Sutton United 0 Farnham Town 3 (J Dean 11, Flatman 15, 22)
Sutton's youngsters found the runaway champions of the Combined Counties League too strong as Farnham progressed to the Surrey Senior Cup final, scoring three times in the first quarter of the game, at which point a Sutton side almost entirely made up of academy players looked set for a chastening evening. However U's refused to let heads drop, and in a second half playing with the wind and rain showed enough to leave the pitch with their heads up even if the lack of a final product on several attackes meant that Farnham's lead was rarely threatened.
The visitors came in to the game with 117 goals to their credit in a Combined Counties campaign which has seen them win 31 out of 34 games, and it was soon clear that U's faced a challenge that was a step up from previous opposition from that competition. The first goal was a soft one, though, with Jack Dean allowed a free header from Harry Cooksey's corner and the ball trickling just inside Sam Roberts' left hand post. Roberts made a good save to turn round a Lewis Flatman shot that was heading inside the post, but from the resulting corner the ball was cleared as far as Flatman just outside the penalty area and he struck a superbly controlled and quite unstoppable volley in to the net.
It was a pity that, when Liam Moore found the net with another impressive volley shortly afterwards that the referee's whistle had already gone for a foul, and instead U's were soon further behind as Flatman turned neatly on to a left wing cross, albeit with the suggestion of a push on his marker, and found the net again with a low shot inside the post.
It was a desperate start for Sutton, particularly at the back as Farnham looked dangerous every time they attacked, but U's stemmed the flow and had some promising moments as Ollie Khinda shot wide after a fine run by Lanseny Traore, and on the stroke of half time Moore sent Jake Tones away on the left and continued his run to meet the return cross at the near post with a flick that goalkeeper Patrick Nash somehow kept out on his line.
A goal then would have made for an interesting second half with U's benefiting from the conditions, and bringing on striker James Fennelow in place of defender Oscar Williams at the break, but while Roberts had a quiet half in the Sutton goal there was never quite enough goal threat at the other end to derail Farnham's progress to the final. Moore sent a fierce shot just over from 25 yards, and substitute Joden Trickett had the ball taken off his feet just as he was about to shoot from inside the penalty area, but the goal that might have given U's renewed impetus proved elusive.
Sutton: S Roberts, J Eccleston, A Reeves(sub J Trickett 76), L Traore(sub B Lambourne 70), O Williams(sub J Fennelow H-T), T Ogundega, K Edwards, O Khinda, V Tume, L Moore, J Tones. Subs n/u L Jones, C Bell. Booked: Reeves
Farnham: P Nash, J Dean(sub M Kinsella 76), L Koroma, J Jackson, R KInnane, B Kalu, O Dean, H Cooksey(sub K Tanner 61), L Flatman, A Liddle(sub C Postance 68), D Rule(sub S Edwards 57). Sub n/u M Meaton
Referee: Adam Merchant
