long to double their lead after Farnborough were awarded their 5th… yes - 5th penalty in 3 games! Up stepped Matt Wright to neatly convert the resulting spot kick and exorcise his demons from a fortnight ago at the Warren when he agonisingly missed against the Met Police, 2-0 OBG’s.

Jason Miller who was clearly Farnborough\'s most influential player up to this point then swept an inviting cross into the box for Jim St John as he showed excellent technique for a big bloke to hook the ball on the half volley to send Santos 3 goals down with no more than 15 minutes gone on referee Mr Gable\'s watch, 3-0 OBG’s and surely the game was all but over, wasn’t it?

With neither team having the luxury of a linesman surely attempting to play a high defensive line was not the smartest tactic to play and for all of their hard work and lovely football Farnborough were carved open with ease as the Santos forward Paul “Gooders” Goodwin latched on to a through ball and beat Rosslee convincingly from a 1-on-1 situation with the defence nowhere to be seen in the vicinity, 3-1 OBG’s.

Santos then found themselves enjoying more of the possession as they carved out a couple of opportunities, one effort sailing over the bar when the Santos attacker should have done better and then Rosslee and Burkett combining to keep out an effort that was destined for the top corner.

With Santos now seemingly having the upper hand for a period of 5 minutes or so Farnborough then hit back with 2 goals in quick succession, Simon Davies grabbed his first of the match with an angled header off of a Neil Connelly corner albeit via a slight deflection to make it 4-1 to the OBG’s and then Jim St John poked the ball home after expertly getting the ball from out of his feet, 6-1 half time. The interval saw Paul Tanton return to the Farnborough fold and Daragh Nott donned the jersey for the opposition for the second half.

Funnily enough it didn’t take long for Daragh to stamp his influence on the game for Santos after he was adjudged to have been fouled inside the OBG penalty box, some say courtesy of a nearby sniper and the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped the Santos goalscorer Paul Goodwin but his effort was superbly saved by Rosslee (after the match he was overheard saying he had never missed a penalty up until today).

Farnborough then went on the rampage as the goals rained in, Simon Davies dinking the ball home when through on goal with just the Santos keeper to beat, apparently Andy Cobham added his own style of commentary to the goal back on the on the half way line to make it that bit more special, 6-1 OBG’s. The Santos keeper soon added to their woes when he rushed out of his box to sweep a clearance up the pitch but he completely missed the ball and that allowed Paul Tanton to roll the ball into an empty net and to send the betting syndicates in the far east into frenzy! 7-1 OBG’s.

Unfortunately I cant remember the exact order of the remaining goals or if in fact the above is completely accurate but I know Jason Miller helped himself to a brace, one of them an unstoppable shot from outside the penalty area after he had beaten two men and a not so unstoppable free kick that he crossed into the box and the Santos #1 missed his punch to allow the ball to sail into the net. Simon Davies added another 2 goals to grab a hat-trick; another one of them if I recall was another cool finish from a one-on-one situation, and Pete Harvey also netted with a well taken effort. In the end Pete Havey, Jason Miller and Jim St John were all looking for their 3rd goal of the game. Clearly the best chance fell to Jim St John with a free header a matter of yards out but his effort went agonisingly wide. By this time both teams were down to 10 men as Neil Connelly had to leave early to go to watch Spurs lose to Utd so Darren Burkett sat out the rest of the game or that was his intention however Danny Saines had to come off with a suspected pulled hamstring so Darren was reintroduced having only just put a training top on! Thankfully for the Farnborough defence and the Santos keeper the ref eventually blew for full time and Farnborough ran out 11-1 winners. That was our 26th goal scored against Santos in 3 games, but contrary to the Farnborough website this was not the Farnborough Young Vets record score as we actually beat the teachers of Avery hill 11-0 last term.

MOM was Jason Miller for being at the heart of Farnborough’s play today and for a long overdue exceptional performance. However there were times where Farnborough played some excellent football today with yet another makeshift side!

Next week we are at home to Edenbridge Vets (allegedly).