British Airways 2, Farnham Town 3

THE Memorial Ground home of Farnham Town is a pretty happy place to be just now – and in the next ten weeks or so it could get a lot happier still.

In-form Farnham have put together a timely and superb eight-game winning run which has seen them open up a decent advantage in their quest for promotion in the league while staying firmly in the hunt for cup silverware.

At a time when the majority of their rivals are either losing games to the weather or each other, Town have won seven straight league games as they march toward the top flight of the Combined Counties League for next season.

An eventful but significant 3-2 win at British Airways on Saturday, courtesy of two goals from experienced forward Matt Glass and a dramatic headed winner from whole-hearted midfielder Ashley Lloyd after the flyers had been helped out of a two-goal hole by two somewhat controversial penalty decisions, moved Town ten points ahead of third-placed Bedfont & Feltham and, more crucially, 15 points ahead of Tooting Bec in fifth.

And on Tuesday night, a terrific second-half showing saw Farnham see off Premier Division Camberley Town 3-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Cherry Red Records Premier Challenge Cup.

Town are also in the last eight of the Surrey Premier Cup and will face Ash United away next Tuesday for a place in the semis.

Roving full back Jack Mitchell smacked in the opener just after half-time on Tuesday night before red-hot striker Charlie Oakley made it eight goals in seven games after a delightful ball from midfield dynamo Joe Sowden, whose fine delivery from a set piece enabled battling Lloyd to pounce for the winner on Saturday.

And Tom Smith’s precise free kick was gleefully headed home by skipper Jacob McDonald deep in stoppage time to stun Camberley.

Of Saturday’s win, in which Farnham picked up an extraordinary seven bookings while having assistant boss Lee Pollard sent to the stands and Mitchell packed off to the sin bin, boss Luke Turkington said: “It’s job done, but we’ve got to keep focused. There’s a lot of talk that we are a step closer and that we are going up, but the job is not yet done. You can’t celebrate until it’s mathematically impossible to be caught, and it’s not yet.

“But success breeds success and that’s exactly how the boys are feeling right now. They knew they were poor in the second half and they managed to find a way to get the win. We want to play as well as we can but our primary focus now is just picking up points. It’s all about putting points on the board and putting pressure on the teams who are trying to catch us.”

And he added: “I think the players are genuinely thinking that they can go on and win every game until the end of the season, and that’s exactly what mentality you want, but I have to bring them back down to earth a bit and remind them that every team they face now will play as hard as they can against us because we are the team to beat. But the boys are pumped, they want to play and they want to win.”