Guildford City fell at the first hurdle of the FA Cup to a second half penalty from hosts Farnham Town.
An open first half saw both teams waste a number of chances, with the visitors just about on top – although they could have fallen behind when a Farnham striker sliced wide with an open goal at his mercy. The major talking points of the first half were two penalty shouts for City. Firstly a shot was clearly pushed away off the goal line by the hand of Farnham’s Whiddett, and the second when Ben Camara was clumsily challenged before firing a shot at ex-City goalkeeper Adlam.
Neither was given however, which made the nature of the winner all the harder to take. Simon Cooper appeared to have made a well timed last ditch tackle to prevent an oncoming Farnham attack, but the referee deemed it a penalty and showed captain Cooper a red card. The resultant spot kick was slammed home by Corbett and while City could have felt aggrieved at the nature of the winning goal, they could have no complaints with Farnham deserving victory following a composed and energetic second half display from the hosts.
It was simply not Guildford’s day, and newly promoted Farnham should have doubled their lead with a break minutes after their goal – this time the ball bouncing back off the crossbar into the grateful arms of Antony Hall. A huge come down from last season’s FA Cup heroics, but full credit to Farnham for an industrious display that sets up a tie against Crawley Down in the next round.
Guildford City:
Antony Hall, Elvis Defreitas, Ben Rayner, Simon Cooper (capt), Jamie Thoroughgood, Corey Holder, Dan Moody, Jack Guilford, Austin Gacheru, Ben Camara (Dan Clayton 82), Joel Hughes (Tom Penson 73)
Unused substitutes: Luke Bradnick, Micahel Hall, Martin Debrah, Cory Knight, Aaron Smith
Cautions: Austin Gacheru
Sent off: Simon Cooper (Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity)
Referee: Shaun Scott
