Farnham Town 3, Kensington & Ealing Borough 1

THE new football season may be just one game old – but Farnham Town may already have their goal of the season competition wrapped up.

With Saturday’s season opener against Kensington & Ealing Borough almost done, with Farnham leading 2-1, quick-thinking Rowan Sharratt latched onto a calamitous error by visiting goalkeeper Hossam Hassan to score a sensational goal from just inside the Londoners’ half.

Racing out of his penalty area to deal with a through ball, Hassan headed the ball before an air shot and a defensive mix up let bright youngster Sharratt in for his moment of glory.

Seeing the scrambing goalkeeper desperately back-pedalling, Sharratt hoisted the ball expertly one bounce into the net – and it never looked like going anywhere else from the moment it left his boot.

“The technique was superb,” said relieved boss Luke Turkington whose side lost all six of their pre-season games before joining the party when it really mattered.

“It was a good result and a good start to the season,” he said.

“To go from 1-0 down and losing six games before hand to bouncing back and getting the job done has resulted in a different vibe in the camp and a true belief that we can do it.

“I was relieved because I wanted to get off to a good start, the players were relieved that they managed to get the job done. It wasn’t our best performance but it was a performance that we needed.”

Kensington had led when new Town full back Luke Whiddett inadvertently got the last touch at the back post following a goalmouth scramble but an own goal at the other end restored parity.

And Farnham took charge when striker Romaine Atkinson was felled by the Kensington goalkeeper after he latched onto Gavin Brainch’s precise through ball and impressive skipper Jacob McDonald sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot.

“As soon as the second goal went in I couldn’t really see Kensington coming back into it. The result was fair, a deserved result,” said Turkington.

“We have got a lot of new faces in the team but they are gelling really quickly and they know that we are the team to beat in that league, and we’ve got a good focus of where we want to be – and that’s getting promoted this year.

“I’ve tried to instill into the players that we are the team to beat and the teams that play against them will play as though it’s their World Cup final and they’ve got to step up to the plate. There are no gimmes in this league, which is something we found out last year.”

After securing three points to kickstart their league campaign, Farnham’s focus now switches to the FA Cup on Saturday and a tricky tie at Calthorpe Park against Wessex Premier side Fleet Town.

“It’s going to be a tough task for us to get through but we’ve got some ideas of how to get the job done,” said Turkington.

“It’s one game, it’s knockout, and we want to make sure we qualify.

“Everyone wants to play in the FA Cup and we’re going to give it all we’ve got and try to cause an upset. We have got believe that we can do it.”

Farnham Town: Kerrison, Mitchell, Whiddett, Sharratt, Bowles, Oakley, Sowden, McDonald, Peel, Atkinson, Brainch. Subs: Forster, Wellings, Taylor, Reeves, Lennon.