Match Report

The Farnborough Young Vets made their premiere visit of the 2011/2012 season to what has become affectionately known as the “Second village” to face off against Toby Vets and over the last 2 years the ‘Farnborough Young Vets’ have had an enviable record when it comes to playing in the SE3 area. The record books show P 9, W 8, D 1 scoring a whopping 42 goals in the process of which Pete Harvey had netted 14 times.

After a seven day break Farnborough were missing the likes of Paul Brett & Grant Gable but there was a welcome return back to the team for Richard Cooke who admitted the lure of pulling on the ‘Kidbrooke Kipsters’ was just far too much for him!

Farnborough lined up as follows

Gary Rosslee – GK
Danny Saines – LB
Andy Cobham – CB
Paul Bailey – CB
Richard Davies – RB
Neil Connelly – LM
Richard Cooke – CM
Danny Clark – CM
Jason Miller – RM
Paul Tanton – CF
Pete Harvey – CF

Subs
Matt Wright
Mark Friend

Toby Vets set their stall out early on and their tactic was a carbon copy of the last time these two teams met, the long ball over the top to their front men, one of which was sporting gloves and a woolly hat, yes a woolly hat! The early morning South London sunshine did not make life easy for the Farnborough back four as the long ball rained in continually and Andy Cobham and Paul Bailey did well to get on the end of most speculative passes. Toby Vets nearly opened the scoring with 20 minutes gone from a set piece courtesy of a powerful header which looked destined to find the back of the net in the top right corner but Rosslee was able to acrobatically tip the ball onto the bar and the danger was cleared. Rosslee however went from hero to zero as he was beaten by a speculative shot from 22 yards out after the Toby midfielder had been given the freedom of the John Roan playing fields to travel unchallenged from the half way line and strike a dipping effort over Rosslee, much to his amazement let alone his team mates! 1-0 Toby Vets.

Farnborough came out from the restart all guns blazing and Jason Miller and the two front men Paul Tanton and Pete Harvey were linking up well and playing some neat passes together, and it was Jason’s perfectly weighted through ball to Paul Tanton that led to the Farnborough equaliser. Paul Tanton took the pass in his stride and looked like he had done enough to round the onrushing Toby keeper but he was sent sprawling and the referee had no choice but to point to the penalty spot and there were no arguments from the home team whatsoever. Richard Davies duly stepped up to net his 4th goal of the season with an excellent placed penalty. 1-1

Farnborough to their credit didn’t rest on their laurels and looked for a second goal. Richard Cooke skied his effort from 12 yards out with the goal at his mercy after Jason Miller had neatly pulled the ball back to him. However the visitors soon took a well deserved lead, this time Paul Tanton was at the heart of the action as he squared the ball from out left to Pete Harvey unmarked in the box who did well to stretch a foot out and grab his first goal in 3 games. 1-2 Farnborough, halftime. Farnborough made a couple of changes at half time with Mark Friend replacing Danny Saines at left back and Matt (Don’t call me Magnum) Wright replacing Paul Bailey at the centre of defence.

For most of the second half Rosslee in the Farnborough goal was a mere spectator as the ball was constantly in the Toby half and it didn’t take long for Farnborough to get a 3rd goal and for Pete to grab his second of the game. A Jason Miller corner was poorly cleared and Pete had the presence of mind to shoot first time low and hard from the edge of the box through the crowded area leaving the Toby goalkeeper unsighted and with no chance, 1-3 Farnborough.

Pete Harvey was on hand to grab his hat-trick as he steered his shot home from inside the penalty box after some more great work on the right hand flank from Jason Miller to put further daylight between the two teams and make the score 1-4, and then he went on to score the goal of the game. Farnborough played the ball around patiently in what was at least a 20–25 pass move that I’m sure every outfield player had some involvement with, and the icing on the cake saw Pete Harvey taking the ball past the Toby centre backs with ease and unleashing a right foot (yes right foot!!!) effort into the bottom corner leaving the Toby keeper with no chance again, 1-5 Farnborough.

As you would expect by this point with the game already won Farnborough became a bit cavalier and it took the forever solid ‘Scott Parker’ like Danny Clark to remind everybody of their responsibilities and be on hand to break up any potential Toby attack. The ref blew for full time and Farnborough chalked up their first victory in 5 games and continued their impressive streak in Kidbrooke village.

There were some excellent individual performances from the likes of Danny Clark, Paul Tanton and Jason Miller however MOM was Pete Harvey who has now scored more times in Kidbrooke than a junky from the Ferrier Estate!!

Next week sees us make the trip back to SE3 to face Inter Vyagra, lets just hope the football is as sexy as it was today!