Tooting Bec 1, Farnham Town 2

Under the watchful gaze of the former speaker of the House of Commons, order was restored as Farnham Town got their promotion push back on track with an eventful win at Tooting Bec on Saturday.

John Bercow was in the stands at the clearly once-grand Imperial Fields ground in Morden – home of Tooting & Mitcham United with whom Tooting Bec groundshare – to watch eldest son Oliver run the line.

And Bercow junior and his fellow officials were certainly kept busy as Farnham overcame a somewhat bizarre sending off, a second-half onslaught and a rash of questionable decisions by the man in the middle to score what could prove to be a huge win in the final reckoning come the end of April.

Town flew out of the blocks and led through a penalty by Jack May after Charlie Oakley had been felled and a header by Oakley inside the first 15 minutes.

But having bossed the game and looked mightily comfortable against an out-of-sorts Bec side for an hour, Town were forced to fight for their lives as imposing centre half Mo Sabo was sent off for two yellow cards – the first under the cumulative fouls rule, the second after he was adjudged to have been the aggressor as a Tooting Bec player fell over in a harmless tangle of legs as both men tried vainly to get back on their feet and restart the game.

But fight they did after Myles Blenkinsop cut the lead to 2-1 with the best part of half an hour to go after smacking the ball home at the back post after a rapier-like move down the left.

New signing Ashley Lloyd was immense again in his second game since his move across town from Badshot Lea while fellow experienced head Bruce Harper shored up the heart of the defence behind him in Sabo’s absence alongside the ever dependable Harry Oakley, while Dease Kerrison again stepped up and proved his worth in the Town goal.

But it was a day for big hearts throughout the team, from front to back, as Town were desperate to end a shaky run of one win in five games – including two defeats against the unstoppable Jersey Bulls – and send a clear message to their promotion rivals.

And they did exactly that despite the inconsistent perfomance of referee Jatin Lodhia, who left both benches scratching their heads throughout.

“Tooting Bec are upset by the referee, we’re upset by the referee,” said Town boss Luke Turkington. “Unfortunately, he’s made more wrong decisions than right ones. It completely changed the game. As soon as Mo came off, we had our backs to the wall and it was like a defence-versus-attack session. We had to reshuffle the pack and it completely flipped the game on its head.

“For the first hour we were completely dominant, absolutely cruising, and one incident, one refereeing decision, has changed the game. But we held out, we held firm and one thing we are proud of is our defensive record. Bar Jersey, we have the best defensive record in the league.”

While easing Town three points further ahead of Tooting in the hunt for the promised land of the top four, the win continued Farnham’s excellent away record and they have now picked up 22 points out of a possible 30 on their travels, including wins at Bedfont & Feltham and Walton & Hersham.

“You usually want that sort of record at home and pick up what you can away, but at the moment we are sort of doing the opposite, we are picking up the away wins and trying to get something at home,” said Turkington.

“It’s a great result and it’s a big statement psychologically because we’ve toppled another top-four side. It’s one of those where we knew we had to do it and we gave everything out there.

“One win in five is not impressive compared to how we started the season, so I’m really proud that the boys have started the year on a high, especially against a top-four side. And it proved that they can do it, they just need to be focused on every game, so we’ll be really trying to gee them on for next Saturday.”

And he added: “It’s very pleasing for me because people were starting to ask the question ‘five-game drought, are they up for it?’ – and they have just proved that, yes, they are. There are so many positives out of Saturday.”

Tomorrow, Town host Bagshot at the Memorial Ground (kick-off 3pm).