Match Report

Testing but encouraging start for new manager

And so it begins, the first of forty games – Covid willing, a new season under new management with some new faces, some old faces and some departed faces.  My last season – “I have heard that before, many times” says Mrs M.  

At training earlier in the week, new manager George Kleanthous had set out his mission statement – “Audacity, goals, continuous improvement, striving”.  I made this bit up – the words are from a book I am enjoying enormously, Quentin Letts’ “Patronising Bastards: How the Elites Betrayed Britain”.  The words are what Quentin calls “a boiled down jus of communal endeavour” in his chapter on “Corporate Balls – The strange nonsense of mission statements”. 

With the new regime comes a new substitutions policy that will ruffle preening feathers.  As the elder statesman of the squad, I would advise our young bucks not to do anything hasty, and encourage them to take a longer and broader view of the benefits of what we do on Sundays, which go well beyond mere physical activity.  This said, of course, players make their own decisions and we have to respect that. If players feel that their superior ability deserves a different stage, good luck to them.  

FOBG Squad: Phil Anthony, Ian Coles, Tom Girling, Sinisa Gracanin, Jay Hardy, Peter Harvey, Waine Hetherington, Michael Hills, George Kleanthous, Colin Mant, Chisa Mkala, Patrice Mongelard, James Rutter, Simon Thomas, Gordon Thompson.

Kit sponsor: The Dog and Duck, Outwood.

Referee:  Paul Parsons.

Supporters: Ian Lyons, Toby Manchip, Natasha McCartney, Danny and Ethan Mullins, Andy Osborne, Joe Skinner.

Manager:  George Kleanthous.

Chief Football Correspondent:  Patrice Mongelard.

Chief Impact Officer:  Phil Anthony.

It was good to see the lads again.  I missed the context for some of the changing room banter but it sounded like Michael Hills had a new job as a Herbalife Super Salesman.  Jay Hardy kept faith with his pre-match herbal relaxant.   

Our opponents, formerly known as Orpington Vets but now gone upmarket to Beckenham, are a well-known quantity, deserving respect.  The presence of Kevin “Lord of the Rings” in their ranks is always a sign of a tough game to come, as it turned out to be, on a dry, overcast day with not much breeze.  It was not too humid and the playing surface was springy, not the lumpy granular surface we often get in August, a well-earned tribute to the ground staff.

Referee Paul Parsons led a minute’s silence to remember ex-Farnborough player and manager, Rich Heselden, who passed away on Friday from injuries sustained in a cycling accident.

We could have taken the lead several times in the opening minutes as Jay Hardy, Peter Harvey and Simon Thomas squandered good opportunities.  After that, we had to withstand pressure from our opponents and even Kevin, normally deadly in the box, sliced a close-range volley wide from a central position, unmarked and unbalanced perhaps by his metalwork.  There was plenty of endeavour from both sides but after our initial flash of brilliance it was Beckenham that looked more likely to score.  They were able to win a lot of headers in our box and we looked shaky on set-pieces. They could recycle balls won from our midfield quickly and to good effect and from one such move took the lead after half an hour with a smart finish from their nippy forward. Tom Girling started to come off his line to meet a through ball but then held back, retreated and a window of opportunity was opened, which Beckenham punished.

The goalscorer nearly doubled their lead five minutes later but the ball came off the bar.  At the other end, we created good situations, mainly to rain crosses into the Beckenham box but most were too near to the Beckenham keeper who was no Dracula.  We could not engineer a final ball that would bring parity.  The Beckenham defending was robust.  Peter Harvey was taken several times from behind and even earned a free kick or two from Paul Parsons.    

Our mood at half-time was not despondent.  We felt we could get back into it. 

We certainly had most of the possession in the second half and the flow of traffic was generally towards the Beckenham goal. Clear scoring opportunities were rare, however. Beckenham were to hit our bar twice in that half and we had several attempts on their goal which came very close. The best of these fell to Chisa Mkala six yards out after a cut-back from Jay Hardy but Chisa’s shot drifted wide.  Michael Hills was unmarked in the Beckenham box to meet a Simon Thomas corner but could not keep the ball on target. A trademark run and shot from Michael driving deep from our defence looked good on the eye.

Then came the turning point of the game. With twenty minutes or so left Tom Girling conceded a penalty by bringing down (and taking out) one of the dangerous Beckenham forwards, after we had lost the ball in midfield. Tom’s dive low to his left at full stretch to palm the ball round the post will linger long in the memory.  I would say this gave us even greater belief even though we never ceased trying to draw level. We had Beckenham on the back foot for much of the half. Their left back – think Chopper Harris or Norman Hunter, but without their finesse, eventually caused Paul Parsons to get his yellow card out following an agricultural tackle on Chisa Mkala. 

In the end, with barely a couple of minutes we got what we deserved. The effervescent Jay Hardy found himself on the edge of the Beckenham box, looking to drive forward, saw in his mind’s eye a space through which he propelled the ball goalwards with the outside of his right foot. It looked nonchalant but had deadly intent and a predator’s instinct and was too good for the Beckenham keeper, at long last.        

This was an entertaining game, performed in excellent spirit between two teams who play the right way and a draw was a fair result. It was a draw in the bar as well. 

Man of the Match: Debutant goalkeeper Tom Girling, much to Toby Manchip’s consternation. Toby has never saved a penalty for Farnborough but today had his best game for the club, according to some of the lads. Another celebrant, to whom we send our best wishes, was Tony Harvey, 81 years old today who would have been delighted, as we all were, to see his lad Peter playing again, post-Covid.