Match Report

So the Young Vets first game of 2013 and for all but one of our players this was our first game in 2 weeks as last weekend’s football was a complete washout. I say all but one as apparently our opposition today John Roan FC managed to acquire the services of the Farnborough stopper Gary Rosslee whilst he was out on a post Christmas pub crawl in Chislehurst vicinity, and seeing as this was the best offer he had received in bar for many a year he decided to turn out for them whilst secretly performing a scouting role ahead of today’s fixture.

Based on John Roans performance last week against the Met Police what I can tell you is that they do the simple things right, they close you down when they don’t have the ball and they ALL keep their positions which makes it hard for the opposition to break them down, take last week for instance they drew 0-0 with the Met Police which is no mean feat and judging by some unfamiliar faces they did it without 3 or 4 first team players. BTW Rosslee has told me to mention that he did save a penalty for them and had a very good game according to local sources.

With some last minute absentees and some more predictable ones Farnborough lined up as follows!

GK, Gary Rosslee
LB, Neil Connelly
CB, Brett Cheesman
CB, Rowan Foggitt
RB, Paul Bailey
LM, Paul Tanton
CM, Danny Clark
CM, Matt Wright
RM, Ben Clunn
CF, Barry Grainger
CF, Simon Davies

Subs,

Richard Davies
Danny Saines

As the Sunday side were at home to the “Very Sporting” Crystal City the Vets teams had to play on the smaller top pitch and with John Roan winning the toss they elected to give Farnborough the kick off which meant they were playing from the Oast House end which in comparison to the other end of the pitch is a lot more boggy and uneven and full of game changing bobbles which makes it very difficult for a team to play the ball out from the back, at least I am making this assumption as Farnborough attempted to knock the ball long from defence far too many times in the opening exchanges which opposition dealt with comfortably and this meant that they had more possession and more possession evidently leads to more chances.

Low and behold the first decent chance fell to John Roan as their centre forward who was neatly played in on goal on the edge of the Farnborough penalty area and as he took a touch and settled himself to shoot Rosslee had charged from his line to close the player down and did well to parry the shot around the post from 8 yards out. John Roan were enjoying the better spells of football with Farnborough not competing nearly enough and nigh on second best to everything and they nearly conceded the opener for a second time 10 minutes later. A decent cross was whipped into the box that led to some hesitation between Rowan Foggitt and Rosslee that allowed the centre forward to steal in behind Foggitt to glance a header goal wards which Rosslee somehow was able to stick out a leg and turn the ball around the post with his left foot to keep the scores in tact.

That was two wake up calls for the OBG’s and as they tried their best to get back into the game they created their first goal scoring opportunity of the match albeit not a guilt edge chance but a chance anyhow. Paul Bailey found himself in the Roan penalty box where the ball fell nicely for him but his near post effort which wasn’t hit as well as he would have liked was saved by the feet of the Roan goalkeeper and then Simon Davies was then guilty of missing a glorious opportunity to give the OBG’s the lead. Barry Grainger did well out wide to deliver a cross into the box to the unmarked Davies but his free header from a matter yards out was way off target, an attempt it seemed harder to actually miss!

John Roan turned the screw once more and had two more chances before the interval to break the deadlock. The first directly from a corner as nobody took marked the centre half who ran into the box like a freight train and met the corner with the most ferocious of headers that thankfully went just over the bar, and then their best chance fell yet again to their centre forward who rounded Rosslee and with the goal at his mercy somehow missed but credit must go to Rowan Foggitt who had excellently got back and did enough to make the forward skew his effort wide. How the game was nil nil up to this point was beyond anybody who was in attendance and then with that said Farnborough got very fortunate and took the lead. Paul Bailey played an excellent ball into the box which was inadvertently guided into the top corner by the John Roan left back leaving the goalkeeper absolutely no chance, 1-0 OBG’s.

Referee Andy Gable blew for half time and Farnborough were left to reflect on a very hard first half.

Farnborough started the second half a gear behind John Roan as they created the first chance of the second half and again Rosslee was on hand block the effort, this time in a one on one situation with the John Roan right midfielder who had done well to fashion an opportunity for himself by beating 2 men and cutting inside. For all of the opposition’s pressure they eventually found an equaliser as a throw in appeared to be dealt with but Farnborough did not push out of the box as quick as maybe they should have and as the ball was floated back into the box it found their centre back unmarked who smartly headed the ball backwards which went in off the far right hand post, 1-1.

Farnborough were very close to restoring parity when Barry Grainger expertly crossed for Simon Davies who couldn’t have hit his first time angled volley any better the but the Roan Keeper was equal to it to pull off an excellent close range save to keep the scores in tact. That effort spurred Farnborough on and by now they had the upper hand playing the better football and with the likes of Matt Wright and Danny Clark winning everything in the centre of midfield and with the back four looking as comfortable as they had all game Farnborough restored their lead with a very well taken goal. Simon Davies held the ball up well on the half way line and then turned and played in Barry Grainger who had timed his run to perfection; and with the goalkeeper advancing Barry coolly slotted the ball under him, 2-1 OBG’s.

John Roan had another decent chance as the Farnborough defence drifted off for a split second which allowed their centre midfield to collect a throw in completely unmarked in the box that Rosslee had to charge out and block with a Peter Schmeical type save. Prior to kick off Paul Tanton said ‘Andy Cobham is working today so at least their won’t be any own goals’ PLEASE STEP FORWARD PAUL BAILEY! With 10 minutes or so left Farnborough conceded an unnecessary free kick out on the right hand side some 35 yards out, the ball was drilled in to the danger area excellently but unfortunately for Paul Bailey his last touch saw the effort fizz into the net to bring John Roan level again, 2-2.

Farnborough managed to weather the storm for the remainder of the game with Simon Davies and Matt Wright getting in some important headers from a series of John Roan corners as Farnborough stood strong and the ref blew for full time, 2-2.

Farnborough knew they had been in match today and were lucky to come away with the draw based on the amount of chances John Roan had created in the match. In fact we should have known we were going to be in for a tough match as the last time we played them we just managed to nick the win 5-4 in the last minute after going down 2-0 after 10 minutes. Back in those days they were known as ‘Old Tamponians’ however they have decided to change their name to John Roan in order to be taken more serious, on today’s performance they were definitely serious………….period!

Next week we are away to Princes Park in Stone, Dartford and if memory serves me right this is the pitch where you can kick uphill…… in both halves and having done some further snooping on future opposition it looks like they have not played a game since the 30th so hopefully they will still be full of Christmas fayre and present us with a good opportunity to beat them ;)


Shot of the match: Barry Grainger’s well taken second half goal.

Save of the match: Rosslee’s first half tip around the post with his foot when he looked beaten all ends up.

Man of the match: Gary Rosslee who was a ‘bit special’ (only according to the opposition).

Moan of the match: None at all. After a slow start we all really dug in deep today and played for each other, a real credit to everybody who actually wants to play for this team!