Match Report

Steely Glendale resistance hands Farnborough tough loss

The Senior Vets had the rare opportunity to play on the bottom pitch and in hindsight it may have been better to have chosen the top pitch as we have now lost both games on this bottom pitch so maybe not the luckiest of pitches for us.

FOBG Squad: Tom Girling (GK), Colin Mant, Aaron McWilliams, Chisa Mkala, Landy Sakala, Danny Mullins, Peter Harvey, George Kleanthous, Sinisa Gracanin, Diccon Kaenzig, Jay Hardy Subs: Dan Herbert.

Referee: Waine Hetherington. Waine sacrificed the opportunity to play to step in and referee the game instead. Despite being a qualified referee, it was a pleasant surprise to see how effectively Waine handled the game, especially as he is not frequently the man in the middle. It was an absolutely fantastic performance by Waine, and he controlled the game as effectively as any full-time referee we have experienced in many a season. His decisions were clear, concise and fair to both teams and he was a major contributing factor to the excellent spirit that the game was played in.

Kit sponsor: The Dog and Duck, Outwood.

Manager:  George Kleanthous.

Interim Chief Football Correspondent:  George Kleanthous.

This loss felt like a hit and run and is a bitter pill to swallow but only because we pushed so hard to get back into the game, had almost all of the play in the second half (after going down 1-3 very early in the half) but just couldn’t come up with the goals we needed. Even after giving ourselves a glimmer of hope when we got the game back to 2-3 with still 10 minutes left, some of the heroic defending going on from our opposition made it feel like we were maybe looking for an equaliser that was probably never going to come. Once again, we had more than enough opportunities to at least get a share of the spoils but we were left wanting in front of goal. Maybe we missed Kyps more than we would like to let him know.   

It also proves that in football, if you switch off for just a moment you can get punished and that is exactly what we were guilty of today. We started well and our passing and movement was causing Glendale some problems and it was not against the run of play when we opened the scoring from a good move down the right side of the pitch which led to Danny Mullins surging into the box and sliding the ball across the 6-yard box for Landy Sakala to have the easiest of tap ins to score on his debut.

 We looked like we were in the position to build on our lead and were looking comfortable and in control, we were creating some chances, yet within a 5-10 minute spell on the half-hour mark we would be 1-2 down. It could actually have been worse, much worse had Tom not once again come up with a couple of top drawer saves that had our opposition praising the agility and prowess of our keeper.

There is always a simple reason for conceding a soft goal, usually it is a lack of concentration, a lack of communication or a lack of being aware or dealing with pending danger. Occasionally it is a combination of all of these things and it must be said that this was the case for not one but both of Glendale’s first half goals. Our back four today was much changed and didn’t have its usual feel or look about it. Unfortunately, we didn’t talk to each other, we didn’t cover for each other and we seemed to struggle with both positioning and supporting each other from defence to midfield and the link seemed to be broken so much that we suddenly looked very open and exposed to the long ball through the middle and both goals came the same way and directly through the heart of our defence. This type of goal against us has been rare this season and I think the chopping and changing of centre back pairings finally caught up with us. We yearn for the return of a consistent back four to return us to the stability we have shown defensively for most of the season but injuries to key players in recent weeks has taken its toll.

As the first half drew to a close, we began to rush our play and the majority had resorted to flicking the ball on rather than trying to get the ball under control and playing a higher percentage pass. It was discussed at half-time that we needed to get back to how we started the game and that we were still very much in the game. That worked a treat as within barely a minute of the restart we conceded a third goal and had given ourselves a mountain to climb.

We huffed and puffed our way through the next half-hour and as mentioned we created chances but Glendale always managed to avert the danger with a last gasp challenge or header and they stood firm defending for their lives. They were finally undone when Peter Harvey, playing at left back, intercepted a long ball and set George Kleanthous away down the left wing and he then crossed the ball to Chisa Mkala who controlled the ball very well with his first touch and rifled the ball into the net. 2-3.

We forced a flurry of corners late on, and during one of these we nearly had our equaliser. How their goalkeeper managed to keep the ball out of the net, I’m not even sure he knows but keep it out he did and I believe the ball hit both the post and the crossbar before dropping down onto the line only for a defending Glendale leg to swipe it away to safety.

We were to have one last chance and it came in the very last minute. Another corner was swung in and the ball bounced out to the edge of the area where Chisa was lurking and he got a good connection on it with his right foot, the ball appeared to be goalbound, fizzing past keeper, all defenders and attackers in a very crowded box, alas it began to spin away and unfortunately for us the spin took it just wide of the post and the game was up.

It had been a competitive game and despite the loss it was the type of game we want to be involved in every week and we very much look forward to playing Glendale again next season. We wish them the best for the rest of their season.

Next week, we travel to Catford Wanderers looking to prevent a third straight defeat and going on our previous encounter which ended in a 1-1 draw only a few weeks ago we will have to be on our game to ensure this doesn’t happen.

Man-of-the-match:  

The voting was split today, 6 different players gained at least one vote but with 3 votes each Tom and George got the nod of approval from their teammates. Tom for another couple of highlight reel saves and I can only assume George must have done more than get his votes for pathetically tripping himself up, uncontested and nobody within 10 metres of him! Almost as entertaining as Colin Mant’s salmon antics!