Blues 4 Farnborough 2

Leiston returned to winning ways to maintain top spot in the Ryman Premier Division with a 4-2 victory over Farnborough writes Mark Barber. A first half John Sands hat-trick saw the Blues race into an eventually unassailable lead, although 10 man Farnborough put up a spirited second half performance. Blake Saker & Stuart Boardley returned to the starting line up with boss Richard Wilkins taking no chances with Joe Jefford following his concussion. Farnborough kicked off on a dull, drizzly day and immediately Leiston looked comfortable in a balanced formation with Danny Cunningham and Leon Ottley-Gooch holding deeper in midfield allowing Gareth Heath a more advanced central role to support Patrick Brothers from the left and Tom Winter on the right with John Sands high up top. It was John Sands who broke the deadlock on 10 minutes. Ottley-Gooch worked the ball out to Seb Dunbar, whose whipped cross was met by the head of Sands to make it 1-0. Away keeper Joe Tupper, on loan from Reading FC, will probably be disappointed he wasn’t able to keep it out but this was really the only error the young keeper made all game. Just two minutes later Leiston doubled their lead and it involved some great team passing throughout, confidently keeping the ball and finding space. Once again it was Seb Dunbar who found space down the left hand side, latching on to a defence splitting pass from Patrick Brothers and this time his cross was low to John Sands who fired home. Farnborough came close on 23 minutes, left back Freddie Grant skipped through a couple of challenges and his shot was deflected wide for a corner. From the corner Glen Southam had a lot of time in the area but seemingly rose too early to meet the ball with his head and ultimately couldn’t direct it on target. On 27 minutes things went from bad to worse for the away side. John Sands was tussling with ‘Boro centre half Chinua Cole and the defender was adjudged to have brought down the Blues striker inside the box. As last man Referee Mr Francis showed a red card to Cole and John Sands picked himself up to score his and Leiston’s third on the half hour from the penalty spot. The rest of the half belonged to Leiston but the only real clear cut opportunity came right on half time. John Sands was fouled by Perry Ryan, who was booked for his trouble, and Danny Cunningham delivered the left footed free kick into the heart of the area. It was met by the head of Stuart Boardley who saw the ball cannon back of the post.

If Leiston supporters expected to see a cricket score in the second half they were left disappointed as Farnborough, much to their credit, came out determined to make a game of it. Without creating any real clear cut opportunities early on they harried Leiston more than they did in the first half. Leon Ottley-Gooch missed a free header from six yards just after the hour and on 65 minutes John Sands and Patrick Brothers made way for Christy Finch and Joe Francis. Gareth Heath and Christy Finch both forced keeper Tupper into good saves after this but on 68 minutes Farnborough won a penalty of their own. Ashlee Jones, for the second time in as many Saturday’s, came rushing out of goal and brought down the attacking player, Harry Williams on this occasion. With Williams going away from goal and a covering defender Ashlee Jones was shown only yellow, but could do nothing about Perry Ryan coolly scoring from the spot. It could and should have been 3-2 just four minutes later, Tom Bullard’s attempted clearance was blocked by Harry Grant but the left winger could only drag his shot wide of goal as he closed in on Ashlee Jones. This spell of play had galvanised the team in yellow and after such a comfortable first half it was suddenly difficult to establish which team had ten men. It could have been a different story if Farnborough has taken their chances during this spell but as it was Christy Finch who wrapped the game up for the Blues. Tom Winter and Gareth Heath did well to win the ball in the corner and Tom Winter rolled it back to Danny Cunningham whose delightful chipped cross was headed home gratefully by the returning Christy Finch, who had missed the seven previous games with a groin injury. The best was still to come however. ‘Boro substitute Deane Joseph-Whittingham picked the ball up on the right hand edge of the penalty area. He took one look and curled the ball over Ashlee Jones and into the far left corner. An exquisite finish to add some respectability to the score for Farnborough. The Blues stay top of the Ryman Premier League with the win and face a trip to Kingstonian next Saturday. Before that we welcome an Ipswich Town XI to Victory Road on Wednesday evening in the second round of the Suffolk Premier Cup – Kick Off is 7:45pm.

FT - Blues 4 Farnborough 2

Blues – Jones, Saker, Dunbar, Ottley-Gooch, Boardley, Bullard, Cunningham, Heath, Winter, Sands (Finch 65 mins), Brothers, (Francis 65 mins). Subs not used – Horner, Clark and Rossis.

Farnborough – Tupper, Barton, F. Grant, Ryan, Fearn, Cole, Bevans, Southam, Wright, Williams (Joseph-Whittingham 82 mins), H. Grant (Brown 78 mins). Sub not used – Simms.

Matchball Sponsor Jim Girling Man of the Match - John Sands

Attendance - 129