Farnham Town 5, Old Wilsonians 3

BATTLING Farnham Town eased into the quarter-finals of the Surrey Premier Cup after an astonishing eight-goal tussle at a boggy Memorial Ground last night.

That this tie against their Southern Amateur League opponents went ahead at all given the incessant rain for hour upon hour leading up to kick-off was something of a minor miracle.

But they say Christmas is a time for miracles and an extraordinary game had a suitably fitting finale as regular Town goalkeeper Dease Kerrison, on as a late outfield substitute, stole the show with a spectacular 30-yard strike which wrapped up the scoring and put Farnham in the last eight.

Kerrison’s wonder strike capped a stirring fighback as Town trailed 3-2 with just nine minutes remaining against the side from Kent who bizarrely found themselves in a Surrey-based competition in the first place.

Having stepped up the pace in the second half against a tiring Old Wilsonians on a heavy pitch, Farnham were level when Kye Nash’s whipped ball in was turned into his own net by a defender.

And six minutes later Farnham were ahead as Rowan Sharratt showed his class when latching onto a square ball and firing a low shot into the bottom left corner beyond the despairing dive of the Wilsonians goalkeeper to make it 4-3.

Bizarrely, it had seemed like a late comeback would be unneccessary as Farnham, fresh from their winning adventures at Chessington on Saturday, had effortlessly romped into a 2-0 lead inside the first 12 minutes as striker Charlie Oakley ended his mini-goal drought: first sweeping the ball into the top corner after just two minutes before having a simple tap in after the visiting goalkeeper had misjudged a high ball upfield.

But Wilsonians, blessed with pace in their forward line, stunned Town with three goals in 15 minutes to pave the way for Town’s stirring fightback and Kerrison’s goal-of-the-season contender.