Farnborough players celebrate John Oyenuga’s winner over Merthyr Town.
Submitted for publication in the Aldershot News & Mail
A huge contrast in emotions saw Farnborough go from being cruelly knocked out of the FA Cup, to a morale-boosting away victory at Merthyr Town.
Last Tuesday, Farnborough needed to get past fellow league opponents Metropolitan Police to book a place in the Third Round Qualifying.
However, former goalkeeper Liam Beach had a magnificent performance in the opposition goal to keep Farnborough at bay for 90 minutes.
Farnborough crucially missed a second half penalty as full-back Louie Paget failed to hit the target with the score goalless, before visiting striker Liam Ferdinand struck home from distance on 80 minutes to send Metropolitan Police through to the next round.
Then the second longest away game of the season saw Farnborough head into Wales to play Merthyr Town.
A good start from the visitors resulted in Farnborough taking the lead through debuting striker Elliott Buchanan, who signed the day before on dual-registration with Kingstonian, after nine minutes.
Merthyr levelled from the penalty spot on 20 minutes as Kerry Morgan managed to beat goalkeeper Dante Baptiste, after Farnborough captain Jordan Rose was penalised for a coming together in the box.
Seven minutes later Elijah Phipps put Merthyr ahead for the first time in the game with a finish from inside the box.
Five minutes after the half-time break, Buchanan bagged his second of the game with a simple tap-in from a fine Paul Hodges cross.
The hosts were reduced to ten men on 66 minutes when right-back Adam Davies was shown a second yellow card after a series of fouls.
Farnborough continued to pile on the pressure, and got their reward on 75 minutes when John Oyenuga fired high into the net from the edge of the box to send all three points back to Hampshire.
This Saturday, October 2, the side from Farnborough, Hampshire, welcome Truro City to the Easy As HGV Stadium in the Southern League Premier South, kick-off 3.00pm.
Get all the latest news, updates, things to do and more from your local InYourArea feed.
