Match Report

“Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory”. How do we do it? Well let me tell you.

Yet again I think the opposition felt that the vets'' age group started from 25 not 35 as it should be. Despite this we started the first 20 minutes the far better team. Chris (wearing the shortest shorts in Kent) showed how to dictate play from midfield. Pat started like a man possessed, probably something to so with his brother watching from the touchline. Storkey up front showed his delicate touches on the ball and even showed a touch of temper when wrongly adjudged to be offside.

We soon found ourselves two goals up, one of the goals being Beckham like from Pat and I believe the other a cracking team goal expertly finished by Storkey. Trevor must take some credit for this goal as he severely tested the goalkeeper with a cross come shot which the goalkeeper could only deflect into the six yard box. Can’t remember who scored the third as I believe I was testing out the plumbing at the time. When I returned the score stood at 3-1 thanks to a lucky goal on the break from the opposition. Soon after their 1st goal Storkey broke free and crossed the ball into Paul who planted the ball in the net. 4-1 surely, but no the referee gave offside despite the fact that the ball seemed to have travelled backwards before being slotted into the net. Another chance to make the score 4-1 was spurned just before the half time whistle sounded.

Toby was very vocal during the half time interval, so much so he had to sit down to get his breath back. I think I heard him mutter “I must start my training schedule this week”.

Unbelievably the opposition soon got the score back to 3-3, not sure how, but I think we failed to clear the ball out of defence despite being given plenty of opportunities. The game then descended into a long ball exchange, one of which resulted in Paul getting a whack on the nose. One wag in the changing room afterwards remarked “their central defender would have missed most people''s noses but not so yours”. Despite blood streaming from his nose, Paul refused to leave the field of play and continued to run their defence ragged.

Once again against the run of play the opposition got a 4th goal making the score 4-3. This seemed to galvanise FOBG into a renewed siege on the opposition''s goal, which was soon rewarded by Storkey scoring his 2nd and the team''s 4th goal. 4-4 with victory in sight!

We then proceeded to hit everything apart from the back of their net. Then it happened: another of their players seemingly miles offside, but this time the referee, having refused the offer of a linesman before the game, awarded a goal making the score 5-4.

In an all out effort to get an equaliser Toby H game on in goal and Toby M went upfront as an extra forward. Despite being chopped down, but falling down in stages, Toby M made no impact on the final score.

We lost 5-4, and for the first time I saw a team of over 40’s totally fed up with what had occurred. Who said “Vets football is not competitive and the score doesn’t matter”. Certainly not the members of the FOBG Vets team this weekend.