In a bid to continue the promotion battle, we hosted Farnborough on Saturday afternoon, looking to avenge our defeat against the visitors in the reverse fixture.
After a spell of pressure in the first five minutes on the Farnborough backline, the visitors stunned our defence to gain a two-goal advantage once more, scoring twice in two minutes to put them ahead by the ten-minute mark.
Both goals for the visitors came via long-range strikes, as Benny Smith picked up the ball centrally by the edge of the box before drilling it into the bottom left-hand corner, preceding a strike from Amir Hadi from the left-hand edge of the box, which sailed into the opposite corner of Harrison Foulkes’ goal.
Following the opening goals, Mason Bloomfield had a further long-range effort for the visitors, which was saved comfortably by Harrison Foulkes. However, it served as a further warning sign before Harry Sidwell saw a close-range free kick sail comfortably over the crossbar.
The visitors entered the fixture with a much-changed backline due to transfers since the reverse fixture, and they also conceded early on as we worked our way back into the match in an action-packed first twenty minutes.
Louie Annesley was able to provide a flicked header from a Jordan Norville-Williams cross to halve the deficit, before Dennon Lewis had a low effort saved by the palm of Tommy Reid, as the Charlton loanee reacted well to ensure the away side retained the lead.
The visitors entered the affair off the back of a 2–2 draw in their last fixture, and the score was level just half an hour into the match, as James McShane received a cross from Brennan Camp before striking the ball on the turn, hitting a crisp effort into the left-hand side of Tommy Reid’s goal to bring us level.
Riding a wave of confidence, we further pressurised the visitors, looking to take the lead before half-time. However, efforts from Dennon Lewis and Paul McCallum left the visiting goalkeeper untroubled.
Proceedings quietened somewhat as the game drew nearer to half-time due to various stoppages. However, it was the visitors who ended the half in a stronger manner, with a headed effort from Ollie Robinson, before Benny Smith capitalised on hesitant defending to lift the ball over Harrison Foulkes and into the goal to give the away side the lead once more.
The first ten minutes of the second half started in an end-to-end manner, with efforts over the bar from Paul McCallum and Frank Vincent respectively, before a Niall McManus half-volley ended in the same manner, followed by a succession of corners for Dorking.
Further pressure ensued, which led to our equaliser, as Alfie Rutherford chested the ball down for Paul McCallum to turn home and continue the chaotic goalscoring affair. Dan Gallagher then tested Tommy Reid’s reflexes as we pushed to go ahead.
Debutant Wes Fonguck, however, came closest to adding to the scoreline for the visitors as he was sent through on goal, and Harrison Foulkes responded strongly by palming the ball over the bar. We then responded by going ahead once more, as Brennan Camp headed home from a corner.
In a similar manner to Camp’s goal, we further extended our lead by heading home from a corner, as Alfie Rutherford added the final goal to ensure we retained the three points.
We will look to continue our winning home form on Tuesday as we play host to Hornchurch in a rearranged fixture.