Andover Town 0–5 Farnborough

Andover Town’s impressive F.A. Cup run came to an end on Saturday as they were easily beaten by stronger opposition. A depleted Town side could not stop Southern League outfit Farnborough Town from progressing in the cup, as they were beaten 5-0 at the Portway Stadium in the First qualifying round, the furthest the club has ever reached. John Robson named a side weakened through injuries and absences, with midweek starters Craig Blakeman and Liam Gilbert missing from the Andover line-up. In their place played Ryan Inskip and Zondi Chunga, as Alex Dockree and Shane Lock also started. Farnborough fielded an experienced side, with their forwards being veterans of higher divisions. Ex QPR and Gillingham Forward Dennis Oli started for the away side, with Jamie Cureton and Eddie Smith completing the front 3. Josh Huggins and Jon Onuwga were also named in the Farnborough side. Andover were on the back foot very quickly after a great free kick gave the away side an early lead. Eddie Smith’s spectacular curling shot was tipped by Town Goalkeeper Craig Atkinson, but that wasn’t enough to stop the ball flying into the top corner. Smith went on to double Farnborough’s lead later in the first half in a similar fashion, as his free kick from 25 yards out rocketed into the top left corner, giving the Town defenders no chance of stopping the shot. Farnborough almost made added to their lead to make it and nearly make it 3 shortly before half time, after Dennis Oli and Jamie Cureton combined to challenge the town goalkeeper, with Cureton’s low shot rebounding off the outside of the post.

Andover were forced to use their substitutes early in the second half, after Ryan Inskip and Craig Stanley were both stretchered off, with Callum Appleby and JJ Tucker taking their places. However fresh legs couldn’t stop the Southern League side from increasing their lead further, as Josh Huggins latched onto Smith’s brilliant in-swinging corner to put the result almost certainly beyond Andover’s grasp. As Town struggled to make any attacking chances, It took only 3 minutes to put another into the Andover goal, as Cureton’s shot was well saved by Atkinson, only for Jon Onugwa’s shot to sail into the bottom corner of the goal to make it 4-0 to Farnborough. Farnborough's 5th was not long afterwards, when a great ball to Jamie Cureton gave him an open field to run into, and his cross off the left wing was well collected by Habib Cissoko, whose shot into the bottom corner dumped Andover out of the FA Cup, in what was their furthest run in the competition in their short history. Andover are due to play Bournemouth Poppies in their rearranged Hampshire Senior Cup tie on Tuesday, before facing League leaders Blackfield and Langley in a week’s time.