Non-League Farnborough strike late to stun S

Posted Sunday, November 06, 2022 by PA

Non-League Farnborough created one of the shocks of the FA Cup first round as substitutes Michael Fernandes and Francis Amartey scored late on to stun Sutton.

Fernandes broke the deadlock in the 86th minute and then, with Sutton desperately pushing for an equaliser, Amartey struck deep into stoppage time to seal a 2-0 victor for the visitors.

The home side came close in the first half as National League South Farnborough survived several scrambles around their goal, with goalkeeper Jack Turner grateful to his defence for clearing off the line after a Will Randall shot had slithered through his grasp.

Louis John was also denied by a dramatic goalline clearance, while Turner also made two fine saves from Craig Eastmond as League Two Sutton pushed for the opener.

It was not all one way traffic, though, with Hisham Kasimu heading just over from Sam Deering’s cross as the visitors gave every encouragement to over 500 travelling supporters, and the longer the game went on their belief grew.

Turner made another fine save from Kylian Kouassi’s header, but Sutton increasingly struggled to create chances and Farnborough’s efforts were rewarded when a long throw-in found its way to the far post and was touched in by Fernandes.

With Sutton caught forward in stoppage time, Amartey broke from the halfway line, rounded keeper Lewis Ward and walked the ball in to the empty net to start the celebrations among the noisy away support.