Farnham Town 0, Bagshot 0

ON a bitterly cold October Saturday afternoon, Bagshot made the short trip to Farnham Town for this Cherry Red Records Combined Counties Division One affair.

It was all to play for at the Memorial Ground as a couple of cracking saves and some decent chances from start to finish kept the fans on the edges of their seats, but both teams had to settle for a point each - a point which sees Town two points clear at the top of the table.

High-flying Farnham Town have slipped to just one defeat in league action this season while it is a very different story for the visitors, with just two wins going into Saturday’s game. Seven days earlier, Sean Evans and Elliot Cardona netted for Farnham Town in a narrow 2-1 win at Eversley & California and, earlier in the week, Luke Turkington announced the signing of prolific striker Kylo Atkinson, from Sandhurst Town, who went straight into the fold to supercharge Farnham’s attack.

And new signing Atkinson had a decent chance in the early stages but Bagshot’s former Town stopper Adrian Giles did well to collect under pressure.

In the opening 20 minutes, Farnham showed glimpses of life in front of goal without the final decisive touch being applied and the nearest they came to opening the scoring was when a cross from wide on the right was met by Atkinson whose point-blank header deflected off the head of the defender and behind for a corner.

At the other end, Town’s Max Meaton, Jack Cox and Nick Medcraft all did well to throw their bodies in the line of fire, blocking several chances from the away side, including Meaton flinging his body in the way to block a promising cross by Kurt Greenaway which resulted in a corner.

As the game wore on, Town seemed to opt for a long-range, spectacular shooting strategy but were way off the mark; first with James Flynn’s effort that cleared the bar before Kay Conteh had a chance on the half volley that he too blasted over.

Town had another chance to open the scoring just past the 25-minute mark when the Bagshot goalkeeper mistimed the flight of a cross, only to see a covering defender spared his blushes and swept it clear from further danger just in the nick of time.

On the counter attack, Town created some decent build-up play as Atkinson squared to Scurfield and after he played through a teammate in a one-on-one, Giles was able to rush out and collect for the visitors.

Nick Medcraft’s attempted shot was then goal bound with Bagshot seemingly beaten, but for a last-ditch clearance that denied Farnham a well-deserved first-half opener.

In the second half, we witnessed a true moment of originality from the visitors as a game of rock, paper, scissors was used in decide the set piece taker. Town’s Stuart Norman was fully outstretched, diving to his left to parry Sam Taylor’s resulting thunderous free kick. Taylor was at it again shortly afterward and Norman had to be alert and once again as he parried another excellent Bagshot free kick.

Debutant Atkinson played through Medcraft who had beaten the visitors’ offside trap and Medcraft cut inside before dragging his low effort wide of the left post.

There were a couple of notable chances late on as Farnham pushed on trying to find the goal that would extend their winning streak and manager Turkington used all three of his permitted substitutes. Otis Taylor, Jack Falvey and Ryan Esprit replaced Jack Cox, James Flynn and the cautioned Scurfield but the game was destined to finish goalless.

Still the unbeaten run continues and Town stay top while Atkinson’s debut performance was refreshing and will provide an added boost to Farnham’s attack for the long season ahead. Indeed, with eight minutes left on the clock, he had a chance for the winning goal but his effort was well saved by Giles.

On Saturday, Farnham visit unbeaten Frimley Green in Division One of the Combined Counties League for a 3pm kick-off on Non-League Day. Next Tuesday, Farnham host Godalming Town at the Memorial Ground in a Division One Cup tie (kick-off 7.45pm).