Farnborough Preview

After two successive defeats against Hampton & Richmond and Royston Town, Wingate & Finchley bounced back superbly with a hard fought 3-2 win over Grays Athletic to accumulate a vital three points. Now, Simon Lane's side play host to Farnborough at the Harry Abraham's Stadium on Saturday afternoon, where the Blues will look to maintain that winning feeling. Farnborough will be visiting Summers Lane off the back of an outing against Bideford on Monday, in which they fell to a 5-4 penalty shoot out defeat after the match finished 2-2 with 120 minutes played. Spencer Day's side find themselves in 21st position with 9 points after 13 games, having only amounted three wins in the league this season, subsequently losing ten. With a goal difference of -15, the visitors have tended to concede more than they've scored, having only found their way past the opposition on 21 occasions, and picking the ball out of their own net 36 times. In retrospect of that statistic, the visitors have looked to sure up their defence by bringing in a former Blue Ronayne Marsh-Brown, who's experience should have a positive influence. The Yellows don't travel well having lost six times from six on the road, however, only on one of those occasions have they failed to score, thus Wingate will have to be wary of their opponents' attacking threat. The last victory in all competitions came at home against VCD Athletic almost two weeks ago for Day's side, thus they will be eager to get points on the board as quickly as possible. The task ahead of Farnborough won't have been missed by the visitors, as Lane's side could move up to as high as fourth position with a win. Having played 16 games, the Blues currently sit in 8th position on 29 points, with a home form consisting of 4 wins, 1 draw and just 3 defeats from 8 league fixtures. Having scored 15 goals with a goal difference of +10, and falling short from scoring against just two sides that have visited North Finchley, Wingate have proven to be clinical in front goal which is a strength that the home fans will be relying on from their team. As aforementioned, in the win over Grays Athletic, the strike pairing of Lee Barney and Rob Laney looked in fine form, and both will be eager to continue on a good run. With the former scoring his 3rd goal in three games, and the latter scoring his 5th goal of the season, Farnborough could have a tough afternoon. With an intriguing game in prospect, both managers will be anticipating a good performance from their respective sides in the hopes of climbing further up the table. By Khalid Karimullah