Day: Boro players have to step up to new level
FARNBOROUGH’S return to life in the National League South got off to a disappointing start after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Hemel Hempstead Town.
On the 3G pitch at Vauxhall Road, Boro were undone by a 24th-minute strike from Jordan Greenidge, with the home striker turning inside the box and finishing low by the near post. The Yellows huffed and puffed in the heat with a much improved second half, but could not find a way past Craig King whose diving hand to keep out Mitchell Parker’s freekick was the pick of his saves.
The Hemel Hempstead Town goalkeeper did survive a late scare, handling the ball just outside his box, but all Farnborough appeals were ignored by the referee and linesman who waved play on.
Looking for a response on Saturday, Farnborough welcome Dulwich Hamlet to the Easy As HGV Stadium for a 3pm kick-off.
Reacting after the game, Farnborough manager Spencer Day said: “I thought overall the better team lost. I think it’s a wake-up call for us. We didn’t quite do enough. It was a very poor goal.
“We’ve got in and around their box. We’ve got [Liam] Ferdinand clean one-on-one and he’s hit the turf first; Hisham [Kasimu]’s done the same. I thought first half was quite even. Second half we’ve put in crosses but we’ve not got close enough to them. We’ve got a lot of players that aren’t quite ready fitness wise at the moment. They’ve got to catch up and quick. It shows that we are very competitive.
“Hemel did well, they held out. Second half I don’t think there was any doubt we were quite the better side but we didn’t show enough quality. We lost Michael [Fernandes to injury] before the game, as well as Tony [Lee serving a one-match suspension]. Clearly, we couldn’t use Ricky [Holmes], but he’ll be in contention. Players like Omar [Rowe] have got to realise they’re going to be targeted. Having to take him off after 30 minutes, it was a blatant yellow card I’ve got no argument with it and he was on a final warning. He would have been sent off on his next challenge and he’s got to learn these lessons.
“It’s very small margins at this level. They’ve all got to step up now, but I think what we’ve shown to our fantastic travelling supporters is that we’ve very, very competitive, but congratulations to Hemel for doing their job.
“I spent two hours on a call with the National League on Thursday. We were told about referees that are young at this level and they get scored and they get relegated from the level.
“They’re mostly young and looking to promote and I’m afraid they were very poor today. There’s one, if not two, really strong penalty shouts to say the least. It’s a blatant red card at the end as well – their keeper has put his hands up to it.”
FLEET Spurs were left to rue missed chances after they failed to turn their early dominance into goals and paid the price with th 4-2 defeat at Ringwood Town in the Wessex League Division One.
It took five minutes for Fleet to take the lead when a bouncing ball deceived the Town defence and enabled debutant Bailey Rogers and Lee Bush to create a chance for skipper Tom White, which he put away despite the best efforts of Ben Manley.
The visitors dominated the game with their counter-attacking tactics proving effective, and White and Sam Khera were unable to convert good opportunities. Ringwood had barely troubled Jack Coleman’s goal, and the young keeper only had a couple of noteworthy saves to make.
Then at the very end of stoppage time, the Spurs defence switched off and allowed Patrick Correia to cut in and place the ball neatly inside Coleman’s near post.
Town came out the livelier side, but no one could have forecast how their second goal would arise. Seven minutes after the restart Joss Holford picked up a loose ball just inside his own half and sent a spectacular volley over Coleman and into the net. One of the home officials described this as a worldy, and he was not wrong. The use of that cliché was for once justified, and from then on Town were the better side.
Fleet had a moment’s optimism after White ran on to a through ball and beat Manley with a fine low shot to equalise. The linesman had flagged for offside, but was overruled by the referee as the last touch had been made by a Town defender.
In the final quarter, Spurs tired and Ringwood were able to create chances down their left. Correia made no mistake for Town’s third and sub Charlie Hitchings slipped the ball home for their fourth.
Fleet Spurs are at home to East Cowes Vics on Saturday (3pm).