Match Report

After 4 months in the football wilderness with only the European Championships in the Ukraine and Poland and the London Olympics to whet our appetites throughout the summer the new season was finally upon us, and how fitting that the curtain raiser would be an away fixture in Beckenham against our fierce local rivals ‘The Buff ‘!

With several first team players missing today it would appear that the management had been very busy working behind the scenes during the past few weeks to bring in some much needed reinforcements (who would all go on to have impressive debuts). And apparently a certain Mick McCarthy of Wolves and Millwall fame was spotted in the vicinity after his own exile from football sparking rumours around the dressing room that he was in talks for the OBG hot seat!

Farnborough lined up as follows.

GK, Gary Rosslee
LB, Lee Cross
CB, Andy Cobham
CB, Rowan Foggitt
RB, Paul Bailey
LM, Jerry Cogotti
CM, Danny Clark
CM, Jim St John
RM, Jason Miller
CF, Dean McCarthy
CF, Jim Ellis

Subs

Paul Tanton
Daragh Nott

The game started at a pace you would expect for 2 teams that had not played for a quarter of a year with the final ball or first touch often letting each team down when it mattered. With this said it was the home team who enjoyed most of the possession and with a couple of new faces in their team they looked the brighter side and more likely to score first. The Buff should have opened the scoring after a well worked free kick routine saw the initial shot saved low down by Rosslee and player manager Brett Cheesman then inadvertently repelled the rebound to safety much to the disappointment of his team mates, a real let off for Farnborough. Cheesman was then replaced on 20 minutes when he was accidently caught by Rowan Foggitt with a clumsy challenge resulting in a dead leg!

Farnborough managed to drag themselves back into the game with the 2 centre midfielders Danny Clark and Jim St John at the heart of everything that was positive for the away team and with the defence now looking a lot more composed they created some decent openings and it was debutant Jim Ellis who cleverly back heeled a Jason Miller square pass across the goal to break the deadlock on 30 minutes although The Buff linesman was adamant it was offside but his decision was rightfully overturned by referee Andy Gable, 0-1 OBG’s.

Jason Miller then drew a very good save from The Buff #1 as his rasping shot was neatly tipped over for a corner however Jim St John was then able to open his account with a towering header at the back post from the resulting set piece, 0-2 OBG’s and 2 assists for Miller and the second goal coming right on the stroke of half-time clearly hurt The Buff.

As you would expect The Buff came at Farnborough right from the restart as they looked to reduce the 2 goal deficit but everything they threw at them was neatly dealt with by the coolness of Rowan Foggitt and Andy Cobham at the heart of the OBG defence and Farnborough should have made it 0-3 but Paul Tanton’s first time effort sailed miles high over the bar. However Paul’s blushes were soon spared as another debutant got on the score sheet, this time Dean McCarthy (no relation to Mick) scoring the goal of the match. Paul Bailey on hand this time with the assist as he floated a ball over the top of the defence for Dean to kill expertly with his first touch and then slide the shot under The Buff goalkeeper. 0-3 to the OBG’s and surely now it was game over.

The Buff managed to pull a consolation goal back after some good wing play out left followed by a sliderule pass played across the goal to perfection that evaded every Farnborough defender and was tucked home at the far post before Rosslee or Paul Bailey could intercept and clear to safety, 1-3 OBG’s. As the clock ticked down, and sometimes up it would seem Rosslee then had to be alert to keep out a Brett Cheesman free kick near the death. The ref finally blew for full time and Farnborough had come out of the game on top and well deserved winners 1-3 and more importantly the new faces that had come in all made excellent contributions.

Next week we are away again to Orpington Vets who the like The Buff also play out of Beckenham (go figure) at the Segas sports ground Worlsey Bridge Rd. Hopefully we can build on the impressive start and make it 2 wins out of 2.

Shot of the match – Dean McCarthy’s second half strike after deftly bring the ball down with great technique.

Save of the match – Buff goalkeeper (Rob’s) tip over from Jason Miller’s first half thunderbolt.

Man of the match - Dean McCarthy

Moan of the match – Andy Cobham getting a parking ticket!