Credit: Farnham Town FC
Farnham Town secured a valuable 2-1 victory away at high-flying Horsham at the Fusion Aviation Community Stadium last Saturday, thanks to a double from Owen Dean inside the first 45 minutes.
The Hornets started brightly, with Harvey Sparks causing problems down the left. His early effort struck the post before Reece Meekums found space on the edge of the Farnham box. Meekums’ effort was straight at Michael Eacott, who did well to palm the ball away and prevent the hosts from taking an early lead.
The Town soon created an opening of their own. Darryl Sanders found Sam Evans inside the box, but the Farnham forward could not make a clean connection with his effort as the opportunity went begging.
Horsham continued to threaten and came close again as an inswinging delivery found the free player at the back post, but Eacott produced another excellent save to keep the scores level.
Farnham eventually broke the deadlock through a clever corner routine. Bobby-Joe Taylor played the ball short to Sanders, who then found Jack Spong in space on the edge of the box. Spong’s left-footed strike appeared to hit the crossbar twice before Dean reacted quickest to nod the rebound over the line.
Horsham almost responded immediately. Ashley Nadesan flicked the ball on to Charlie Hester-Cook, who drove into the box before getting a shot away across goal. Lying in wait was Jamie Yila, but he could only find the side netting/
The Hornets continued to apply pressure and eventually found their equaliser. Another corner was cleared towards James Hammond and he struck a superb first-time volley through a sea of bodies and into the bottom corner. Eacott was unsighted and had no chance to react in time.
Farnham remained dangerous on the counter-attack and nearly restored their lead when a quick string of passes released Owen Dean down the right. He picked out Taylor inside the box, but his effort was saved by the feet of Sam Howes.
The Town would not be denied a second for a long time, though. After defending another Horsham corner, they broke quickly, with Dean finding himself through on goal. He took a sole touch before confidently finishing one-on-one with Howes to restore his side’s lead just before the break.
Dean almost completed his hat-trick immediately after the restart. He raced into the box and got his effort away, but Howes managed to tip it wide.
Dean was involved again as Farnham went close yet again, he brought the ball down at the back post before Sanders headed towards the opposite side, but instead it came back off the woodwork.
The Hornets continued to push for another equaliser, with Yila and Hester-Cook both threatening as the second half progressed. Farnham remained dangerous on the break, but now were increasingly finding themselves having to defend their slender advantage.
There was late controversy when Horsham appealed for a penalty after Jack Dean tangled with Yila. The referee waved away the protests and gave the visitors a goal kick.
The hosts threw everything forward in the closing stages. A final delivery into the Farnham box caused chaos, with the ball ricocheting around the six-yard area and briefly threatening to fall kindly for them, but nothing came from it.
The full time whistle then went and confirmed a hard-earned victory for the Town, with all the plaudits falling onto Owen Dean, whose double made the difference to secure victory and the points in Sussex.
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