17/3/2008

Sport

Four-Wheel drive gets Boro over the Hill and five clear

Boss Andy Clement hailed a "big win".

by Chris Harris

IT may not have been as comfortable as the final score suggested, but Farnborough did more than enough against an in-form Hillingdon Borough outfit to move five points clear at the top.

In what could prove to be a defining day in the race for the BGB Southern 1 South & West title, Darren Wheeler inspired his team to victory in a patchy Boro display. The huge three points were made even more significant with championship rivals Didcot Town suffering a shock defeat at lowly Andover.

Hillingdon played their part in an entertaining game at Cherrywood Road, but Boro showed a clinical streak to their play with goals from Marcus Richardson, Wheeler and a brace from Michael Bartley giving them the win.

Already facing a steep hill, the visitors gave themselves a mountain to climb just before half time when James Duncan crudely ended a Wheeler raid down the touchline to pick up a straight red card. Despite that numerical disadvantage, Hillingdon managed to pull a goal back and put Boro under pressure, before a devastating two minute spell saw the hosts find the net twice to seal victory.

At this stage of the campaign, it is about results rather than performances and although boss Andy Clement was not totally happy with his side’s display, he felt that they did enough to deserve what could be a huge three points.

“It’s a big three points,” he said. “But they are all big points at this stage. The next eight games are all big games.

“We had a sloppy start but we got ourselves going and scored two very good goals. But then when we got two in front we got sloppy, started dropping off people and conceded a really poor goal.

“It seems to be a chink in our armour and we press the self-destruct button at times. But we got the third goal and looked quite comfortable for the last 15 minutes. We got the ball down and passed it well after that.

“For 40 minutes out of the 90 we were very good, for the rest of it we were quite average. Overall though, it was a good result.”

Boro made just one change from the side that beat Thatcham in mid-week, with Leigh Rumbold returning from suspension in the middle at the expense of Byron Bubb.

Rumbold was into the action within seconds, very harshly booked after slightly mis-timing a challenge that saw him walking a tightrope for the rest of the match.

But it was Hillingdon who made the more assured start, getting into some threatening positions, without ever really testing Lyall Beazley in the Boro goal.

It was easy to see why Steve Ringrose’s side have won five from their last six games, but Boro suddenly clicked into gear.

A weak clearance up the line dropped at Rob Saunders’ feet, and the midfielder whipped a superb cross onto the head of Bartley, who planted the ball in the top corner with an unstoppable header.

Just two minutes later, the home fans were celebrating again, as Saunders broke up play in the middle of the park and found Wheeler, who raced forward and sent Richardson clear. The big striker at last showed some poise in front of goal to roll the ball under the advancing Barclay Lawrencin, for Boro’s 100th league goal of the season.

But it wasn’t the most comfortable of leads with Hillingdon pressing as Boro inexplicably dropped the tempo. That said, Richardson could have twice put his side further ahead, attempting to round the keeper when he should have shot after 25 minutes. Soon after he was in again, but this time saw his shot saved when Saunders was well-placed if Richardson had played a simple square ball.

Hillingdon's problems were added to in first half stoppage time when Duncan hacked Wheeler down as he flew past him up the wing. The referee had little hesitation in flourishing the red card, and Duncan received little comfort from his team-mates who were furious at his needless tackle.

That should have meant that there was no way back for Hillingdon after the break, but in a style more reminiscent of some of Boro’s early-season displays, they started poorly and the visitors soon profited.

Dave Lawrence broke down the right hand side and as the normally reliable Adam Doyle dived in, the winger skipped by his tackle with ease to leave him bearing down on goal. Lawrence made no mistake and tucked the ball past Beazley to halve Boro’s lead.

The goal shocked Boro who took time to recover, helped by the steadying influence of Dave Woozley from the bench, who came on to shore up the backline in place of the ineffectual Nic Ciardini.

Hillingdon were growing in confidence and enjoying some decent possession, but just in the nick of time their hopes were killed off in a blistering two-minute salvo from Boro.

On 73 minutes a succession of corners eventually saw Wheeler plant one perfectly on the head of Bartley who guided in his second goal of the afternoon. A minute later it was game over as Saunders spread the play to Wheeler who crowned his afternoon by bursting past two defenders into the penalty and volleying home after Lawrencin had saved his first effort.

Boro’s composure returned after that and they cruised through the final 15 minutes to move five points clear.

Tonight they have the chance to increase the gap to eight points when they take on Marlow at Cherrywood Road. With Didcot not playing it gives them the chance to forge further ahead, and put the Railwaymen under pressure to win their game in hand.

Marlow will certainly be a tricky opponent, and they are much improved from earlier in the season, when injuries hampered their efforts. That said, ninth place is probably about right for them, and they come into the game in indifferent form.

Although they won convincingly at Abingdon United on Saturday, their form before that saw them lose three consecutive games before they stopped the rot with a home draw with Thatcham Town.

But they are certainly capable of scoring goals, and the emergence of livewire forwards Aaron Couch and Jermaine Roche has helped their cause. Couch has 15 league goals to his credit and Roche bagged his second hat-trick of the season in the recent 6-2 triumph over Andover.  

When the sides met earlier in the season at Marlow, Boro's hard-fought, unattractive 1-0 win, courtesy of Richardson's debut goal, was hugely criticised by angry Boro fans. How those same fans would settle for a repeat of that result tonight to take them eight points clear at the top. Kick off at Cherrywood Road is at 7.45pm.

For a full match report, player ratings, match stats and more comments from Clement, pick up a copy of Tuesday's Farnborough Mail.

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail