Unlucky Boars overcome by league leaders

Saturday afternoon saw Farnham Town triumph Eversley and California in a gritty contest ending 2-1 in the league leader’s favour.

Match Report by Ben Thomas

The first half proved a lively battle between the two sides. Despite being the clear underdogs going into the match, the Boars were determined to show a fighting attitude, winning most loose balls and 50/50 challenges. This passion was matched in footballing ability, quick counter attacks saw the home side fashion various clear-cut opportunities. The best chance of the half was crafted by striker B. Brown, who flicked a header in the direction of C. Akem-Che who attempted a clever lob, but the shot fell marginally wide of the post. Both teams failed to apply the finishing touch in their attempts to break the deadlock, but the Boars were especially unlucky not to be 2 or 3 goals up by the break. Although Eversley were on top, the away side also showed glimpses of flowing interplay when going forward and retained possession well through the middle of the park. When it came to half time the league leaders would’ve been happy with 0-0 based on their performance, being dominated in most areas by the Boars.
Farnham Town emerged from the break seemingly rejuvenated after a frustrating first half performance which panicked the home side. The Boars continued to defend well until the 61th minute when a goal line scramble occurred. The ball was floated back in from a cleared corner, which wasn’t dealt with properly and smashed home from close by S. Evans. This goal was against the pattern of the game but the mounting pressure from the away side meant a goal was imminent, in the following minutes the game opened up and the Boars fought their way back into the game. In the 69th minute, a whipped corner from M. Davies was met by M. Guest at the back post and powered home, putting the sides on level terms. 5 minutes later and the away side showed why they were at the top of the league, despite conceding an equaliser they pushed hard to nudge themselves in front again. An aerial through ball wasn’t dealt with convincingly by the Boars defence and E. Candona was first to react, heading off the post from point blank to make the game 2-1 to the visitors.
In the remaining 15 minutes of the game, Eversley and California retained possession and had a majority of dangerous attacks due to applying high pressure. Despite this, Farnham did well to break up the game and make it as scrappy a battle as possible, pushes and late tackles being committed to limit the flow of Eversley’s attacks. The Boars put a shift in till the last whistle but Farnham Town did enough to see out the game and ensure the 2-1 win. All in all a loss was harsh on the Boars and will feel like a very disappointing result, especially after dominating the first half with chances to go 2 or 3-0 up however Farnham Town’s second half performance trumped Eversley’s and after the 3 goals in quick succession, the game seemed to fizzle out. There were many positives aspects to take from the Boars performance although they lost, which if demonstrated in future games will inevitably lead to results starting to favour Eversley.