Farnborough 2, Aveley 0

MILLERS gave a great account of themselves in Saturday's Vanarama National League South clash at Farnborough on Saturday (5 October) but in the end were beaten by two second half goals.

Aveley had good chances in the first half, most notably with one of their first attacks when Tyrese Owen struck the ball past the post from close range.

Adam Leathers then saw his effort saved by Jack Turner and Harry Beadle's goal bound effort as also cleaned up by the keeper.

Farnborough weren't without chances of their own and Richard Chin fired an effort just wide.

Millers had claims for a penalty waved away on 18 minutes when Charlee Hughes appeared to be wrestled to the ground as he challenged for the ball in the box, though they were grateful for a miss by Ollie Robinson who put a header wide at the other end when well-placed.

Just before the interval Aveley almost snatched the lead when a great run from Alex Kpakpe ended when he picked out Owen, whose effort crashed against the woodwork.

Aveley carried the momentum into the second half and were on top in the early stages but then Farnborough changed their shape and began to take control.

Home sub Hisham Kasimu certainly made his presence felt and missed a glorious opportunity just after the hour, but it wasn't long before Farnborough opened the scoring, when a ball was pulled back into the box from the by-line and Millar Matthews-Lewis found the space to pick a spot and crashed the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

Millers battled back and caused some nervous moments for the home fans.

Hughes fired wide when well placed, and then saw another effort blocked as Farnborough players put their bodies on the line.

It looked as if an equaliser would come on 87 minutes when subs David Kawa and Manny Ogunrinde combined but Ogunrinde's goal bound effort was superbly saved by Turner.

Millers threw new signing Brooklyn Kabongolo into the fray for his debut and his header back into the box caused panic but non-one could get on the end of it.

The points were wrapped up in added time when Farnborough struck on the counterattack, and Kasimu raced through to net.

Aveley manager Danny Scopes did his best to pull positives from the defeat in his post-match interview, saying: "Credit to our boys. It was a really good first half performance. We hit the post and got very close to scoring.

"I was quite pleased at half time with how we had played and in the second half we started OK.

"They had their moments and got on top a little bit but we weathered that storm.

"The first goal was the killer when we lost a little bit of our shape defensively.

"I thought our response was quite good and we had a couple of opportunities to make it one all but they stretched us a little bit at the end and got the second goal as we were trying to build. I'm not overly disappointed with the performance.

"I thought there were some good bits and we were in the game but unfortunately just came out on the wrong side and now it's up to us to keep working and try and get on the right side.

"We have to take the positives. There were some good bits in our performance and 2-0 has probably flattered them."