I arrived at the Ray Mac to be confronted by an unusual sight – an official England coach in the car park by the turnstiles. On closer inspection it turned out to be the coach that Farnborough’s team had travelled down in!
While Salisbury are a couple of divisions above Farnborough, the Southern League Premier leaders were unlucky not to have been promoted last season and had strengthened their team since then. Having drawn against the Whites on Saturday and with the confidence of being unbeaten in the league they were not a team that could be underestimated.
It was a relief to the home supporters when Matt Tubbs scored a great goal at the far end in the ninth minute to settle some Wiltshire nerves. The goal came from a free kick on the edge of the area that Tubbs hit over the wall and looped down and over the keeper into the top left corner.
The Farnborough support had moved around to the In-Excess stand that their team was kicking towards and the unsegregated atmosphere was reminiscent of some of the local Conference South clashes. They certainly had something to celebrate after quarter of an hour when the ball was crossed in from the right side and found two players in the box. The ball went over the first player but fell kindly to the second player who chested the ball down and tapped the ball past Bittner.
Five minutes later and the underdogs were in FA Cup dreamland following another good cross from the right. On this occasion the ball went to the far post and came off Turley who was trying to get back to cover a Farnborough player. The ball flew past a stranded Bittner who had no chance to stop the ball hitting the back of the net. The game settled down after that and while both teams had a couple of chances there was nothing clear cut. Salisbury were playing tidy football but were happy just to hoof the ball into the box looking for the head of Webb. “Oh for a Paul Sales or a Robbie Matthews” said one of the locals near me as this tactic proved to be ineffective. Farnborough looked vulnerable at times but had a couple of useful forwards.
Salisbury started the second half in determined mood and only an amazing save from Richie Barnard to tip a Tubbs shot over the bar prevented Salisbury from parity in the first minute of the half. Two minutes later and they were level. Webb was brought down in the box and Tubbs made no mistake from the spot, placing his shot above Barnard who had guessed the right way. Salisbury then took the lead thanks to a misunderstanding in the 53rd minute. The ball was outside the area and neither Barnard nor his nearest defender took responsibility to clear the ball. Tubbs ran in and took it round the keeper and ran the ball towards the net before passing it in for his hat trick.
Farnborough came close to an equaliser with a header over the bar but the game was put out of sight after Flood won the ball from Opinel on the wing and cut inside the defence. He took aim and put a low shot right into the bottom left corner, the ball bouncing off the post and in. Salisbury now controlled the game and Tubbs almost added a fourth with a cross that came close to curling into the top corner.
In the 85th minute Salisbury took a well rehearsed short corner to Tubbs out of the right side. He played it back to Flood who had run back into an onside position. This gave him a good angle to cross from and he hit the ball to the backpost. Sinclair battled his way past a couple of defenders and put a header past Barnard. He was unlucky – the ball hit the post and bounced out. In the last minute Farnborough had a chance to pull a goal back when Ibe ran clean through the Salisbury defence but he put his shot wide of the post as Bittner narrowed the angle. So it was the Whites who would be travelling up the motorway to Accrington Stanley for the First Round Proper tie.
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