Farnham Town v VWFC
21/07/2018 Farnham Town 0-1 Virginia Water
Pre-Season Friendly
Report by Ceri Jones
A very competitive match, played in good spirit and sweltering heat, gave entertainment to a surprisingly reasonable crowd! Virginia Water achieved a second successive clean sheet with a strong defensive display, Finn Evered (MoM) and Josh Hill were the stand out performers in the back four, not taking anything away from Dom Clarke and Michael Chambers who were also notable contributors.
Matt Jones in goal was commanding in the air and to the credit of his defence, had few shots on target to deal with.
Waters’ midfield functioned well, with Liam Whyte having a terrific match in a physical contest, ably supported by Sam Devoil, Richard Bond and the mercurial Louis Sanders.
The first goal, and winner as it turned out, came from a deft reverse pass by Sanders, that Lorenzo (Lenny) Di Felice took in his stride. He hit a low shot on the run that the goalkeeper could only parry into the path of the excellent Scott Jackson, who lashed home on 30 minutes for his second goal in as many games. Waters went close again with Di Felice hitting a post and Adam McNamara forcing a save from the keeper, and also seeing a couple of other efforts narrowly go over the bar.
The away side were good value at 1-0 at the break, and then made numerous rotational changes.
Scott Jackson (no. 7) celebrates with his teammates
In the second half Waters started as they left off, with Max Samyint and Harvey Griffiths combining well down the left, and from one of many passing exchanges, a Griffiths cross found Jake Baker arriving late at the front post, but his volley was just wide.
Ryan Curtis’ introduction gave Waters some potency in the air, and his link play with Baker, Griffiths and Harry Brooks on the other flank kept Waters on the front foot and a real threat in the final third.
Waters failed to add to the scoreline but as many will say, the result is not important but the performance was, and it was duly rewarded with a good win and clean sheet at the end of the day – which was most certainly welcome.
Waters would like to wish good luck to Farnham for the coming season, who contributed to a strong workout for two good sides.
Team (first half):
Matt Jones
Josh Hill
Michael Chambers
Finn Evered
Dom Clarke
Liam Whyte
Sam Devoil
Lorenzo Di Felice
Louis Sanders
Scott Jackson
Adam McNamara
Team (second half):
Matt Jones
Josh Hill
Finn Evered
Mike Chambers
Max Samyint
Richard Bond
Liam Whyte
Harry Brooks
Ryan Curtis
Harvey Griffiths
Jake Baker