Match Report

Dittonitus cured with a victory

With the added benefit of an extra hour in bed to rejuvenate our aching limbs (and bruised ego’s) from last weeks disappointing performance against Sanco Vets (1-3) we arrived at a wind swept Farrow Fields to face Ditton Vets. The same team we were due to play early on into the new season but a severe bout of “Dittonitus” meant we were unable to make the journey down south and fulfil the fixture. Roll on 5 weeks and we hardly had much of a team to choose from today either with several absentees due to a combination of injuries, work commitments, other sporting interests and a few other lame excuses thrown in for good measures!!

Farnborough lined up as follows.

G. Rosslee ©

R. Davies A. Cobham B. Cheesman M. Friend

B. Clunn St. John D. Wyatt P. Tanton

J. Delaney S. Davies


Sub

Barry Grainger.

Ditton won the toss and elected to kick into the wind (a tactic that Rosslee was hoping to use as well) knowing that the wind would not ease up and in fact get much stronger in the second half. The pitch played very heavy due to the rainfall and the home game for the first XI so this was always going to be a difficult match for both teams. Kicking with the wind you always thought that Farnborough would need to capitalise on this advantage however it was the away team who broke the deadlock in quite fortuitous fashion. Andy Cobham seemed to have done enough on the edge of the box to close his man down however the forward was able to get a shot off that went through Andy’s leg and wrong foot Rosslee who also lost his footing which resulted in the ball nestling into the net albeit right down the middle of the goal. 0-1 Ditton Vets.

Farnborough’s first chance of testing the Ditton keeper came courtesy of Richard Davies free kick some 20 yards out but the stopper did well to get across his goal and palm the ball onto the crossbar. Farnborough probed and continually knocked on the Ditton door and should have had an equaliser when John Delaney timed his run to perfection and curled the ball home but the linesman’s flag went up and ref Andy Gable chalked the goal off for offside. Farnborough eventually grabbed an equaliser via Mark Friend as Ditton failed to clear a Barry Grainger (on for St John after 10 minutes) corner and Mark was on hand to head home with a powerful header that even with a man on the line could do nothing to stop the ball. 1-1.

Dean Wyatt gave Farnborough the lead after Ditton again failed to clear the ball, this time John Delaney did well to get a cross into the box that Barry Grainger was unable to connect with but the ball fell kindly to Dean to smash home from 8 yards to notch his first goal for Farnborough, 2-1 OBG’s.

The ref’s whistle signalled for half time as Farnborough took to the dug out to get out of the wind and listen to Paul Tanton’s instructions.

The second half kicked off and as suspected the wind had got much stronger and although yours truly was not in possession of a anemometer I would hazard a guess that the gusts must of got up to at least 50mph (at least) which meant the Farnborough defence had to be on their toes and have their wits about them and to their credit they defended resolutely throughout the entire second half in a real backs to the wall type performance. The restart couldn’t have been more than 5 minutes old when Farnborough added a third goal to their name. Cheesman feeding the ball to Rich Davies out wide who attempted to play John Delaney however the last defender inadvertently touched the ball past the advancing keeper and the ball rolled into the unattended Ditton goal, 3-1 OBG’s.

With a two goal cushion the game became a real uphill battle for the home side as the ball would hardly carry in the wind as Ditton pressed forwards to reduce the deficit and they fashioned a goal out of nothing as Barry Grainger was guilty of giving the ball away some 30 yards out in front of goal, and although the Ditton attacker still had some work to do he was allowed to travel some 10 yards forward unchallenged before curling in a low precise effort that went in off the left hand post, 3-2 OBG’s.

Farnborough somehow weathered the storm and should have put the game to bed as John Delany was played through in on goal from an excellently weighted through ball from Barry Grainger but his effort went just wide, and then Ditton nearly nicked an equaliser but Rosslee was quick off of his line to save with his legs at the death. Ref Andy Gable blew for full time of what was a very hard fought victory.

Today was a vast improvement on last week’s debacle against Sanco but there are still some question marks over the commitment of the entire squad.

Next week we are at home to Baltic Exchange, a team who we have not yet faced although they have given the Senior Vets a thumping on few occasions and it would have been apt to have played them today given the Baltic type weather conditions out there on display (It was as windy as Paul Bell after night at the curry house).

MOM Brett Cheesman