Date: Saturday 29th October 2011, 3pm KO
Sub: Jim McG
Cubo’s availability issues continued with 2 players pulling out through injury in the 24 hours before the game. With Mark Sutton forced into pulling on the keepers jersey Cubo were far from full strength. However a good warm up was carried into the game and Cubo were immediately on the front foot. The first chance of the game fell to Pogo, who linked well with Tommy Stew to find himself clean through on goal but he skewed his finish wide of the near post.
Cubo were getting plenty of joy down the left flank where Ryan’s movement and ability to find space between the home sides midfield and defence was causing them real head-aches. The main threat to Cubo’s goal appeared to come from their own carelessness in their own half and on more than one occasion they were guilty of giving the ball away in dangerous areas. Luckily Oli, Hung and Jacko were in top form and OF’s skillful number 9 was being shackled effectively.
Cubo took a deserved lead midway through the half when Ryan first won a tackle in his own half before busting a gut to get forward where he fed Tommy S who shanked a finish into the bottom corner. 1-0 Cubo. Cubo had started well and things improved further shortly afterwards when OF failed to deal with a long ball and Tommy was able to fire home for his and Cubo’s second of the game.
A third goal almost followed when Pogo again found space in behind the right back and clipped a finish over the home keeper only to see it clip the top of the bar. A great first half for the Cubans with Pogo and Ryan to the fore. An ankle injury early in the second half to Clarkey forced a change in shape with Pogo coming into the centre of the park and Jim McG coming on to the left flank. With the home side pushing men on Cubo were coming under a lot of pressure and only two great goal line blokes from skipper Oli Watkins and Mark Sutton respectively prevented the home side getting a goal back. These instances aside Cubo were showing the kind of tenacity in their defensive work that has been missing of late and Mark was being well protected.
With OF desperately searching for a way back in to the game there were always going to be gaps for Cubo to exploit and the returning MTM worked the keeper with a couple of good opportunities. One of these chances came with the slightly unsettling sight of Sadler and Jim as the furthest men forward unfortunately Sadler’s pass to Jim was under hit having carried the ball superbly into the box.
With both sides tiring on the large pitch the game became stretched with Cubo a little too happy to punt the ball away cheaply, inviting pressure onto their backline who were defending resolutely. A couple of late scares aside the Baby Blue Army were able to ride out the remainder of the game without conceding to secure a welcome 3 points.
Final Score: Old Farnboronians 0-2 AFC Cubo
Scorer(s): Tommy Stewart x 2
Man of the Match: Jacko – strong in the tackle and the air. Did a great job marking OF’s biggest threat, showing the benefits of his recent warm weather training camp in San Francisco, with a new found athleticism.
Match Report: Benny Mac
AFC Cubo 