Yellows Beaten by Five-Star Farnham

Farnham Town 5

Booth 3 Evans 6 Ogo 75, 87 Dean 89

Tiverton Town 0

Saturday 13th December

The Memorial Ground

Attendance: 737

From the outside it appears that with every passing game our plight is becoming that much harder. Although being in and around football dressing rooms for a large percentage of my life I know that there will still be a belief from the inside, that this downward trend can be averted. However painful defeats like these must be extremely difficult to take. 

Surrey side Farnham have acclimatised to this level of football very well since promotion and find themselves nestled in the play-offs, with dreamland aspirations of a third successive promotion. Two postponements had perhaps stifled a bit of momentum that the Yellows could have taken into this game. 

Asa Hall and Steve Orchard welcomed back Louis Jagger Cane to the matchday squad and Gabe Billington who wasn’t available for the Poole game. Both took their places on the bench, with Dan Koita back in the starting line-up, after a second half cameo in Tiverton’s last match. 

A late change just before kick-off saw Jacob Wellington replace Corey Koerner who missed out through illness and keeper John Ross was also amongst the substitutes. For fans of Reality TV, Love Islander Harry Cooksley was part of the hosts midfield. However, the influential Matt Mackenzie was absent due to concussion protocols. 

It was the Yellows who were dazed though, in the third minute of this game when wide man Beaux Booth showed good feet, as he was allowed to travel a fair distance along the touchline before cutting inside to decisively fire past Matt Wonnacott in Tiverton’s goal. 

It proved to be a baptism of fire for Asa Hall’s men, as three minutes later the young Torquay loanee keeper was once again picking the ball out of the back of his net. It was Sam Evans who was played in, and he calmly slotted home past the exposed Wonnacott. 

This of course wasn’t an unusual occurrence for this Yellows side, who had succumbed to the Town’s fast, flowing start. A second enforced change then had to be made, with the injured Brooklyn Wilkins making way for Gabe Billington. Two nil and two players’ down. 

Not for the first time during this campaign they dusted themselves off and slowly grew in confidence, matching their much higher opponents for a large portion of the rest of the half. There was a close shave though in the 23^rd minute when Adam Liddle flashed a cross across the six-yard box and missed a host of onrushing Town players. 

Billington and Swann then made good progress out wide, exchanging passes as they carried the ball deeper into Farnham territory. Billington’s cross- come shot going across the face of the area though, had a similar result as Liddle’s delivery.  The Yellows were then awarded a free kick on the edge of the Dee, but despite Swann getting the ball up over the wall, he couldn’t keep his attempt down. 

Around the half hour mark, defender Dan Bayliss headed beyond the Tiverton crossbar from around the penalty spot, when up for a set-piece for the hosts. A warning as the visitors tried gallantly to get a goal back, that Farnham with another goal could realistically have this game wrapped up, before the interval. 

Swann then scampered down the home sides left, tricking his way into a crossing position and finding Dan Koita. Tiverton’s number nine though was marked tightly and his downward header rolled tamely into Michael Eacott, the Town number one's arms. 

In the 38^th minute a glaring miss from Liddle let Asa Hall’s side off the hook. A sweeping move from our opponents ending with the striker lifting over, when only a few yards out. Toby Down’s determined defending also prevented our hosts from adding a third, as he strongly held off a posse of players in claret and blue, three minutes later. 

Just prior to the break Swann and Aiden Horne combined well, but the latter couldn’t quite reverse his ball into the lively Swann’s path and half time arrived with the Yellows hopes in a delicate position. Knowing that one goal would give them a foothold in the game, but another for the Town would put the game beyond them. 

The Surrey side gained the upper- hand at the start of the second period and a dangerous cut back just evaded Jack Dean at the back post with Tiverton stretched in the 48^th minute. Harry Hutchinson then stepped up to bludgeon a free kick from a wide area towards goal. His superbly struck effort produced a wonderful save from Eacott, to deny the Dorchester loanee. 

That happened in the 51^st minute and a short while later the Yellows were holding their breath down the other end, as strikes from Liddle, Booth and captain Ryan Kinnane all threatened to close the game out, for the home side. Two excellent blocks’ from Down and Matt Wood inside our box, then denied substitute Darryl Sanders and ex Cambridge United man, Bobby-Joe Taylor. 

Intense pressure from Farnham and in the 70^th minute some alert goalkeeping from Wonnacott saw him, take the ball away from an attacker who had broken our defensive line. Our resistance was broken in the 73^rd minute when the referee controversially allowed a goal to stand, regardless of a handball in the build up to it. 

 A Town player on the floor pushing the ball away from Billington and as the ball eventually found its way through to forward Ogo Obi, he pretty much ended Tiverton’s ambitions in this game. Jack Kennell then set up Koita, who connected well with his shot, but Eacott impressively parried away. 

One plus on another chastening day at the office was the return of Louis Jagger Cane from injury in the 75^th minute, with Aiden Horne being substituted. 77 minutes had elapsed when Wonnacott made a fine reflex save, to keep out the dangerous Taylor. 

A driving run from Swann ended with a curling effort from a good position, arrowing wide. However, in the 87^th minute our hosts pulled away further. Obi completing a brace with his eighth goal of the campaign, as the Yellows defensive frailties were exposed once again. Obi walking the ball into the goal.  

Our misery was compounded a minute later, as second half substitute Owen Dean made it five, after getting the better of a one-on-one with Wonnacott. A sixth almost followed when Sanders rattled a post and in added time as Taylor skied his attempt, when facing an unmanned goal. 

There is no hiding from another comprehensive loss and there will be plenty to assess before Tuesday evening as we host high riding Gloucester City. For what seems like the inevitable not becoming a reality, the Yellows will need to start pulling off some unlikely wins. As always, they can count on the loyal support of their fans at the Slee Blackwell stadium then.

Tiverton: Matt Wonnacott, Brooklyn Wilkins (10), Jack Kennell, Matt Wood, Toby Down, Tor Swann, Asa Hall, Dan Koita, Jacob Wellington, Harry Hutchinson, Aiden Horne (75).

Substitutes: John Ross, Louis Jagger Cane (75), Gabe Billington (10).