Our final game of the campaign ended in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of 10-man Farnborough on Saturday at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
After Dan Roberts scored our first goal in 5 matches approx. 10 mins before halftime, Ricky Holmes’ equaliser followed in what seemed just a few seconds later.
Then, despite Edon Pruti’s early second-half sending off, the visitors took control of the game, mustering several dangerous chances before Olly Pendlebury’s 75th-minute winner.
Nonetheless, the result was not met with a negative reaction from Mark Molesley, who was prepared to “forgive” our players, having faced an unusually gruelling run of five fixtures in two weeks.
Importantly, our loss has no bearing on our season as a whole, as our 56 points comfortably secured our National League South status, with eight more points compared to the previous campaign.
Molesley made two changes following our goalless draw away to Truro on Thursday, bringing Harvey Wiles-Richards back in goal, ahead of Gerard Benfield.
The other change involved Joel Rollinson, who replaced Olu Durojaiye in midfield.
An exciting addition to the bench was Josh McQuoid, who was in the squad for the first time since being treated for sarcoma in his leg earlier in the season.
Much like on Thursday, there was a sudden change to the line-up which involved Harry Parsons, albeit with the forward this time being a starter, at the expense of Charlie Rowan.
The game itself took a while to get going, with no clear-cut chance falling into place for either side until 14 minutes.
It was an opportunity that the visitors really should have put away, when Milliar Matthews-Lewis completely miskicked the ball from just a few yards out.
The next 20 minutes saw little threat from both teams, Holmes’ long-range effort being the only notable action in that timeframe.
The Terras faithful would then have something to cheer about just over 10 minutes before halftime. It all started with an interception from Brandon Goodship, who then fired the ball down the left into Roberts’ path.
The forward then impressively slid the ball underneath the oncoming Jack Turner to give us a 1-0 lead.
Our cheers, though, would last for about two minutes.
A miscommunication between Wiles-Richards and Jordon Thompson allowed Holmes to snatch the ball approx. 20 yards from goal.
Then, with his back to goal, the winger lifted the ball over our shot-stopper with just a singular touch, into the back of the net.
If Roberts’ opener was impressive, we could have no complaints about the swift equaliser, which saw a goal apiece from both teams in the first half.
The second half looked to alter the game just seconds in, when Pruti’s reckless aerial foul on Ezio Touray saw him sent off with nearly 45 minutes still left to play.
But, despite being a man down, Spencer Day’s side were most certainly not out for the count.
Ollie Robinson’s looping header hit the roof of the net 10 minutes on, before Rollinson replied just before the hour-mark with an ambitious effort from long-range.
Then, whilst the crowd paid tribute to superfan Burt Hilton, who sadly passed away on April 5th, in the 65th minute, Wiles-Richards pushed away a dangerous Holmes header.
We still continued to have openings of our own though, as Roberts fired his wide-angle strike over the bar just three minutes later.
Roberts would have another go at goal barely a minute on, making Turner work this time. As the Farnborough keeper parried away the first shot, he would then be forced to stretch once more to push away Touray’s rebound strike.
Afterwards, in true end-to-end fashion, Boro had a golden opportunity to give themselves the lead when a misplaced pass allowed them to break down the pitch and fire a low cross towards Connor Cullen from the right-hand side.
Somehow, though, the substitute managed to fire the ball out of the stadium, as the scoreline remained level with just 15 minutes left to go.
Things, however, would soon change, when CJ Fearn’s short back-heeled pass allowed Pendlebury to lash the ball in off the post to give his side a 2-1 lead.
They may have scored a third had Wiles-Richards not denied Jordan Norville-Williams at the near-post, four minutes after Pendlebury’s strike.
One reason for us to cheer though, was the introduction of McQuoid, who bravely recovered from a rare illness that kept him out for nearly the entirety of the campaign.
But, despite his appearance we continued to lack in threat, as the final match of theseason began to draw to a close.
After the full-time whistle, Molesley appeared in positive spirits, stating that he was keen to “find a way to get better,” ahead of the upcoming 2024/25 season.
With an entire campaign to look forward to under the popular gaffer, exciting times lie ahead for: your community, your team, your Terras
Match report
by Jack Webb
