HANWORTH V 1, FARNHAM TN 1

FARNHAM obtained a worthy point at mid-table Hanworth Villa in their first match since Paul Tanner resigned as manager last week.

The Town players had to pick themselves up off the floor and make the difficult trip to Rectory Meadow in the hope of arresting their alarming slump in recent months.

Acting manager Paul Bonner and assistant Andy Sharratt made several changes to the starting line-up, amongst them the first-team debut of Keegan Miller and the return of Sean Evans to the bench after signing from Petersfield in midweek.

However, Farnham struggled to find any rhythm in the first half and frequently gave the ball away. The only surprise was that it took Hanworth 31 minutes to take the lead.

A poor clearance from a throw-in gifted possession to Jack Buckle who smashed an unstoppable 25-yard shot into the top corner.

Given their team’s recent form, the travelling supporters must have feared a capitulation in the second half, but Farnham were re-energised and full of determination. The hopeful, long balls up to the corners were gone and they looked to keep the ball on the deck and stretch the home defence.

Town had already come close several times, thanks to great interplay down the flanks by Nick Medcraft and substitute Jack Dillon, combined with excellent movement from striker Matt Glass, before they equalised on 64 minutes.

A weak header back to the keeper was easily intercepted and the ball was squared across the face of goal to leave Dillon with a tap-in.

Farnham now sensed victory and forced a couple of fine saves from Hanworth’s young goalkeeper, Alex Partridge.

Town came mighty close in the dying minutes when Glass was played in behind the defence and left one-on-one with the keeper. But Partridge closed down the angle and Glass hit the ball straight at his legs.

And there was still time for two more talking points. The referee waved play on when Medcraft seemed to be hacked down when clear on goal.

Things were evened up, though, at the other end as Town keeper Adrian Giles appeared to ‘clean out’ the Hanworth striker, and again the referee signalled play on.

Finally, Giles made a vital save with his legs to deny Levi King a winner for Villa.

But this was a deserved point for Farnham and gave much encouragement to the new management team of Bonner and Sharratt.

• Weather permitting, Farnham host Redhill this Saturday. On Tuesday, Town visit Chertsey.

Updates on pitch inspections and club news can be found on the Farnham Twitter feed (@FarnhamTownFC).