Farnham Town are back in FA Cup action today when they host Spelthorne Sports in the preliminary round at 3pm.

They reached this stage after a 2-1 win at AFC Varndeanians in the extra preliminary round.

That was a glamorous tie for the early weeks of the competition, as AFC Varndeanians play at the Withdean Stadium – which in 2002–03 staged Brighton & Hove Albion’s Championship-level matches.

Farnham will be hoping for an improvement on last Saturday’s result, when they lost 4-0 at home to Beckenham Town in the Combined Counties Premier Division South.

The visitors took the lead just after the half-hour mark, and proceeded to rattle in another three goals before half-time.

Farnham manager Colin Millard felt it was necessary for him to apologise to Town supporters for his team’s performance.

He said: “Apologies to those who witnessed that tripe, particularly in the first half.

“I wasn’t expecting us to capitulate like that in the last 15 minutes of the first half. A couple of minutes before they scored we missed a good chance, but their first goal knocked us for six.

“I will never fault the players’ work rate, but I can fault their decision making on Saturday.

“Since I took over our decision making has improved, but what happened in the final 15 minutes of the first half on Saturday was down to poor decision making.

“We made some changes at half time and were then more solid. In the second half we restored some pride and competed better.”

Millard hopes the emphatic defeat could actually be a blessing in disguise for his team.

“Over the course of the season we may well look at that game as a positive thing,” he said.

“Against Guildford we produced a good, gritty performance, but we have to do that every week.

“Saturday proved that. Beckenham were very strong opponents and were far, far better than us.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t give a better account of ourselves.

“It’s how we lost. From our point of view it’s now about what sort of reaction we get from the players and the character they’ve got.”