Fleet hit local rivals Sandhurst for five
a penalty at the breakdown. Ollie Brown took a quick tap and broke into the Jersey 22.
A few tight phases followed before the ball was moved to Ben Jones then to Toby Salmon who stepped the Jersey fly half and sprinted in to score Farnham’s third try. Conversion successful; 21-7.
With 10 minutes left of the half, a long Jersey kick pinned Farnham into their 22 where a penalty to Jersey put the pressure on. A series of close carries got them close to the line before Evan Whitson, the Jersey skipper dotted down. Conversion successful; 21-14.
A Jersey breakout saw Fin Sloan yellow carded for not releasing. Fortunately for the visitors, the shot at goal was missed and the teams gathered for half-time.
Albeit the happier of the teams, Farnham knew they had a tricky ten minute period from the restart with one man down.
Jersey kicked off and came out firing. A series of powerful carries got them in behind where they made the man advantage tell with the ball moved wide to winger Anushan Elanco who scored in the corner. The conversion attempt slid past the post; 21-19.
Farnham came back well. A clever chip and chase by Ben Jones put Farnham into the Jersey 22 where Jersey winger Dylan Stocks was penalised for a high tackle and then showed a yellow card. Toby Salmon knocked over the penalty to take the score to 24-19.
A knock on from the restart put Farnham back under pressure. Farnham managed to repel the initial attack, but Jersey inched ever closer to the line with hooker Euan Spencer eventually dotting down. The conversion by fly half Aaron Penberthy was successful and Jersey had their noses in front 26-24.
Farnham were now back to 15 men and needed to respond. However, perhaps wearied by their endeavours to date, ill-discipline and errors cost them field position. Jersey kicked to the corner and continued to use their forwards to pound the Farnham line. Their patience paid off with a try by freshlegged prop Nathan Thomas wide on the right. Penberthy was successful again; 33-24 with a quarter of the match to go.
A lovely inside ball from Fin Sloan to Toby Simmons broke the deadlock. The pacy Simmons beat two defenders, drew the full-back and deftly off-loaded to Salmon who ran in under the posts. A great Farnham score worthy of the try bonus point. Salmon’s conversion was good; 33-31 with 15 minutes to play.
A knock on gave the Jersey scrum another opportunity to drive forward with the Farnham defence beginning to tire allowing Jack Macfarlane to become the third redshirted front row man on the scoresheet. Conversion successful, 40-31.
A high tackle gave Farnham a penalty 35 metres out. Toby Salmon stepped up and reduced Jersey’s lead to 40-34.
Farnham dealt with the restart well, but injuries had now reduced the team to 14. Jersey had the final say after yet another rolling maul from their heavies allowed Jack Macfarlane to dot down for his second try. The successful conversion put the game beyond Farnham’s reach at 47-34 and Jersey saw out the remaining few minutes to win a truly thrilling contest.
FLEET Town returned to the pitch, for the first time since before Christmas, for the Combined Counties League Premier South match at The Mustard Seed Stadium, against local rivals Sandhurst Town.
After absorbing a lot of Sandhurst pressure, it was Fleet Town that struck first when Dan Bone curled his shot into the top right corner of the net, to put Fleet ahead on 27 minutes.
Only 11 minutes later Fleet were able to double their lead, when a corner from Sam Marks fell perfectly for Bone to head the ball in for his second goal of the afternoon.
A minute before the break Mihail Marinescu got his name on the score sheet, his shot taking a wicked deflection off a Sandhurst defender to leave the keeper stranded.
On 53 minutes a ball into the box found Mihail Marinescu in space and he lobbed the keeper for his second goal of the day to make it 4-0.
Fom a corner, Marks delivered the ball in under the crossbar, the ball was cleared off the line and hit straight back in against the bar and the ball found its way back to Bone to fire through a crowd of players into the net to complete his hattrick and put Fleet five goals to the good after 63 minutes.
As Fleet started to rest some of the hard-working dangerous players, Sandhurst came back into the game.
A long clearance found Ewan Lynch, who beat the last Fleet defender to make space to shoot a score after 77 minutes and Sandhurst scored a second consolation through Harvey Seeman from the penalty spot on 86 minutes.
Fleet Town are back in action on Saturday, away to Horley Town.