Farnham Town 4, Westfield Reserves 1

RELIEVED Farnham Town finally booked their place in the third round of the Surrey Premier County Cup at the expense of Westfield Reserves on Tuesday night – in a game that was marred by two red cards and a suspected broken arm.

After the tie was postponed three times, Town finally played their first match at the Memorial Ground since November 3. A raft of weather-related postponements has left Town already facing a fixture backlog in the Combined Counties League as we approach the busy Christmas period.

Matthew Petts took over in goal for Town after their regular keeper moved to Camberley Town, while former Camberley boss Dean Greenwood made his playing debut in claret and blue.

The opening period was an end-to-end affair with the visitors playing some excellent football at times, while Town were creating the better chances and both sides were committing to some feisty challenges.

In fact it was one such challenge that provided the game’s first genuine talking point. After his initial touch let him down, Town captain Kay Conteh committed to a sliding tackle from distance and the wet surface meant he picked up speed. Westfield’s Romanas Virvilias appeared to back out of the challenge but was unable to move out of the way quick enough. Conteh won the ball but Virvilias was somersaulted into the air.

The tackle sparked a melee between both sets of players and the benches and Conteh was dismissed while Westfield’s Samuel Olanipekun was also sent off for violent conduct after shoving Town assistant manager Lee Pollard. Conteh was then taken straight to Frimley Park Hospital with a suspected broken arm.

The dismissals seemed to affect the visitors more than the home side as within minutes of the re-start Town found themselves two goals ahead.

Ashley Peck opened the scoring with his first goal since re-joining Town from Alton before Max Meaton cut in from the right flank and unleashed an unstoppable left-footed shot into the far corner of the net.

Town dominated proceedings early in the second half and they deservedly extended their lead just before the hour mark when Rohan Sharratt’s free kick from the right touchline was headed powerfully home by Kye Nash from 10 yards.

With half an hour to go, Town manager Luke Turkington elected to make changes with Sean Evans, Max Meaton and Elliot Cardona making way for Jack Moore, Otis Taylor and Muctaru Conteh – and it was the latter who scored Town’s fourth goal with 10 minutes to go.

Shell-shocked Westfield pulled a goal back when they sprung Town’s offside trap but it was nothing more than a consolation as the hosts won their first cup match of the season to take their place in the quarter-finals.

Farnham Town are without a game on Saturday because of scheduled opponents AC London’s expulsion from the league, so Town are next in action at home to bottom side Cove in Division One of the Combined Counties League on December 15.

Farnham Town: Petts, Meaton, Cardona, Greenwood, K Conteh, Evans, Sharratt, Nash, Peck, Turner, Engelfield. Subs: Phillips, Moore, Taylor, Medcraft, M Conteh.