TOP OF THE PILE ON BONFIRE NIGHT

BOEHC Vets 2 Gravesham & Wellcome Men’s 3s 0

A thing of beauty this may not have been, but neither was this win a Guy Fawkes’ dummy either. The visiting Gravesham team - a newly-formed and well-drilled outfit barely recognisable from last season - are likely to get better as the season progresses and provided a very stern test indeed. Ironically they were the Vets’ bogey team last season, inflicting two defeats on the Club despite ending the season at the foot of the table, but there was no repeat this time around in the late afternoon darkness of College Meadow.

Without the luxury of a settled squad thus far in 2015-2016 the home team were nevertheless able to field a fantastic four across the middle from their box of fireworks, with Lee Sandy putting in a firecracker performance down the right as a constant thorn in Gravesham’s side, and the returning Mark Ainley busy as a Catherine Wheel in the centre. Fellow central midfielder Phil Goode looked like he had given the home side the lead with a trademark shot from a short corner after a dominant opening 15 minutes where the home side were encamped in the visitors’ half. His ecstasy was cut short by the Gravesham keeper whose senses were working overtime as he parried the shot away from the bottom right-hand corner. The one thing the midfield did not get right was to regularly ignite their sparkler on the left, Ravi Wickramsuriya, as too many attacks went either through the middle or down the right. One possible reason was that they simply did not know it was him. Eschewing the Premier League or Brazilian penchant for short snappy shirt names (like "Ravi”, perchance?), Mr. Wickramsuriya’s new personalised Akuma top carried his full name on the back, reduced by necessity to 8-point type to actually fit, so he was indeed a little hard to identify under floodlights.

The starting 11 originally had the team’s player of the early season Richard Cleall dropping to central defence in a revised 4-4-2 formation, but disaster struck on 20 minutes as his hamstring went like a banger, taking the home side’s dominance with it until the break. Fortunately the ever dependable Phil Kinch and Steve Miller kept beating out potential fires at the back, the latter in particular turning in a fine performance in the middle for the full 70 minutes, as did both of the home umpires and the visiting official supplied by Gravesham.

Ultimately the result was decided by the “tale of two keepers” and the individual brilliance of the home team’s offensive rocket Graham Green who deservedly scored both goals. The first was down to Graham’s sheer persistence following a miskick howler from the visiting keeper, which was very unfortunate considering how brilliant he had been up that point in proceedings. The second was a routine effort which calmed the team’s nerves for the last 10 minutes, but otherwise Gravesham generally warded off a host of other home opportunities. It was the home keeper, Tom Conway, who deservedly got the man-of-the-match plaudits for some excellent interventions and closing down of opposing forwards, showing that he can more than hold a candle to his goalkeeping compatriot, Roman. Three clean sheets in five matches after none in 24 games last season? Unbelievable … and on Guy Fawke’s night the team still stays top of the pile in Division 3 for the time being – it is just a question of keeping the home fires burning.

The last word does go the three Vets’ squad members who were loaned out and also made the 120-mile round trip to Folkestone to ensure that the Dynamos fixture could be fulfilled and the youngsters’ still got a game. The opposition could not exactly complain that BOEHC had sent a bunch of ringers, as the combined ages of the car-load of three was actually 204 years. Still, it does give a new angle to the expression “Antiques Roadshow”! Well done in particular to Stephen Gilbert and Tony D’Cruz.

Team:
Tom Conway (GK), Phil Kinch, Steve Miller, Richard Cleall, Tim Walters, Ravi Wickramsuriya, Phil Goode, Mark Ainley, Lee Sandy, Tony D’Cruz, Stephen Gilbert (C), Graham Green.

Man-of-the-match:
Tom Conway.