Posted by ChrisB on October 13, 2007, 7:12 pm HALF-TIME: City 0-2 Farnborough City started the second period strongly and almost immediately Gardner produced a great chance for himself when he robbed a dithering defender in the box, but shot well wide. And the same player produced two more good chances for the Blues in the next fifteen minutes. A corner only just failed to reach the lunging Stuart Cattell, and a couple of minutes later another well struck cross somehow evaded James Faulkner when a goal looked certain. With City pressing hard Spence and Roach had a little more room and with a quarter of an hour gone in the half only a terrific tackle from James Saulsbury stopped Spence as he bore down on Smith. FULL-TIME: Oxford City 2-3 Farnborough City: Smith, Saulsbury, Weirich, Gunn, Pond (Williams 80), Cattell, Gardner (Jones 71), Redknap, Faulkner (Stewart 80), Anya, McSporran. So Farnborough maintain their unbeaten record, and City lose theirs. But a good game, nonetheless, between two well-matched sides who, I would think, should both be in the upper reaches of the table in April. The only disappointment to me really was that so much hung on two different assistant referees’ varying interpretations of the off-side rule - or is that just sour grapes? The return match in February should be well-worth watching.
With England hosting Estonia at Wembley this afternoon City welcomed Farnborough to Court Place Farm for the first time in seven years at the early hour of one o’clock: a move that certainly boosted the sales of the famed bacon rolls to cater for all those missing their lunches!
There was a minute’s silence, impeccably observed by the good-sized crowd, before the start for a City stalwart of the ‘60s, Tony Bradbury; and the applause at its end marked the beginning of an eagerly awaited game between two of the division’s unbeaten teams.
The first five minutes saw good home pressure with three corners coming in quick succession; a free-kick from Jon Gardner that wasn’t far away from Andy Gunn’s head; and a good run into the box by Ikechi Anya that was only stopped by a perfectly-timed tackle from Luke Evans. Farnborough also showed early on why they are many people’s favourites for promotion. Ex-City enigma Ray Spence broke well and put in a centre from the City left, and Steve Smith, making his home debut, had to be quick off his line to save at the feet of high-scoring Neville Roach; and a long throw from Steve Dell gave Spence a chance on the edge of the area but he shot wide.
A flowing move from midfield involving Pond, Faulkner and Anya saw Gardner just fail to control a bouncing ball when in a good position, just before Anya drew a foul and Gardner delivered an accurate kick that Jermaine McSporran flicked home with the Farnborough defence watching Gunn and Cattell. Unfortunately the assistant referee’s flag was raised for an offside decision against (presumably) another player and the celebrations came to an abrupt halt.
At the clubhouse end Spence’s shot was saved by Smith, though a late flag would have ruled a goal out anyway, and then Spence became provider as his run and curling cross on the Farnborough right was neatly headed home by Roach at the near-post on 23 minutes.
Eight minutes later and the afternoon got worse for the City as Roach shot home from close in past Smith’s left hand from a position that everyone, except, unfortunately, the assistant referee, felt was a good yard offside!
Gardner came close to narrowing the gap with five minutes left when a dipping free-kick from the edge of the box was deflected just wide, but City seemed to have lost their shape a little and the visitors made a number of promising openings in the last ten minutes of the half, with Spence involved in much of the action. A succession of first-time passes saw him through the City defence, but just offside, and a teasing cross from him produced a diving header from Nic Ciardini that only just cleared the bar.
Just as it looked as though Farnborough had weathered the storm, a long ball out of defence on the City left was picked up by Faulkner and McSporran made up yards on the defenders to be first to the ball and finish neatly as Faulkner’s low cross was pushed out by Lyall Beazley in the visitor’s goal.
Both sides reacted positively to the goal as Gardner hit a shot that Beazley gathered at the second attempt; Ciardini dispossessed McSporran and shot wide; and Mark Gamble fired a shot/cross through a busy six-yard box with no-one able to get a meaningful touch.
With fifteen minutes left James Faulkner was again in a good position, on the City right this time, to chase down a pass over the top, and his cross along the goal-line was scrambled away by the defence. Darren Pond, just inside the Farnborough half, shaped to return the ball to the danger zone, but his pass cannoned off a defender and into the path of Ray Spence who, with Pond momentarily out of position, took the ball on and finished with a well-judged shot across Smith.
A double substitution for City followed and in the next attack McSporran went past Beazley and the keeper brought him down just inside the area. A yellow card for Beazley and, with almost his first touch of the ball since coming on, Alex Stewart hit the spot-kick hard and accurately into the bottom corner of the net.
Just under ten minutes left and the home side pushed hard for the equaliser against a defence reinforced by the arrival of Sean Thurgood at the expense of striker Neville Roach. And it looked as though City had grabbed a point from the match when a Jones free-kick was fumbled by Beazley straight to McSporran who rolled the ball home – but up went that flag again!!
Farnborough: Beazley, Dell, Bailey, Woozley, Evans, Rumbold, Howes (Gamble 39), Ciardini, Roach (Thurgood 73), Harkness, Spence.
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