Match Report

AFC Ashford Athletic were beaten 3-1 by Orpington & Bromley League side Farnborough Old Boys Guild ending their fantastic run in the county cup. Athletic moved the fixture to the all-weather 3G pitch at the Towers School to ensure the game was played against their North Kent opponents, and the visitors included a familiar face in their match day squad with the inclusion of former Ashford Dynamo striker Chris Shanney making a return to Ashford.

Farnborough went 1-0 ahead from the penalty spot after just 10 minutes when Athletic defender Paul Whittaker was penalised by the referee for a push in the box, visiting striker Gene Green making no mistake from 12 yards to place the ball past debutant goalkeeper Matt King to put the away side ahead. But Athletic found themselves level again after half an hour when the hard working Conor Ellis saw his strike hit the back of the net courtesy of a deflection to score his first goal for Jason Sterling’s side.

The visitors deservedly regained their lead just before half-time when Green raced onto a perfect through ball to finish well netting his second goal of the game, and they then added a third goal to kill off the game ten minutes into the second period when Farnborough’s Harry Tanner took advantage of some generous defending to make it 3-1. Athletic pushed on looking to grab a goal to get themselves right back into the game but ‘Borough held on defending brilliantly to go through to the semi-final.