Match Report

Having just read the rather depressing match report for the Senior Vets\' home defeat to Wickham Park I have decided I will try not to be as damning as my literary counterpart after all a win is a win right? I am also grateful for the fact that I wasn’t listening to Coldplay at the time of reading Mr Mongelard’s latest ditty otherwise I may well have topped myself!

And on a weekend dominated by the ‘Kick it out Campaign’ that reminds me congratulations to Danny Clark and his wife on the birth of their son….. finally last week ;)

Right back to business, our fixture today was against Sanco Vets who according to Paul Tanton we had “smashed” in the past but alas I think he had mistaken them for Santos vets AKA Santa’s Vets as all your Christmases come at once when we play them! Who knows we might have even secured that elusive clean sheet that has eluded us in 7 games so far!

With several players still MIA even with the luxury of playing on the big pitch for the first time in a few we lined up as follows.

GK, Gary Rosslee
LB, Neil Connelly
CB, Andy Cobham
CB, Paul Brett
RB, Paul Bailey
LM, Matt Wright
CM, Jim St John
CM, Danny Clark
RM, Jason Miller
CF, John Delaney
CF, Simon Davies

Subs,
‘Woody’
Richard Davies
Danny Saines
Jerry Cogotti

On a wet yet mild autumnal morning it was Farnborough who played the better football in the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead courtesy of a Jim St John header (7th of the season) from an excellent Paul Bailey cross out wide, 1-0 OBG’s.

One nil soon became two nil as John Delaney who was making his first start since the infamous away day to Ditton or ‘Chiligate’ as it has become known caught the rather youthful Sanco goalkeeper flat-footed by beating him at his near post, 2-0 OBG’s.

By now Farnborough were on top of their opposition and dealt with the rare attacks they managed to muster with the like of Paul Brett and Andy Cobham both having solid displays throughout their participation of the game.
Simon Davies did an excellent job to set up John Delaney for his second of the match, the former delivering an inch perfect pass across the 18 yard box for John to slot home with the goal at his mercy, this came following a flurry of red and yellow passes in the final third. 3-0 OBG’s.

With Farnborough completely dominating the match John Delaney was on hand to secure his hat-trick after being put through one on one by an exquisite pass and with just the goalkeeper to beat he was able to finish with the deftest of touches, 4-0 OBG’s.

A Farnborough relapse soon gave the visitors the slightest of lifelines as they grabbed a goal just before half time, the OBG defence caught flat-footed which allowed Sanco to score at the second attempt after Rosslee had pulled off a decent save, 4-1 OBG’s, Half time.

Farnborough as per the norm were the slowest out of the traps in the second half, and were soon picking the ball out of the net for the second time in the match. Paul Bailey with a ‘”Bodged” header back to Rosslee which was intercepted by the grateful Sanco forward who was able to square the ball and find an unmarked team mate who duly obliged and scored with the simplest of finishes. By now the it seemed like the entire midfield all barring Danny Clark were nowhere to be seen in the vicinity; maybe they were down the Ye Olde Whyte Lion making arrangements for the Young Vets\' Christmas knees up and with several players keeping the touchline warm the management saw fit to ring the changes with Paul Brett and Andy Cobham most notably making way, and within moments of the latter being substituted Sanco added a third. The Sanco keeper cleared a routine ball downfield which evaded every red and yellow shirt to allow the forward to run clean through on goal and he was able to pick his spot to make the scores 4-3, Squeaky bum time.

Thankfully Farnborough did not capitulate as yours truly thought they might do and they soon gave themselves some further breathing space as Jason Miller cut in from the right wing and unleashed a low left footed effort into the bottom corner just past the despairing dive of the keeper, 5-3 OBG’s. There was also enough time left on the ref\'s watch to witness an excellent strike by Jerry Cogotti, whose volley from outside the box just flashed over the bar. Had that gone in it would have easily been goal of the season thus far. The ref blew for full time and unfortunately there were some frustrated scenes at the end of the match with several home and away players exchanging verbals and even accusations of sleeping with somebody’s missus, however I think this argument was cleared up at the end of the day just after geography in the playground before their parents picked them up!

All in all another win for the record books but it was definitely not the greatest of displays in the second half, or as Barry Fry once put it \"We started off like Juventus and ended up like Fray Bentos!\". Several players did not perform to the best of their abilities today (you know who you are) and as good as we can be with the ball we need to be even better without it!

Shot of the match: Jerry Cogotti’s sweet struck volley that fizzed just over the bar

Save of the match: None worth mentioning!

Man of the match: Danny Clark, he probably had less sleep than anybody all week but was still able to put in a tireless performance.

Moan of the match: Several players did not perform to the best of their abilities today (you know who you are) and as good as we can be with the ball we need to be even better without it!

Next week we are at home and on the big pitch against Ditton. Wouldn’t it be nice to make amends for the defeat to them a few weeks back? After all unlike their chili con carne, revenge is a dish best served cold!

And on a weekend dominated by the ‘Kick it out Campaign’ that reminds me may I just add my congratulations to Danny Clark and his wife on the birth of their son recently ;)