November, don’t you just love it? Cold and wet, summer is long gone, Christmas is miles away, and the nights are drawing in. Still, at least the football is on. And the start of November also means the FA Cup First Round is upon us. Unfortunately for me, Farnborough had completely buggered up any chances of a cup run this year as we decided not to turn up against Walton & Hersham and fell at the first hurdle in the Second Qualifying Round. It wasn’t the manager’s fault, though. Obviously.
Last season, the powers that be decided to randomly abandon the concept of FA Cup replays because Jurgen Klopp got a bit knackered having to play Shrewsbury Town twice in one week. Although, funnily enough they have no problem jetting off to play in the Champions League or play in some random country in pre-season. As a result of this whinging, the FA threw in the towel on replays and opted for extra time and penalties instead. If you fancy another read after this one, the last blog saw penalty of shootout action as the FA Trophy churned out a victory for Chasetown against Belper.
However, as I say, we buggered the FA Cup up this year and haven’t had a cup run since beating Sutton United and pushing Wrexham all the way in the Hollywood Arena. So, instead it was a motorway trip down to the San Cherrio to watch the Yellows as we faced off against Dorking Wanderers in the National League South. Marc White’s side wanted to tear the league apart when they got relegated from the National League last season, but so far they’ve only managed to make a small incision in the proverbial paper. Having said that, they are a good setup at Meadowbank and have a good atmosphere going, including the well-known documentary series Bunch of Amateurs.
After Dorking nicked Jordan Norville-Wlliams from our grasp last season, we decided that we would grab one of their players as well and grabbed the David Luiz tribute also known as Aaron Kuhl on a bumper two-year deal. Kuhly was with the club on loan last season and proved his worth to the fans, and Spencer, only to be recalled a week before the end of the season.
Oh well. We didn’t make playoffs anyway. This season we’ve started well with bare bones and have been top of the league at times, which a team of part-timers with a small budget can only dream of. Watching the previews from both managers, Marc White says Spencer Day is “one of his favourite people in football.” I’m guessing he hasn’t spoken to any Aldershot Town fans then. The less said about that, the better, because he’s doing alright for the Boro at the moment.
My matchday alarm went off at 7am, but as it happened I ignored it and went back to sleep, then woke up in a panic thinking I’d left it too late. You might wonder why I’m setting an alarm for 7am to go two hours down the road in a car, but that’s because we cleverly managed to tie it in with a trip to see people “daan saaf” as they say.
We eventually left at 9:20, but had to take a little detour because the motorway was closed for some works on the HS2 that is apparently in progress. The journey was relatively smooth and uneventful, although we did pass the Carlisle United bus, so that’s something. The traffic did slow on the M25, unfortunately, after all the good progress. We eventually made it a short while later. I can’t remember what time because I didn’t write it in my notes. Poor from me.
If you sit in between those two lorries you'll be sandwiched.
Anyway, me and my senior football liaison officer (Grandad) reached the ground just before 2pm and immediately went to the 50/50 stall to gamble on a game that neither of us had ever won. With prizes of over £200 each week, I suppose that’s something to be incentivised by and someone’s got to win it. Following that, it was the standard ‘burger and Bovril’ order that I resorted to from FaST Food, and once that was devoured I went up into the Gods to sit in the usual spot. Taking in the atmosphere, I was immediately distracted by the shine of Marc White’s bin bag that he wears as a coat, along with his trademark cap. Not one to criticise a (presumably) rich man’s fashion, particularly not being so fashionable myself, but come on Marc, surely that’s got to go at some point. Although having said that, it wouldn’t be the same Marc White then would it?
Farnborough: Turner, Casey, Hollis, Chin, Pruti, Haigh, Holmes, Pendlebury, Clark, Kuhl, Matthews-Lewis
Subs: Mason, Robinson, Oyeleke, Acey, Young
Dorking Wanderers: Foulkes, Camp, Craig, McManus, Muitt, Prior, Rutherford, Gallagher, Norville-Williams, Milson, Young
Subs: Briggs, Fuller, Bowerman, Francomb, Alexandrou
The floodlights soon came on, and then we were ready for kick off. The Aaron Kuhl derby was underway. Dorking looked comfortable early on and came close in the fifth minute as they blazed a shot over the bar. Meanwhile, as Marc White was arguing with the fourth official (standard), there was a bizarre announcement on the tannoy for people to check their fingers and toes because a ring had been handed into lost property. If you have a ring on your toe, then I don’t think you should really be trusted to keep hold of it anyway.
Dorking nearly took the lead again on the 16th minute as JNW put in a cross, and Pruti attempted to clear it. Unfortunately for him, he sent it the wrong way and it almost trundled over the line before JT somehow scrambled to clear it.
It looked like it would be goalless going into the break despite Dorking being dominant until little Joe Haigh broke on the counter-attack in the 40th minute and put us 1-0 up with some brilliant footwork. Two minutes later we somehow managed to grab a second as Ricky Holmes curled a finish into the top corner despite not being able to see anything from being elbowed in the eye two minutes earlier.
After scoring, Ricky then went off for the ever-present Reggie Young for a few minutes before half time, and frustratingly we couldn’t hold onto the clean sheet before the break. Their number 2 was just given a free header in the box and brought them back. That obviously meant they would come out all guns blazing in the second half.
And they did. In the 50th minute, Dorking had the ball in the net, but it was offside. In the 55th minute, we conceded another set piece and it was the number 2 again. In the 57th minute, they overloaded a midfield with a counter attack and scored to make it 3-2. Then, they completely killed the game off on the hour mark with a fourth that opened us up way too easily.
Bugger.
Then, we try and get back into the game by….. (checks notes) passing it around along the back. Fantastic. Didn’t realise Spencer had turned into Gareth Southgate. Yes, they defended well but we really should be at least having a go. Clearly the squad heard our thoughts in the stands as we then turned up the work rate and with Chinny finally in the correct position, he worked hard down that right hand side. Who knew that playing players slightly outside of their preferred and natural roles wouldn’t work out well?
Chinny tore down the right hand side with 15 minutes to go and drilled across low to find Millar Matthews-Lewis who was able to tap in and bring the game to within one. After that, we controlled possession and could’ve had a fourth in the final ten minutes as Taylor Clark tried to curl one bottom corner, but Harrison Foulkes somehow pulled off an unreal save. Chinny rolled just wide three minutes later, and that was all she wrote. It could’ve been a cricket score.
In all honesty, in front of a crowd of just shy of 1,600, to be pushing a well-drilled, former National League side all game was a pretty good showing. Unfortunately, when you even give them a sniff, they’ll take advantage of it, just like those 15 minutes in the second half.
So with that, we trundled off to the car and went back to the complex. I won’t be back at the San Cherrio until Boxing Day now, so no Boro blogs until then, but Chasetown come calling for the next blog as they trek down to Alvechurch in the Trophy in two weeks.
Tom.
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