Match Report

Prior to our final home game of the season against John Roan the tale of the tape read as follows….

• Home Games Played: 12
• Won: 9
• Lost: 0
• Drawn: 3
• Goals for: 53
• Goals against: 19

We did not have a game the previous Sunday courtesy of a complete no-show from AFC Greenwich and apparently we are not the first team they have done this to. What made that even more frustrating was the fact that both the Young and Senior Vets; who were also at home last week were looking forward to the post-match showers (you had to be there last season to really understand that statement). The week prior to that was a complete one sided affair against Orpington Vets whom we thrashed 11-0 and with everybody’s mind on the following evening’s fixture at The Valley against Metrogas it\'s probably safe to say our preparations going into this match were far from ideal against a very solid and good footballing side.

We went into this match with one noticeable absentee, Jim St John (holiday) as well as long term absentees such as Brett Cheesman and Rowan Foggitt both of whom came up to Farrow Fields to watch the match from the sidelines and show their support.

Farnborough lined up as follows.

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

Subs,

Barry Grainger
Grant Gable
Ben Clunn

As expected John Roan gave us a tough battle right from the off. Being one of the most organised teams we play against they pressed us high and closed us down when they didn’t have the ball and had our rearguard back peddling on many occasion. Daragh Nott, Farnborough’s answer to a cross between Tim Henman & Bradley Wiggins started the brightest and hungriest of the Farnborough players and his link up play out wide with Jason Miller caused John Roan some problems but for all of the their hard work and guile the final ball into the danger areas was never met with any conviction from the attacking players or it was completely misread and the play then became too telegraphed and easily dealt with.

On the 20 minute mark John Roan had their first attempt on goal after a scramble in the Farnborough box but Rosslee got down low to his right hand side to palm the ball away and Andy Cobham was on hand to clear the ball for a corner. From there on for all of their territorial possession John Roan did not really trouble the Farnborough back 4 in terms of clear cut chances however on the 40 minute mark the home side completely switched off. The John Roan right back found himself in acres of space in the Farnborough penalty box with the ball at his feet and was completely unchallenged for what seemed like at least 5-10 seconds, this allowed him to pick his cross to their number 10, who in fairness was their only other player in the OBG penalty box and he was able to get the run and the leap on Paul Bailey to glance a free header across the goal and low down leaving Rosslee no chance to open the scoring and finally break his duck against Farnborough in several attempts, 0-1 John Roan.

Farnborough did not test the unknown John Roan goalkeeper for much of the first half although his positional sense and kicking seemed very solid, referee Andy Gable blew for half time.

The second half started a lot better for the home team who had introduced Barry ‘ideally if you can do without me today’ Grainger into the fray and with the wind behind them they were now asking more questions than they did in the first half. Barry went through and had a half chance but his effort was thwarted by a covering defender but it looks like the shot would have given the keeper some problems., Barry also tried an audacious quickly taken free kick that beat the wall and keeper but didn’t come down in time and went over the crossbar.

Grant Gable was lucky not to go into the referee’s book for a tackle that was more badly timed than malicious and Ben Clunn had a rather frustrating game after being brought on for the second half; he tangled with the John Roan right back on more than one occasion and then showed petulance by shoving him to the floor and then gave the John Roan manager who was running the line a tirade of verbal abuse and to cap it all off he missed a glaring chance to bring the scores level. Jason Miller whipped in one of his trademark crosses from the right hand side that took one flick on and then Ben reacted by heading home only for the John Roan keeper to get down to his right hand side and tip the ball around the post when the goal looked a certainty!

Farnborough continued to knock on the door and in doing so they left numbers forward which allowed John Roan to hit them on the break and they nearly scored a second after their number 10 charged down a Rosslee clearance; thankfully his first touch took him wider than he would have liked and with Andy Cobham back on the line Paul Bailey was able to get in an excellent last ditch tackle to concede a corner. There was still enough time on the clock for referee Andy Gable to put his new red card to use after sending off the John Roan right back for totting up and with the game on a knife-edge and real end to end stuff Paul Bailey watched agonisingly as his effort was always rising over the John Roan crossbar as the ball just wouldn’t drop kindly and sit for him just inside the penalty area with the last kick of the game. Full time 0-1 John Roan and the unbeaten home record had been breached, this was the first game John Roan had recorded a victory over the Guild and they had given us a real good go this season both at home and away.

Shot of the match: The John Roan forward’s header to open the scoring.

Save of the match: The excellent agile stop from the Big Roan keeper to keep out a certain goal from Ben Clunn’s close range header.

Man of the match: Daragh Nott AKA the Ginger Kafu

Moan of the match: Relinquishing our unbeaten home run on our last outing at Farrow Fields for the season!