Farnborough OBG FC

Match Report

Sunday 22nd May 2022

Friendly

Senior Vets
Waine Hetherington 2, Barry Grainger, Michael Hills
4 - 1
Inter The Valley Vets

By George Kleanthous

Seniors provide the heat in Kidbrooke sunshine

With the inter club annual match now firmly in the rear view mirror, we looked forward to the climax of our season with two fixtures still to play; however, we were in search of a neutral venue as our home pitches have been temporarily de-commissioned due to pending refurbishment. Fortunately, with a bit of resourcing and some well-placed phone calls, we were able to procure the use of a pitch at John Roan Playing Fields for these last two games. What a treat that will turn out to be as the pitch we played on was in immaculate condition which is a rarity when faced with the lack of rain over the last few weeks. Usually pitches at this time of year are rock solid, bobbly and patchy. This pitch was flat, lush and played true. I couldn’t help but wonder what secret had been used to serve up a pitch of this quality at the end of the season. The local groundsman, Graham informed us that the magic formula he uses to garner such results is simply that he rolls the pitch after every single game. Congratulations Graham and thank you for allowing us the use of a pitch.


FOBG Squad: Tom Girling, Ben McWilliams, Sinisa Gracanin, Simon Thomas, Michael Hills, Chisa Mkala, George Kleanthous, Waine Hetherington, Barry Grainger, Pete Harvey, Kypros Michael.


SUBS: None.


Referee: Jim Grimley: Another faultless performance from the man in the middle.


Kit sponsor: The Dog and Duck, Outwood.


Manager:  George Kleanthous.


Interim Chief Football Correspondent:  George Kleanthous.


Following our impressive hard fought draw last time out we felt confident that we could build on that and so went into this week’s contest expecting nothing less than a good strong performance. In parts we fulfilled that task, however, there is a nagging feeling that we made heavy weather of things. There were spells of slick free flowing football but that was mixed in with desperately ineffective passages of play where we couldn’t string a pass together and our cohesion seemed tested to the max as we frustratingly missed several gilt-edged chances that would have taken us out of sight fairly early on in proceedings.


Maybe it’s a measure of how high we have set our standards and a sign of our expectations that we feel disappointed with a comfortable victory, but I think the genuine reason for that is that we are measuring our overall team performance more than the actual results. Wrong, or right? Who knows but I do know that it is important to this group of players that we collectively play well each and every game.


As for the game itself, we were taken aback by the intensity our opposition showed in the first 10-15 minutes of the game and we needed to settle down and get a foothold in the match. Our midfield was struggling to get any possession and we were being overrun frequently by a couple of skilful and robust counterparts in the opposition midfield. Despite this, it was Farnborough who were somehow making the better chances and several times our good build up play presented our forwards with the opportunity to open the scoring. Alas, I think it would be fair to assess that neither of our forwards today packed their best shooting boots and squandered chances that really should have been dispatched. Perhaps it was going to be one of those days where we needed a little bit of magic to set us on our way.


Step forward Waine Hetherington.


How about a delightful 30-yard half volley deftly lobbed over an unsuspecting goalkeeper to open the scoring? That is exactly what Waine provided and that is exactly what Farnborough got at an important time in the game.


The scene was now set for Farnborough to relax, take over the game and build on their lead. Alas, expectation and reality rarely collide and so it may not have come as a surprise when an errant pass led to a clear cut opportunity presenting itself to our opposition and their striker raced through the middle of our defence and toe poked the ball past an advancing Tom Girling to squeeze the ball into the bottom corner for the equaliser, 1-1.


We responded well and were again in the ascendancy but once again some poor finishing meant we went into the half-time break level.


The first half of the restart saw a fairly even contest and the next goal was going to be very important. Fortunately for Farnborough it went our way. Another well worked move ended with Barry Grainger finishing off a difficult chance and he provided a smart finish by just flicking the ball over the keeper from a tight angle. With the lead restored, we were now playing with more menace going forward but still having to be wary of the threat that our opposition provided. One particular opposition player giving us problems was probably a fairly decent player, however, it was hard to judge as his moaning skills far overshadowed any other contribution he made. He had no qualms putting himself about and there were several occasions where he attempted to leave his mark with some “late” or “mistimed” tackles but the slightest contact the other way lead to several outbursts aimed at the referee where the comments directed at Jim were about him not having particularly good eyesight. I think he was just frustrated that we were playing better football and beginning to dominate.


Our third goal arrived when once again Waine stepped up and found himself on the edge of the box, he looked up and coolly slotted the ball through a busy penalty area right into the bottom corner.


The final goal was scored by our centre back Michael Hills. Michael picked up the ball just inside the centre circle, strode forward with purpose and unleashed a power driver from 25-30 yards out which the keeper had no chance of getting to. The huge deflection on the way in which completely wrong-footed the keeper had absolutely no bearing on the ball's final destination. It was on target and goalbound anyway so this particular goals panel awards the goal to Michael.


With this win, we have notched up our 20th win of the season and now move on to our last game. We will play Cudham United Super Vets and will be hoping to finish on a high. One other matter still needs to be resolved and that is who wins the Golden Boot. Currently, Jay Hardy has 30 goals this season and just behind him lies Kypros Michael with 27 goals. Jay is injured and has been confined to the sidelines and is again unlikely to feature in the last game. I think it would be fair to say that Kyps has been struggling with a nagging injury himself but is likely to be fit enough to play. Nothing short of a stellar hat-trick performance will win him at least a share of the Golden Boot but if he does come up short, he may look back on this game and think what could have been. He could easily have had 3 or 4 today.


Man-of-the-match:


Cool, calm and collected. All 3 attributes shown in abundance by Waine Hetherington. Took the majority of votes for his 2 crucial goals just at the right times for Farnborough.

Man of the match: Waine Hetherington