Farnham Town 2, Sandhurst Town 0

REUNIONS are usually pretty happy occasions – and that was certainly the case for Town boss Luke Turkington and his assistant Lee Pollard as they welcomed their old club back to the Memorial Ground on Saturday.

Turkington spent two seasons at Sandhurst while Pollard was there for nigh on six, but there was no room for sentiment at the weekend as their new charges completed a professional job in picking up three more valuable points in their quest to cement a top four spot.

Two goals in seven minutes in the sunshine in the first half from Elliot Cardona and Matt Glass was more than enough to sweep aside a useful Sandhurst side and put Town within touching distance of not only third-placed Bedfont & Feltham, who were held to a goalless draw at Fleet Spurs, but also eligibility for next season’s cherished FA Cup competition.

A top three finish will almost certainly meet that need, which gives Turkington’s boys an extra incentive to finish the season in style.

“A top four finish will hopefully be enough to secure our FA Cup status but it’s back in our hands for third, and if we can get third I think that should definitely be enough,” said Turkington, whose team have four games left – with three of them at home.

Oddly, Saturday’s comfortable win, with Town clearly a step above their visitors in all departments, underlined the boss’s frustration over what might have been but for their horrible run of form in February which ultimately knocked them out of the title race – not to mention that a change of promotion policy within the league this season may also have cost them a return to the Combined Counties League Premier Division at the first attempt.

“It’s a bit upsetting that third would normally be enough for promotion but this year it’s been changed, it’s only one team,” said Turkington, whose team are without a game on Saturday because of AC London’s expulsion from the league before hosting FC Deportivo Galicia at the Memorial Ground next Tuesday night.

And that’s a game that Turkington will have high hopes of winning after a dominant performance against Sandhurst.

“It was a very solid performance,” he said. “It was the first time all season that we’ve managed to keep the same 11 from the week before and that certainly helped.

“Everyone played at an average of at least seven out of 10 and that was certanly enough to win the game. I don’t think any of the boys did much wrong and we were clinical, which was really nice to see.

“I enjoyed watching the game and I thought it was one of the better games we have played all season.”

And he added: “I think that there was a little bit more on the game because the players knew it was mine and Lee’s old club, and they didn’t disappoint, they were very good, very solid.”

Cardona opened the scoring on 31 minutes when he latched onto Glass’ excellent diagonal ball before smashing it low past the despairing dive of the Sandhurst goalkeeper into the bottom right-hand corner – just moments after Sandhurst striker Charlie Oakley had struck the base of keeper Dease Kerrison’s right-hand post after springing the offside trap.

And seven minutes later, Glass got on the scoresheet himself when he completed a flowing move involving Kye Nash and the industrious Sam Gillett, making no mistake from inside the box.

It was no less than Farnham deserved on a day when they picked up their 11th win out of 14 matches on home turf – form which for so long underpinned their title push.

“It will always help when you have a home record like that,” said Turkington. “It’s impressive and that’s what we want to build on.

“This was a season of working things out and getting the club back to winning ways. Let’s hope that next year we can go for a real push.”

And Turkington even had the luxury of bringing on goalkeeper Harry Birchnall for his outfield debut – just days after a triumphant return from a tournament in the United States.

Farnham Town: Kerrison, Meaton, Smith, Verkaik, Harper, Oakley, Medcraft, Nash (Falvey 79), Gillett (Birchnall 86), Glass, Cardona. Subs (not used): Sharrat, Evans, Page.