Match Report

After getting away with blue murder against Wellcome Vets it seemed only fitting that our following match would be against the Met Police! So with last week\'s smash and grab victory now just a distant memory we had to concentrate on today’s opposition as this fixture over the past few seasons had not always borne the fruits of its labour for Farnborough with the stats reading, P5, W0, L3, D2. After spending most of the warm up time trying to get a broken key out of the padlock that held the goals in place Farnborough’s most wanted lined up on a crisp, bright and remarkably warm October morning as follows

GK, Gary ‘Cat’ (Burglar) Rosslee
LB, ‘Mean’ Mark Friend
CB, Andy ‘Blazer’ Cobham
CB, Paul ‘Hot wash’ Brett
RB, Chris ‘Creepy’ Rawley
LM, Daragh ‘Legs’ Nott
CM, Danny ‘Linchpin’ Clark
CM, ‘Big’ Jim St John
RM, Jason ‘Soapy’ Miller
CF, Paul ‘Brains’ Tanton
CF, Simon ‘The boot’ Davies

Subs,

Jerry ‘The Iceman’ Cogotti.

The man in the middle for today’s affair was Mr Andy Gable who has had his own fair share of the long arm of the law over the years ;)

Farnborough started the brighter of the 2 teams and made full use of the pitch which had a nice zip off of the surface courtesy of the overnight frost that had nicely thawed out that morning and they should have drawn first blood as Paul Tanton saw his first time snap shot superbly saved from close range by the Met goalkeeper. This gave the hosts the impetus to push on and pressure the visitors and they soon got the opening goal of the match. Jason Miller delivered an inch perfect dead ball into the Met Police penalty area and Jim St John was able to outjump his man and meet the ball with an accurate header but again the goalkeeper was equal to it, he then heroically saved the rebound from Tanton but was unable to stop Simon Davies netting at the third attempt, 1-0 OBGs.

A busy opening 10 minutes saw Mark Friend replaced by Jerry due to injury which saw Daragh Nott drop back to left back and Jerry to play left wing. With the Met sensing that Farnborough were having too much play they soon introduced their unique style of play, which tends to involve trying to wind up the opposition and break up any real flow or rhythm they may have, and true to form they did this again with Jim St John being today’s player picked out for the abuse. Heated words were often exchanged which turned the air at Farrow Fields as blue as the flashing lights on their patrol cars. With this break up of momentum the Met then stamped some authority on the game and nearly fashioned an equaliser as the forward managed to nick a yard (excuse the pun) and fire a shot at Rosslee’s near post but he was alert to save the shot.

The whole make up of the game was then completely spoilt after one of the Met midfielders was sent to the stands for 10 minutes to cool down after he had attempted a terrible tackle on the impressive Danny Clark. A resulting melee ensued but thankfully players were pulled apart before things got too serious, and some stern words from one of the Met players acting as peacekeeper ensured that the match continued as neither team would have wanted for the game to have ended like this.

Not long after the game restarted the Met must have thought they had equalised but Rosslee pulled off according to Jim St John ‘the best save had ever seen him make’ the ball appeared to take a deflection en route to goal through a crowd of players from 8 yards out but Rosslee was somehow able to change direction in mid air and stick out a hand to turn the ball around the post for a corner, Farnborough’s lead was still in tact. Another Rosslee save from a header low down was enough to see Farnborough go into the interval a goal to the good, half time, 1-0 OBGs.

Farnborough failed to start the second half with the same determination as the Met Police and were lucky not to concede an equaliser within 5 minutes of the restart, a header back to the goalkeeper lacked any real accuracy and the Met forward latched onto the pass but his deft effort over Rosslee who was quick off of his line dropped the other side of the upright. Farnborough tried to get back in to the game and Danny Clark constantly worked his socks off and must have covered every blade of grass this morning. However for all of the hard work the defence had done to cope with the wave after wave of pressure they were eventually undone, a chipped ball found an unmarked player 12 yards out who had all the time in the world to pick his spot and slide the ball home, 1-1.

The Met continued to carve out chances and they could have easily taken the lead from 3 long range efforts all from the same player who was sin binned in the first half, the pick of the bunch coming from a direct free kick 25 yards out that he hit with the outside of his right boot that Rosslee did ever so well to palm on the bar and then punch the danger to safety, With 10 minutes to go Farnborough somehow re-took the lead, a Paul Brett free kick just inside the Farnborough half looked to have been going straight out for a goal kick when Simon Davies stuck out one of those size 10 bright Blue Boots to steer the ball home at the near post, could it be that the boys in blue were going to be outwitted by Farnborough’s own boy in Blue? 2-1,OBG’s.

The continued pressure on the Farnborough defence by the visitors eventually took its toll and they levelled again, albeit in fortuitous circumstances. A regulation corner appeared to have be dealt with only for the ball to ricochet off of a couple of players and fall nicely to an unmarked player 12 yards out, the ball sat up nicely for the Met player who let fly with a first time effort that went in just off of the bar, the score now pegged to 2-2, and soon after the ref blew for full time.

In a nutshell given the number of players who continued to play on with knocks and the lack of strength in numbers today Farnborough should take heart out of today’s result. We played a strong physical team who make life very difficult for their opposition so a huge well done to all the lads involved. Next week home again to Princes Park Vets

Shot of the match: The Met Police 25 yard free kick.

Save of the Match: Rosslee’s first half Banks like reaction save

Man of the match: Gary Rosslee (about time) although a mention must go to Danny Clark for his display today as well.

Moan of the match: That Met player who should be remembered for his football prowess and not his tackling ability and the fact that the only shot that he failed to hit the target with was his wild swing at Jason Miler in the first half!