FARNHAM have an uphill battle to avoid relegation from the Surrey Championship Division One, but a nervy two-wicket victory over fifth-placed Chessington on Saturday will give them renewed hope.

Chessington decided to bat on a good-looking wicket with a greenish tinge and Farnham started with a bang. Skipper Matt Alldis thick-edged the first ball for four, but Rob Goldsworthy’s sixth delivery had him pouched at second slip by Nathan Thorpe.

In the second over, George Osborne produced a beauty to bowl Rob Edmond through the gate and Chessington were 8-2 after ten balls.

Karl Thorns and Harry Clark-Burnham looked to rebuild and did a good job until Goldsworthy found the edge twice more (73-4).

With the unerring accuracy of James Berry now bottling up one end, spinner Nathan Thorpe had Prince Singh, a Surrey 2nd XI player, caught at deep square by Will Davies and the visitors were 99-5 at lunch.

The returning Osborne claimed the key wicket of Thorns for 40 off 103 balls and Roman Qazi, after racing to 31 off 29 balls, perished when he tried to reverse-sweep Thorpe and Toby Davies took a sharp, low catch.

At 135-7, Farnham ramped up the pressure, but Conor Mcelligott and Paul Willis added 37 valuable runs with good running. Berry took a breather after a marathon spell of 23 overs for 52 runs and it was Tom Grimes who broke the stand, taking a return catch. Thorpe bowled Willis with the next ball and took his fourth wicket in the same over. Chessington all out for 172.

Farnham went out positively, with Thorpe hitting early boundaries, but Will Davies was adjudged lbw to a Qazi full-toss and the next ball, a brilliant yorker, bowled the other Davies, Toby.

Crisis time at 36-2, but Thorpe and Berry kept the scoreboard ticking over until tea and had taken the score to 113 when Berry (34) was caught at first slip after the umpires decided the ball had carried. Syed Maqbool’s next ball bamboozled Toby Ward and Farnham were suddenly stuttering again at 113-4.

Thorpe, now into his stride with clean stroke-play backed up by solid defence, and Ciaran Rooney added 42 untroubled runs until, at 155, Thorpe hit a full-toss to mid-off and was gone for a superb 78, including 16 fours.

Was it enough to win the game? Perhaps not as Maqbool and Thorne claimed three more wickets. Grimes and Goldsworthy inched Farnham closer to the target, but the tension rose as Chessington bowled 13 successive dot balls.

Finally, Goldsworthy edged Maqbool wide of slip for the winning run in the 55th over. Much relief for Farnham who are home to Beddington this Saturday (start 11am).

• Farnham were delighted to have the support of Paxhill Residential Care Home in Bentley who brought a minibus full of residents and families to watch the cricket at the Park for a couple of hours. One of the visitors, Helen Nicklin, was celebrating her 98th birthday.