I arrived at the ground at 2 after spotting some familiar signs from my Google Maps search earlier in the day. While the teams were warming up inside, the gate wasn't open for spectators so I wandered down to the neighbouring playing fields where five local matches were taking place. It looked like Chelsea v Inter Milan on one pitch, Tottenham v Man City on another but the Poland v Holland game on the pitch nearest me actually had a team from Battersea.
At 2.45 I decided to wander up the road again and found that spectators were now allowed into the ground. I paid £6 to get in and £1 for a programme - even including the train fare this was less than I would have paid for the Conference Premier game at Salisbury today. The ground itself was a bit dilapidated, surrounded by some posts and netting that have seen better days. Some of the pitchside barriers had crumpled and were held together in places by plastic tags. The pitch itself had a distinct slope down from the top end by the main stand towards the dugouts. A world away from the identikit bowl stadiums beloved by the professional clubs but ideal for a potential FA Cup giant killing.
After the traditional handshakes, the two teams made their way to their respective ends. Consulting the programme, I discovered that neither team were wearing the kit colours described on the back page. I had a minor concern that I may end up writing a report that confused the two teams but fortunately the motivational words being bellowed out by the nearby players identified the home team were playing in blue and the away team in black and white stripes.
Raynes Park had the first clear chance of the game after 5 minutes. The ball was played into the box from a throw and headed across from the right side of the penalty area. A Raynes Park player with his back to goal controlled the ball, then swivelled round and put a shot narrowly over the crossbar although the keeper had the goalmouth covered.
After that Farnham took control of the game. In the 12th minute a well placed throughball allowed one of their strikers to beat the Raynes Park offside trap and run through the centre of the defence. Instead of bringing the ball under control he allowed it to bounce and hit his shot directly at the keeper who saved comfortably.
Farnham continued to press and won a couple of corners a couple of minutes later. The first one was cleared behind and from the second, the visitors took the lead. The ball was floated to the near post and looked to be covered by a defender. He missed the opportunity to clear the ball by mistiming his header and a Farnham head planted the ball to the right of the keeper. The pace of the header was too strong for the Raynes Park keeper to reach and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Farnham weren't going to rest on their laurels and defend the lead. In the 15th minute they had a great chance to increase the lead with another through ball beating the offside. This time the unmarked striker tried to chip the keeper with an early shot but the ball went over the bar. If he had been more composed and taken the ball down he would have had a better chance to score.
In the 21st minute they came even closer to extending their lead. The ball was played through a scrum of players to the right side of the area and found a Farnham player in space. He looked to shoot but appeared to spin the shot and while it beat the keeper, it hit the right hand post. The ball bounced along the line behind the keeper and bounced out to another Farnham player. Although the goal was empty he managed to mishit his shot as well and the ball ended up spinning up in the air and over the bar.
The pressure seemed unrelenting as Raynes Park were not keeping possession of the ball when they won it. In the 24th minute a Farnham player intercepted the ball and ran into the box. He was chased down by a couple of Raynes Park players and stumbled to the ground when they challenged him for the ball. The referee gave a penalty to the annoyance of the home team. After the appeals had been waved away, the Farnham player struck the penalty low to the keeper's right but fairly central. The keeper guessed correctly where the ball would end up and pushed it wide for a corner.
This lifted Raynes Park and they managed to get the ball to the other end after half an hour. After a couple of attempts, the ball ended up in the penalty area and a low header ended up just wide of the post although again the Farnham keeper had the goalmouth covered. From the resulting corner a header again headed towards goal and this time the keeper didn't have it covered. Fortunately for the visitors they had put a man on each post and one of the covering defenders stepped across to clear the ball off the line.
Farnham won a second penalty on 40 minutes when one of their players was brought down by a mistimed kick trying to clear a highball in the area. This time the penalty was taken low to the keeper's left and although he managed to get a slight touch on the ball, it wasn't enough to deflect it wide and the visitors were 2.0 up at the interval.
The Raynes Park manager made three substitutions at half time to try and save the game. From the start of the half the changes looked to be effective as the team started to play with more conviction, keeping possession and playing simple but effective passes to try and open up the Farnham defence.
The game turned on a Farnham corner in the 64th minute. The ball was played in to the box and shielded well from the defence. A shot was teed up but it was just cleared off the line by a defender. His ball out allowed Raynes Park to break away and this attack culminated in a striker hitting a shot from the edge of the box quickly before the defence could close him down. This seemed to take the Farnham keeper by surprise and he could only stick out his left hand to try and deflect the ball. His wrist wasn't strong enough to achieve this and the change of angle didn't prevent the home team from pulling a goal back to the delight of the spectators in the main stand.
Two minutes later and the sides were level.A free kick was awarded for a foul close to the touchline on the right side. The ball was hit high over the keeper who was unable to get a hand to it and when it dropped down by the far post, a Raynes Park player headed the ball back across the goal and in.
The momentum was now with the home team and they almost took the lead for the first time on 82 minutes. The rightback advanced down the wing and put a great low ball into the box. The keeper couldn't get to it in time but the onrushing striker's slide was just too late to make contact with the ball and prod it into the open net. Raynes Park continued to take the play to Farnham but weren't able to deliver any real end product from their approach play and the game ended as a draw.
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