Farnborough OBG FC

Match Report

Sunday 3rd October 2021

Friendly

Eltham Vets (STC)
2 - 3
Senior Vets
Jay Hardy 2, OG

By Phil Anthony

This week continued being busy and a bit hectic as the Inter Vyagra manager went missing and therefore our match was at risk of being cancelled. A word of warning, if you do find Vyagra missing, then there might be some cheating going on (lots of articles on this so please Google). However, after several phone calls, George and Phil managed to secure opponents and a pitch; however on the Sunday morning, we looked at each other and said ‘We don’t have a ref’. This was resolved on the pitch in discussion with the opposition.


FOBG Squad: Phil Anthony, Mick O’Flynn, Colin Mant, Waine Hetherington, Peter Harvey, George Kleanthous, Sinisa Gracanin, Jay Hardy, Joe Skinner, Simon Thomas, Michael Hills, Tom Girling, Chisa Mkala, Dave ‘Disco’ Morgan, Giles Foister.


Referee: Phil Anthony (1st half), their injured centre half (2nd half).


Kit sponsor: The Dog and Duck, Outwood.


Manager:  George Kleanthous.


Interim Chief Football Correspondent:  Phil Anthony.


Chief Impact Officer:  Phil Anthony.



Having secured Eltham Vets as our opponents and Westcombe Park RFC as our venue midweek, the weather forecast didn’t look too good. The clouds opened on the Saturday (Phil & Hillsy played at this ground for other teams on the Saturday) and there was a huge risk that the match would be cancelled, but thankfully, it was not. Both teams agreed the pitch played really well and we look forward to playing there again; even though we had to put up and take down the nets.


The next problem was the lack of a referee, but we agreed with Eltham Vets to share the responsibility, Phil to do the 1st half and one of their guys the 2nd. If a referee scorecard was used, I’m sure the 1st half referee would have got a much higher score.


The last problem was whose whistle to use? One from a qualified referee (Waine) OR one from a successful Business Owner (Mick O’Flynn). The choice was easy, MOF’s whistle was wooden and it ‘wooden whistle’, so Waine’s Whistle Won as it was steel.


On to the game. The first 20 minutes were not our best. Compared to our last few games as for some reason our short game suffered, our organisation not 100% and there was a lack of communication. This changed and we started playing with our new ethos, driven home by George – "Trust your touch", "Shorten the game", "Play out from the back" and our results have shown this to be a winning system – W4, D3 now.


We created some really good chances and probably should have won this by a larger margin. Their keeper made 2 or 3 fantastic saves from Peter and Jay and I believe he was voted their MOM.


Their 2 goals were well taken, although there was a mention of a bobble in front of Tom for their second. I believe the ball took one hell of a bounce just before it got to Tom.


The team believe they have found a new right back in Simon and this has to be mentioned. What a great few games he has had in this position, alongside Giles, Hillsy & Manty forming a formidable back four. Simon gives the team some great attacking width down the right and Manty (obviously pleased with his new lingerie present from Joe) likes it down the left side.


The midfield chooses itself now – George, Waine, Chisa, Sini - with some neat one touch passing and some great movement bringing the ball out from the back. With Peter & Jay up top terrorising defences, we won’t lose many matches this season. Confidence is high, but I’m sure George will keep reminding us that we are only as good as our next match. Our Golden Boot, Kyp, was out with a hamstring; I’m sure there is a joke there.


Dave ‘Disco’ Morgan was introduced for 20 minutes with a welcoming elbow in the face from their midfielder; luckily no major damage, but he did report that his implant teeth (long story how he got them) did not feel right.


Jay’s goals were sublime as usual, his second in particular, weaving through their defence and tucking a shot neatly in the corner.


Joe came on for Chisa with about 30 minutes left and played his part in this win.


No game time for Mick & Phil, as the game was very tight.


Man-of-the-match:  2 players were close with the votes for MOM – Jay & Sini (4 & 5 respectively).

Man of the match: Sinisa Gracanin