Match Report

Oh, Dere! Freak Goal Denies Guild Two Points

A freak goal in the last ten minutes denied the Guild all three points on Saturday as they sought to overturn their heaviest defeat of the season. It was a cruel blow for the Guild who felt robbed when a headed effort from a corner was bouncing away to safety when it was accidentally put back into to play by the referee, who should have been standing off the pitch at the time.

However, this was a classic game of two halves. The game started well for the Guild who went out with the bit between their teeth as we knew this would be a real test to measure our progression from when we trudged off 6-2 losers in the away fixture back in October. Without top scorer Cooke J and the recently promoted Thompson, the side went into the game pushing Stevens upfront with the returning-from-injury Williams L and Perkins was also back from an ankle injury that kept him out for the last two fixtures.

Our pitch looked as though it had seen better days though which suited neither side.

The first half was completely dominated by the Guild who were sharper to everything with Williams J at the centre of everything positive who was deliberately positioned on the left hand side. Countless times we got the ball out wide and there were some decent deliveries into the box, but sharp defending from the Dere’s centre halves kept the game goalless.

Half way through the half and Piper was through on goal but his half volley was wide when he should have hit the target. Ten minutes later a Stevens’ header somehow went over the bar as the spin and height of the bounce deceived him. Goal bound efforts from Abbott and Stevens as well as a powerful effort from Perkins were blocked by some resilient defending from the away side.

The Guild was playing some really good football and easily looked the better side, but could not seem to capitalise on all their good play and opportunities.

The half finished even and the Guild were left disappointed that the scores were still level.

The beginning of the second half started the same way as the first, with the Guild looking for an early goal. The goal came within ten minutes of the re-start as Williams J raced through on goal to finish past the advancing Hill and into the corner. Three goals in three matches for the influential winger.

However, this signalled the start of a Belvedere comeback that seemed to poke them into life and the Deres obviously knew they were in a game. As the Guild sat back, the Deres came out and got stronger and stronger. Minter was guilty of a miss that shaved the post when he really should have scored and excellent defending by Davis, Judge, Warren and Eales kept the Guild ahead as well as some stubborn goalkeeping from Hawkes who took a knock for his troubles.

Just when it seemed that the Guild had enough in their defensive locker to keep the high scoring Deres at Bay, the freak equaliser occurred and left the Guild ‘very disappointed’ to say the least and questioning the referee’s incorrect positioning from a corner.

The game ended in a draw which resulted in the Guild consolidating fifth position as Tudor lost to Crockenhill and Belvedere fourth due to Bridon beating Westerham.

Overall the performance was excellent, but at the same time we were disappointed how the equaliser was formulated. I have not seen that in football before and it cost us a victory that we so badly wanted and two points. In the first half we were rampant going forward and unlucky not to come in two or three goals to the good. In the second half we had our backs to the wall for the last thirty minutes or so and defended valiantly although the Deres would argue that they should have bagged themselves.

Man of the match was Perkins who accumulated a large number of votes for a domineering performance in the middle. Williams J also nicked a few votes for a fantastic first half display full of pace, energy and dangerous balls into the box and got a deserved goal for his efforts.

More positives from this fixture are again we had 5 players that were aged 18 or younger and they have gained valuable experience against one of the best sides in the league. They all performed well against a stern and experienced Belvedere side.

Overall we finished fifth which is an excellent achievement in a division that we are new to which contains some excellent football teams. Early doors we were caught out in terms of the step up between the divisions and have all gained some valuable experience and applied the lessons that we learnt. Next season we will look to remain together as a squad, freshen things up with a few new faces and look to develop the youngsters further still in the summer months.

Next season can’t come soon enough!

Farnborough: 1. Hawkes; 2. Warren; 3. Eales; 4. Judge ©; 5. Davis; 6. Abbott; 7. Piper; 8. Perkins; 9. Williams L; 10. Stevens; 11. Williams J

Subs: 12. Cleaver B for 10. Stevens; 15. Fullone for 7. Piper

Belvedere: 1. Hill; 2. Manchester; 5. Barrett; 6. Cox; 7. Edwards; 8. Minter; 9. Mitchell; 10. Aarons; 13. Smith; 16. Greenland; 17. Mitchell

Subs: 11. Gordey; 12. Eastwood; 15. Hodson;