Match Report: Four-get Me Not

Farnham Town 4-1 Uxbridge

It wasn't quite a Valentine's Day massacre, but with an aggregate score of 14-3 in favour of Farnham over the four matches in the past two seasons, Uxbridge will be delighted to not have to face Farnham again for a while. This latest trip down to Surrey was much of the same, as Farnham completed their obligatory comfortable win and despite not having played for a month - Town had more than enough in the tank to come away with all three points. With Jordan Stepney still nursing a hamstring injury, Bernie Tanner continued at the back and there was also a place on the bench for new signing Jeremiah Okine-Peters, a winger who joins us on loan from Reading.

It was a cagey start to the match, which saw the home side having plenty of the ball, but without making any impact on the Uxbridge defence. In fact it was the Reds who created the first chance of the day, as George Moore found space on the edge of the box to fire in a shot - which was well parried by Mike Eacott in the Farnham goal. This spurred on the home side, and they nearly took the lead a minute later when a ball was chipped to the back post which was met by Owen Dean whose header came back off the post and was cleared. On the quarter hour mark another good move saw Marco Underwood called into action again, as he saved smartly from the lively Jack Dean. With Uxbridge feeding on scraps, they needed to make the most of any chances that would come their way, and just before the half hour Harry Rush made space for a shot in the penalty box, but could only shoot over the bar. The Reds were made to pay seconds later as Farnham broke quickly down the right finding Bobby Joe Taylor in acres of space in the box, and he smashed the ball emphatically past Underwood to give the home side the lead. Uxbridge tried to respond immediately and a Casey Bocarro cross nearly caught out Eacott at the near post, but the ball went high and wide. It was then a case of Uxbridge trying to hang on until the break as Farnham dominated the rest of the half, going close on two or three occasions, with some more fine goalkeeping from Underwood and some last ditch defending helping the Reds go into half time just the one down

HT 0-1

The talk at half time with the away fans was about keeping things tight early and not conceding again - sadly it wasn't to be as Farnham doubled their lead with their first real attack of note in the second half on 54 minutes as Darryl Sanders and Sam Evans combined to carve Uxbridge open with some quick incisive passing - Sanders himself finishing the job with a fine finish. The Reds had a gilt edge chance of their own 2 minutes later after a fine run down the right from Avan Jones, he cut the ball back to Troy Perez-Duah, who couldn’t get the ball out of his feet, and it was a tame shot comfortably dealt with by Eacott. The match was effectively over just before the hour, as some more good passing saw Jack Dean played into the box, he was then dragged back, and the referee pointed to the spot - with Evans stepping up to beat Underwood to make it three. Uxbridge heads didn't drop though, and on 62 minutes they got one back - Moore again doing tireless work up front, cleverly flicked a ball through to Ada Okorogheye, who did superbly to control the ball and hold off the defender to slot the ball under Eacott, the ball seemingly taking an age to finally roll into the net. Could there be an unlikely comeback? Sadly not as ten minutes later Farnham got their fourth when a cross from Dean was nodded in deftly by Adam Liddle getting to the ball first, ahead of the Uxbridge defenders with the ball only just going over the line before Underwood could drag it back. Farnham had chances to increase the lead, notably from Bobby Joe-Taylor who lashed a shot wide when a cross dropped invitingly. Underwood was now being called upon at regular intervals, saving a close range shot after a corner wasn’t cleared, and then soon after saving well with his legs from Owen Dean's low shot. There was one very late chance as Frank Keita did well to pressure the defenders in the box, his drag back fell nicely for Okine-Peters, whose first shot was saved by Eacott, but showed great composure to pick up the loose ball and get a second shot away, but the ball was headed off the line by the Farnham defender, and 4-1 it stayed.

Two vital home matches now for Uxbridge, first up Weymouth next Saturday and then Havant & Waterlooville are the visitors the week after.

FT 1-4

Att: 907

Uxbridge: Underwood, Jones, Bocarro, Fearn (Montague), Tanner, Nnadozie (Keita), Perez-Duah, Rush (Okine-Peters), Okorogheye (English), Moore (Nwachuku), Prior-Tack.