Match Report

The day had dawned when FOBG had the opportunity to visit the salubrious surroundings of the Met Police Sports Centre at The Warren. No wonder the council tax is so high!

Only the cars with up to date tax discs chose to travel to the ground, which proved to be a good decision as a patrol car was parked in the grounds when we arrived.

When warming up it soon became apparent that a hard game was to be had, especially as their number 7 appeared to be younger than my 19 year old son. Still I am sure the guile of the FOBG team would counteract his young legs.

It soon became obvious that the men from Farnborough had switched into another gear for this game. Can’t think why, but I did overhear the mention of wrongful parking and speeding tickets.

Steve and Colesy in the centre of defence had the measure of the 12 year old on the other team, regularly stepping up catching him offside. Storky, Pat, Chris, and Colin in midfield began to get the better of their “I am so good” midfielders. Paul and Mark up front continually stretched their defence with their diagonal runs, it’s just a shame that we failed to deliver the ball to them on a regular basis.

I am sure that the Met Police had expected an easier game which became abundantly obvious by their cries of “mark him” and “challenge for the ball”. To the credit of the team from Farnborough the closing down of the opposition belied the age of the team.

Midway through the first half the score stood at 1-1, thanks to a lucky goal by the Met Police and a fantastic diving header (own goal) by the central defender in the home team defence. In all honesty the own goal was made easier by a cross from Storky I think. Sorry if I have got this wrong, but at the time I was using the oxygen cylinder with the rest of the defence. Half time came and went with FOBG undeservedly 2-1 behind.

The first 20 minutes of second half found the FOBG suffering from rigor mortis, or in other words stiffening up during the half time interval. As a result of this the opposition sneaked a lucky third goal. This seemed to galvanise the boys from FOBG into action.

Mark started the second half well, but yet again fell over an aggressive piece of grass, resulting in him leaving the field and Lee going up front. Lee must have had a vision before the game, as even though he started at left back, he wore a number 9 on his back.

A penalty was deservedly given as the Met Police defender seemed to not only catch the ball, but actually caught it and chucked it out of their penalty area. The Met Police players somehow managed to dispute this decision. Not saying a word about evidence etc. for fear of meeting some of their players carrying out their policing duties. The penalty was expertly dispatched by Paul Smith.

Despite bringing on our secret weapon, Toby “I must lose 2 stone in weight” and Toby in goal acting as an extra centre forward, we failed to make any further impression on the score line.

The game ended with hand shakes all round and cold showers (I thought these were reserved for the people helping the boys in blue with their enquiries).

I have to say that if we played like this every week I am convinced we would win more games than we lose.

The day ended with Mark James being very generous in the bar as he was celebrating his 51st birthday.