SYDENHAMS LEAGUE (WESSEX) DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 1ST MARCH 2008
FARNBOROUGH NE 3 VERWOOD TOWN 2

A crunch game. Only a couple of points separated the teams as we kicked off. Adie and Nigel had rehearsed their dressing room chat all the way to the ground and for a change it looked as if they were to be rewarded.

10 seconds and an Elysee break on the right split open the home side. A cross was just missed by Goodall.

The dead ball kick hung in the air as the wind gusted. Lynch steamed forward and a header went wide to Dyer. A cross field pass and Elysee stormed in to shoot point blank …but.. at the keeper. The clearance found Arnold. A pass to Goodall and a quick cross into the box. In came Elysee and Reeves. Panic reigned and an attempted clearance spun up in the air and over the line. 1-0.

The pressure was maintained and Farnborough defended in numbers. 6 minutes and a free kick. Up stepped Faulkner and the ball was in the net 2-0.

A long clearance down the line almost caught us but Giles nipped in smartly to take the ball away from danger.

Goodall was enjoying some freedom but the pitch was very bumpy so we suffered slightly from passes going astray.

FNE clawed their way back into contention with a rallying ten minutes and for a change Yerby Homer and Lynch were extremely busy in a mopping up operation. We looked comfortable and for some inexplicable reason we dropped our pressure.

Reeves and Arnold seemed to be offered a lot of space as they worked the central area. We did nothing though in front of the sticks. What shots we did have didn't stretch the keeper too much so FNE were gradually let off the hook.

Willis pulled off a couple saves from the odd excursion into our box but generally there wasn't a lot to bother us. We were sauntering instead of running. We made progress through the half but typical of our performance was in the 42nd minute……..

Goodall rounded a defender outpaced the centre half and hit a low ball across the box. We didn't have a single player following up and the ball skipped through a deserted area to run out into touch.

The lesson wasn't learned. It was almost a nonchalance atmosphere as we continued sauntering our way through the remaining couple of minutes and the whistle went with a score line of 2-0.

The atmosphere curled in the dressing room as Adie and Nigel pointed out the danger of tailing off our game so badly.

A quick attack. Goodall flicked the ball on to Dyer over to Arnold, ball back to Elysee, a rising shot…over the bar. Promising? Not on yer Nellie.

FNE got their tails up and the first real save for Chris Willis was at feet with only six minutes gone. A minute later he saved again as the ball whistled its way across the box.

56 minutes and a raid down the left went unchecked. A low cross was turned on the far post. 2-1.

The wind gusted. The ball swirled here and there but this was no excuse for an inept performance. We drifted through the game. The pressure mounted. More and more FNE players became adventurous and we found them virtually camping outside the box.

Giles and Lynch used whatever guile they had and Yerby and Homer got stuck in to task on hand, that of keeping the home side outside the area.

67minutes and Reeves pulled up with a hamstring pull. We weren't sure how he'd done it as the first aiders reckoned you need to be in motion for it to pull. Anyway he came off. Truan ran on and was immediately asked to slow down, we didn't want any oddballs.

A minute later, Father Christmas came knocking. A simple cross and a tap in on the post with no one challenging, 2-2.

The following five minutes saw some great saves from Willis but 74 minutes on the clock had us dead and buried. A high up and under that Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud of was watched in awe. We didn't do anything about it just watched in awe.

Down it came, knocked on again into our box and The Lone Ranger out on the right flank had a clear run on goal…..3-2.

Had the home side taught us a lesson?,….an emphatic NO. We do things like let games go all on our own.

Full time 3-2.