Farnborough OBG FC

Match Report

Sunday 18th March 2012

Friendly

Vets
Simon Davies 2, Rowan Foggitt, Paul Tanton
4 - 0
Crofton Albion Vets

By Gary Rosslee

Mothering Sunday saw several players missing for a second consecutive week so Farnborough lined up with the following experimental starting XI at home to Crofton Albion Vets as follows.

Gary Rosslee, GK
Danny Saines, LB
Rowan Foggitt, CB
Paul Bailey, CB
Richard Davies, RB
Matt Wright, LM
Neil Connelly, CM
Grant Gable, CM
Jason Miller, RM
Paul Tanton, CF
Pete Harvey, CF

Subs:
Simon Davies
Simon Hunt

Farnborough started as bright as their new kit which is expected to make its long awaited debut next week courtesy of Jim St John and Jason Miller (cheers lads) but what was more apparent from the opening exchanges was the makeshift centre back pairing of Paul ‘Bodge’ Bailey and Rowan ‘The Kaiser’ Foggitt would have more of a battle on their hands than Crofton had offered in the past and this would be more of an even contest today. With that said there were no more than 10 minutes on the clock when Paul Tanton was on hand to break the deadlock and grab his third goal in as many games which must have heaped even more pressure on a certain ‘Fernando Torres’ as he neatly finished under the Crofton keeper, 1-0 OBG’s. I’m not sure if anybody else saw it last week but Paul had a t-shirt underneath his kit with a message that read ‘free the Chilean miners’ which he paraded after he scored!

Crofton tried to claw their way back into the game but could not penetrate the Farnborough rearguard as Paul Bailey won almost every header or when he was eventually beaten Rowan would not only sweep up but bring the ball out of defence, not too dissimilar to a young Rio Ferdinand, to create further waves of attack for the Young Vets. With that said Crofton were unlucky not to level in the first half but their best effort cannoned off of the Farnborough woodwork to keep the slim one goal advantage going into the interval. 1-0 OBG’s.

Second half saw the inclusion of the two Simons, Simon Hunt slotted in at right back and the latter took his position up front alongside Pete Harvey, a partnership that has notched 16 goals so far this term. Farnborough doubled their lead not long after the restart as Rowan Foggitt latched onto a mis-cleared Jason Miller corner and drilled the ball home through a crowded penalty area into the top corner leaving the Crofton goalkeeper no chance, 2-0 OBG’s.

Crofton to their credit came back at Farnborough and their most potent player, their number 2 who took up the position in the hole was unlucky to see his left foot curled effort inside the 18 yard box bounce back off of the far right post after he had turned Danny Saines inside out. The same player was cursing his luck moments later after he rounded Rosslee as put through one-on-one with a deft pass from 30 yards out and with the goal at his mercy and two defenders covering but appearing to be a yard behind the pace of the game somehow Rowan was able to cover and head the effort safely behind for a corner, what a goal-line clearance to keep the 2 goal advantage.

Those 2 wake up calls sparked Farnborough back into life and Jason Miller floated a peach of a cross into the box for Simon Davies who outjumped the Crofton goalkeeper and headed the ball home, 3-0 OBG’s. By this stage Crofton appeared to run out of ideas as they were constantly frustrated by the Farnborough defence and it didn’t take long for Farnborough to add a 4th with the final kick of the game. Simon Davies was on hand to flick the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper, take a touch and finish emphatically from a yard out, yours truly would like to have seen him head the ball home reminiscent of school days gone by, 4-0 OBG’s and full time.

That is now 4 clean sheets in the last 6 games but also today we unearthed a new player in our mists as Rowan Foggitt scooped the MOM award with 10 votes.

Next week we\'re at home again to Orpington Vets, and I remember last year\'s fixture like it was yesterday, we lost an hour\'s sleep, they only had 7 players so made the rest of their team up with the youth team and Paul Brett scored an O.G. Oh hang on that could have been any given Sunday!

Man of the match: Rowan Foggitt