A late penalty condemned Farnham to an 18-16 defeat at mid-table Bracknell on December 13.

Farnham had to defend hard against a powerful Bracknell team that possessed size in the pack and on both wings.

But Farnham were fronting up well and cleared their lines through the powerful boot of Ieuan Finey-Jones.

Farnham managed to get their hands on the ball and Toby Simmons made a good break down the right and got Farnham into the 22. The ball was turned over moments later but Farnham were starting to show their skills.

The scrum was evenly contested but the line-out was favouring the home team. On 20 minutes Farnham had a chance to get the first points of the game but a penalty was missed.

But a few minutes later Farnham were playing with penalty advantage and moved the ball wide to Toby Salmon, who half broke through and offloaded to Jonny Vincent, who shrugged off two tackles and dotted down under the posts. The conversion was successful and Farnham led 7-0.

Farnham were managing the game well and were happy with how the first 30 minutes had gone. They had field position yet again but penalties started to cost them.

A penalty in front of the posts gave the hosts a chance to reduce the lead to 7-3, which they did. Consecutive penalties cost Farnham again, as Bracknell kicked into the 22.

They started making inroads, and a miss pass cut out the Farnham defence and let the left winger finish off well in the corner. The conversion was missed but Bracknell led 8-7.

Half-time quickly followed and Farnham were disappointed to go in behind, with discipline proving costly.

The second half kicked off and the game was finely in the balance. Farnham kept kicking well and their defence was looking solid.

A scrum penalty allowed them to kick to the corner but the maul on this occasion did not quite work and Bracknell turned the ball over.

However, minutes later Farnham won a penalty on the 22. Toby Salmon opted for the posts and Farnham regained the lead at 10-8.

A few minutes later, a penalty in the same position gave Farnham a chance to extend their lead to 13-8, which they did.

Marco Azevedo and Benjy Biggs came on in the pack, with Joey Wood also coming on to replace Joe Wigmore.

The home team kept carrying hard, with the Farnham defence staying strong - although the penalty count continued to rise.

Bracknell eventually broke through, again via their left winger who dotted down in the corner, and a successful conversion made it 15-13 with ten minutes to play.

Farnham were then reduced to 14 men when George Bellamy was penalised for a deliberate knock down, although a line-out steal gave Farnham the ball back and they got back into the Bracknell 22.

They were patient and were awarded a simple penalty which Toby Salmon knocked over to give Farnham the lead, 16-15, with five minutes to go.

Farnham had to hang on but the home team continued to fight back. A dangerous clean-out on Greg Franzel was missed, and in the following phase Bracknell were awarded a penalty in front of the posts to win the game. The Bracknell fly-half held his nerve and the game finished 18-16 to the hosts.

Toby Salmon