Farnborough OBG FC

Match Report

Saturday 31st October 2009



First XI
Jamie Williams, Jamie Hughes, Ben Elliott, Steve Kendall
4 - 0
Old Bexleians

By Shaun Keddle

Guild Continue to Trick AND Treat

The Guild continued their excellent league form on Halloween afternoon with a game full of neat tricks and four treats, in the way of four ghouls, err…goals! Two victories in three weeks against Old Bex who continue to be haunted by the form of Guild's confident wizardry.

The pitch and the conditions were perfect for football as the Guild started the game in a four-four-two formation to enable a better start.

The opening exchanges were pretty even before Williams J opened the scoring with a fast flowing Guild move that ripped open the Bex defence. A cheeky Hughes flick and a one two sent the aforementioned clear to fly down the left side and deliver a ball across the face of the Bex penalty area for Williams J to meet and finish at the back post. Three-in-three for the in-form winger.

The opening goal settled us down and the Guild started to take control of the fixture. On 35 minutes a well placed corner conjured up by Williams J was attacked by Elliott whose bravery was rewarded by his first goal for the Guild.

Just before the break a Davis volley was acrobatically saved by the Bex no. 1.

At the half we spoke about continuing what we were doing but upping the gears and the tempo to really kill the game off.

The second half was completely dominated by the Guild and only a rare forage forward from Bex on 60 minutes, which saw Mumford tip the ball onto the post after a fierce strike, denied the Guild of a complete shut out. With twenty minutes to go, Bex’s nightmare continued when they went down to ten men after continued backchat by the centre half. This saw the end of any Bex resistance.

Stevens replaced Judge in the centre.

It then became a case of how many we could score. Our confidence grew and we poured forward. A killer third was added by Hughes who found the corner of the net with his magic wand of a right foot, furthering his impressive scoring record for the season after a great team move with Williams L finding the magic potion of a pass.

Cleaver replaced the hard working Wray Weasley who was on a booking.

The Guild was now completely dominant with the Bex back line under the spell of the Guild's Potter-like attacking movement. Hughes and Williams L should have added to their tally before Kendall finished 'emphatically' from two yards out after Williams L found the bar. Abracadabra, we were four nil up.

Before the final whistle Cleaver should have added the fifth but the finish was tame and the magic was gone.

At the whistle, it was three points in the bag ‘just like that’…

Mr Judd, the referee was excellent today and it’s great to see an experienced ex-player take up the whistle as his knowledge of what players want in a referee is much appreciated. Some great advantages played, he was approachable and was consistent with his decisions. Unfortunately for us, I can see Mr Judd officiating at a higher level so hopefully KCL teams will enjoy his referring skills whilst we can.

Overall it was a pretty comprehensive win against a side that gave us a few problems last time out. Admittedly, Old Bex were missing Dave Meekings which was clearly a loss losing a player of his strength and calibre but the Guild were shy of Cooke, Abbott, Travers and Parmenter themselves.

Wray out wide made his starting league debut for the club and impressed with his pace, box to box approach and ability to take on players; Davis had his best performance this season at the back and with Warren tracked forwards deep into the midfield, rarely giving them a glimpse of goal; Kendall was cool, calm and educated in his forays forward which resulted in his first Guild goal; Williams J was at the heart of everything positive and continues to score goals from a midfield position; Perkins and Judge in the middle became the catalyst for the team becoming more and more dominant as the game went on; Hughes and Williams L upfront worked hard and led the line well; Mumford had little to do in the Guild goal, but two good saves when needed showed focus and decent concentration levels when not involved in much of the action. Stevens and Cleaver both joined the fray and had a positive impact on the game. However, it was Elliott at the back that again nicked the votes with a commanding performance and opened his goal scoring account for the season.

As a team I still believe that we have more to give. The learning point today is the front pairing need to work closer together when we have the ball and encourage the wider players to push forward onto the full backs when we play a 4-4-2 formation. Defensively, the improvements were massive. A clean sheet was kept for the first time this season and our tight marking led to their forwards dropping deeper and deeper in an effort to pick up the ball. However, we must stop giving away dangerous free kicks in and around the box or one day it will came back to haunt us.

Farrow Fields is now becoming a fortress for the Guild and we have won all our home games this season. Long may this continue as this week we have Fleetdown at home in the second round of the West Kent Challenge Shield. Fleetdown themselves have made a reasonable start to their season and must not be underestimated despite sitting a division below us; it was not that long ago that the clubs' positions were reversed, so we must be on our game.

Great work fellas, let's take the decent league form into the cup.

Farnborough: 1.Mumford; 2.Warren ; 3.Elliot; 4. Davis; 5.Hughes; 6.Judge; 7.Williams J; 8.Perkins; 9.Williams, L; 10. Wray; 11.Kendall; 12. Hawkes; 13.Cleaver; 14. Stevens

Subs: 14.Stevens for 6. Judge; 13.Cleaver for 10. Wray
Sub not used: 12. Hawkes

Referee: Mr Leigh Judd

Man of the match: Ben Elliott