CHERTSEY TN 0, FARNHAM TN 1

FARNHAM’S final Combined Counties League game of the season was hardly a crowd-pleaser, but it at least ended a run of four consecutive defeats and gave manager Paul Tanner a chance to experiment with his squad – with varying degrees of success.

The first half was like watching Gordon the gopher and Brian the snail race 100 metres, as Tanner himself put it. The only redeeming feature was the 44th-minute goal that decided the game.

Stan Staines produced a touch of class to lob the keeper from an acute angle and that goal was enough to take Farnham to 49 points for the season, only just missing their minimum target of 50.

Farnham played with much more self-belief in the second half and good spells of pressure brought them several decent openings, although nothing clear-cut.

Chertsey had a couple of chances themselves to equalise and the game opened up in the late stages. But the bumpy surface was the chief obstacle for both sides.

Farnham probably deserved to edge it over the 90 minutes, but the game was typical of a season which has been something of an anticlimax after the cup success of the 2015-16 campaign.

“We need changes in the squad and a change of attitude for next season and I believe I’m able to achieve this and turn things around after a poor season,” said Tanner.

“The target of staying up was achieved, but I’m more interested in rectifying things after the downward spiral of the last few weeks.”

The season is not quite over for Farnham because they have been reinstated in the Aldershot Senior Cup. Camberley, after beating Farnham 4-2 in the quarter-final, were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player and it is now Farnham who face CCL champions Hartley Wintney in the semi-final. It will be played at Farnham’s Memorial Ground this Saturday (ko3pm) and the winners will meet Fleet Town in the final at Aldershot’s EBB?Stadium on Wednesday, May 10 (ko 7.45).

* Badshot Lea may be going down after finishing third from bottom of the Premier Division, but they went out on a defiant note on Saturday, winning 1-0 at AFC Hayes.

Jack May scored the winner in the 85th minute as the Baggies reponded to some encouraging tweets from Michael Charles.

“Let’s finish with a good performance and three points and take it into the summer,” urged the manager. “It’s been a tough year, but the squad I’ve got now don’t deserve to go down. We will bounce back.”