Farnham Town’s start to the season has been nothing short of remarkable, with a 100% record in the League and first place in the table. They welcomed 19th placed Epsom & Ewell to The Memorial Ground for their twelth league game of the season, hoping to add another win to their perfect streak.
It was a ropey start for Farnham, with Epsom creating a big chance in the opening minute. Jaan Stanley intercepted a wayward pass on the left-hand side and drove down the wing. He delivered a dangerous ball into the box. However, no one could convert the cross and the ball was cleared.
Farnham recovered well and got into the swing of the game, slowing the play down and keeping long spells of possession. This was rewarded in the 12th minute when Harry Cooksley delivered a lovely free kick into the box from the right-hand side and Darryl Sanders headed home his first goal of the day, much to the 658 fans in attendance’s delight.
Just two minutes later, Sanders worked his magic on the left-hand side, managing to squeeze past an Epsom defender and let fly an absolute rocket into Keogh’s top right corner from well outside the area. He wheeled away in celebration and quite rightly so; he couldn’t have hit it any sweeter and the keeper didn’t have a chance.
Farnham were 2-0 up after a quarter of an hour, and they were playing lovely football. It must be said that Town goalkeeper Pat Nash’s distribution on the day was phenomenal, both from the back and with long balls. This allowed the side to play with confidence in possession, knowing that the ball was safe at their number one.
After 30 minutes, Farnham. This crafted yet another chance. This time it was Tom Smith who let fly from outside the box, but this one was just over the bar. 10 minutes later, there was a mistake from Epsom goalkeeper Harvey Keogh as he played the ball straight into the feet of Joe Jackson, who sprayed the ball wide to Lewis Flatman. He took a brilliant touch and played a beautiful pass into the box with the outside of his boot, but no one was there to convert this time.
Just before half time, Farnham increased their lead for the third time. It was Sanders once again, as he picked up the ball inside the box after some lovely intricate passes. He still had lots to do as there was a wall of Epsom defenders in front of him, and he somehow managed to squeeze the ball past them and into the bottom right corner to complete his hat trick.
Early in the second half, Epsom made a quadruple change, evidently trying to switch things up in order to get back into this game. However, this didn’t seem to be working as Farnham were dominant in possession, just like they had been throughout the afternoon. This was clearly frustrating for the visiting side as Ethan Roberts received a yellow card for tripping up Smith.
Fan favourite Owen Dean was brought on too, and he made an instant impact, heading the ball to Adam Liddle, who planted his effort straight down the middle of the goal. It was a bullet of a header and Keogh couldn’t get there in time, making it 4-0 to Farnham.
However, the visitors responded through a brilliant effort from George Owusu who dribbled the ball around Nash and slotted the ball into an empty Farnham net. No clean sheet for Farnham today.
Around the hour mark of the game, Owen Den went on a lovely run down the right flank, weaving in and out Epsom defenders before letting off what turned to be a tame effort straight into the clutches of Keogh.
Not long after, Epsom had a rare shot on goal; Luke Miller made his way into the box and had a crack on goal aiming for the near post. However, Nash got down brilliantly and parried away Miller’s effort.
The game died down from here. Both sides held onto the ball for several minutes at a time and there were few chances for either side. Farnham’s display had been fantastic, and they had clearly worn down the struggling Epsom side.
This was until the dying seconds of the game when Dean made his way into the box and cooly slotted the ball past Keogh and made the game 5-1 to Farnham.
This turned out to be the last chance of the game, as the referee blew the full-time whistle. This made it a brilliant 11 wins from 11 for Farnham, which is almost unheard of. The unbeaten run continues.