Match Report

With last week’s fixture falling foul (yet again) of the bad weather (our 9th postponement of the season I might add) fortunately we only had to wait a further 7 days to pit our wits against the same team however with Farnborough having not played a match since their draining yet entertaining 3-2 encounter against Charlton Rangers back on the 10th of March and with the clocks going forward an hour to cheat us of even more recovery time we wondered how we might fare today against completely unknown opposition named Farleigh Vets from Warlingham, Surrey.

A select few of us arrived at Farrow Fields that little bit earlier before kick off today to assist with a variety of the smaller jobs that have maybe gone a little bit unnoticed around the club thanks to a certain Vic Farrow who is at the hub of everything that is Farnborough Football Club: from the obvious of making sure the actual football matches go ahead to the making of the best cups of tea this side of Yorkshire?? Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Vic Farrow at this present time and we all wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him down the club again in the not too distant future. Vic you put the ‘moaning’ into ‘Sunday moaning football’ but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

With several of our first XI absent most notably current top scorer Jim St John who was loaned out to play in goal for the Senior Vets Farnborough lined up as follows:

GK, Gary Rosslee
RB, Daragh Nott
CB, Andy Cobham
CB, Paul Bailey
LB, Neil Connelly
LM, Paul Tanton
CM, Dean Wyatt
CM, Matt Wright
RM, Jason Miller
CF, Simon Davies
CF, Barry Grainger

Subs,

John Delaney
Danny Saines

Both teams’ opening exchanges did not do the great game of football any justice as neither team could get into their stride and find any rhythm, the fact that Farnborough hadn’t played in 3 weeks showed and maybe Farleigh Vets were used to a smoother and more carpetlike surface than we had on show today up on the top smaller pitch. There must have been at least 15 minutes on the clock when Farnborough finally managed to string 3 or 4 completed passed together but to no real avail. The attacks that Farleigh created or at least tried to create were cut out in the middle for the park by the midfield duo of Dean Wyatt and Matt Wright on many occasions thus giving the centre back pairing of Andy Cobham and Paul Bailey a pretty quiet(ish) first half if recent games were anything to go by.

Daragh Nott and Jason Miller linked up well on the right hand side, and it was the former who turned provider to Simon Davies to head home his 15th goal of the campaign and take him joint top scorer with Jim St John (who we heard had gone close to scoring for the older vets) Daragh picking out Simon with a well weighted cross that Simon met with an unmarked header, 1-0 OBG’s.

Barry Grainger on another day may have doubled the home side’s lead as he did well to wriggle through the Farleigh defence but his first time shot with rarely any backlift did not have enough precision to trouble the Farleigh goalkeeper as he gratefully collected it in his midriff. Farnborough continued to frustrate Farleigh as they failed to create a real opening or half goal scoring chance and that allowed Farnborough to score a second of the match. ‘Own goals’ netting his 5th of the season courtesy of an outstretched defender’s foot misguiding a Jason Miller cross that looped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the roof of the net, 2-0 OBG’s.

Half time approached and the restart saw the inclusion of John Delaney up front.

Within moments of John entering the fray he should have put further daylight between the two teams as he had an opportunity to beat the keeper from close range but he shot straight at he keeper and his attempt at the following rebound was blocked with a well timed tackle.

Paul Tanton nearly added a third for the Guild as his left sided cross completely caught the Farleigh goalkeeper (and the Farnborough forwards) out but thankfully for the visitors the ball bounced off of the top of the crossbar to keep the deficit to two goals. Farleigh went on to enjoy their best spell of the match possession-wise but were limited to speculative long range efforts that either went over or wide, in fact Rosslee was not drawn into a single save all match. To be fair I do not recall either keeper making any real substantial saves in the 90 minutes.

John Delaney’s attempt of a Marco van Basten type volley circa 1988 European Finals was referred to as more ‘Marco Pierre White’ by onlookers as the ball was collected from the fields behind the goal. Farnborough did eventually add a third goal and easily the goal of the game. Jason Miller received the ball on the inside left position of midfield and was allowed to run with the ball at his feet, and from 35 yards out he unleashed an unerring shot that travelled about knee height and the pace and accuracy left the keeper no chance, 3-0 OBG’s, and surely game over.

Farnborough weathered the storm for the remaining 10 minutes or so as they recorded their third clean sheet of the season, and only their first one of 2013. After the fulltime whistle the Farnborough players all rallied together to make sure the nets were removed from the goals and locked away in the containers, the corner flags were brought down and even the litter was removed from the pitch area, Barry Grainger even had the teas ready for the team as they reached the dressing rooms although not as good as Vic’s!!

Next week we are away to John Roan FC from Kidbrooke a decent side that we always have a good ding dong battle against.

Shot of the match: Jason Miller’s 35 yard Exocet missile.

Save of the match: The joint effort of Neil Connelly and Gary Rosslee retrieving the match ball from the stinging nettles behind the goal!

Man of the match: Dean Wyatt with 9 votes

Moan of the match: We’ll leave that for Vic Farrow; hopefully we will hear it again real soon!