Get the lowdown on our next opponents: Farnham Town.
The Opposition
Farnham Town are no stranger to Sutton having already clashed twice this season, and have proved an unlikely foe along Chris Agutter’s journey so far.
Led by Paul Johnson, a hero at the Memorial Ground, the Town will be eying up a third successive promotion after securing their play-off spot with victory over Paul Doswell’s Sholing last time out, having taken to Step 3 like a duck to water.
While Walton & Hersham have been the team to watch in the Southern League this term, racking up 91 points to win the division and achieve a fourth promotion in just six years, Farnham are without a doubt a side who look to be following in their footsteps, having risen from the Combined Counties League to the Southern League in just four years themselves.
The Town dispatched of both the Combined Counties Premier Division and Isthmian League South Central Division, being crowned champions with more than a century of points on both occasions, while they have effectively finished in the top six in seven of their last eight seasons, including the abandoned COVID-19 campaigns.
Owen Dean has been central to their impressive rise, with Farnham’s golden boy notching 62 goals and providing 34 assists in 133 appearances between 2022/23 and 2024/25, before firing home another 20 goals this term to spearhead the Town’s attack with consistency and quality. Dean’s brother Jack has racked up just two appearance shy of Owen’s tally of 48, becoming a regular part of a backline which has conceded the third least amount of goals in the division, alongside the likes of Ryan Kinnane, Brandon Mason, Joe Jackson and Bobby-Joe Taylor, all of whom make up Farnham’s top appearance makers this season together with Dean.
The Town’s main man has been aided in front of goal by the likes of Ogo Obi (16), Sam Evans (13), Darryl Sanders (12), ensuring the goalscoring onus isn’t limited on him, with only Walton and Gloucester City scoring more goals than Farnham. Furthermore, they have displayed their ambition with a host of high-profile recruits, including Mason (formerly of Watford and Coventry City), Taylor (formerly of Dorking Wanderers), and more recently Seb Bowerman (formerly of Dorking Wanderers) and Rhys Murphy (formerly of Dagenham & Redbridge, Yeovil Town and Southend United).
As for the Surrey Senior Cup, Farnham have got past Epsom & Ewell, Kingstonian and Tooting & Mitcham United to reach the last four, and will now be aiming to seal their first ever title, having last reached the final back in 2023/24, beating a Sutton academy side to clash with South Park (Reigate) at Meadowbank, falling to a 1-0 defeat.
The Manager
Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson has become a Farnham hero, having guided the Surrey side to back-to-back promotions.
Johnson had enjoyed great success in non-league firstly as a player and then as a manager, guiding Spelthorne Sports to promotion before taking Bedfont Sports up into Step 4, and later became Farnham manager in 2022.
He won silverware in his first season as the Town beat Balham 3-2 in the Southern Combination Cup Final in May 2023, and preceded a historic 2023/24, enjoying their best-ever runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase, reached the Surrey Cup Final for the first time ever.
This was complimented by the club being crowned champions of the Combined Counties Premier Division South after completing an invincible league campaign, before making it two in as many seasons by gaining promotion to the Southern League Premier Division last term, again as champions, before guiding them to a third successive promotion race, with the Town currently sitting third in the Southern Premier Division with two games on hand on Gloucester City.
One to Watch
Owen Dean
A product of the Farnham Town Development Team, Owen Dean has swiftly become a fan favourite at the Memorial Ground, and is surely destined for the top after notching 62 goals and providing 34 assists in 133 appearances between 2022/23 and 2024/25, before firing home another 20 goals this term.
After a short spell away at Badshot Lea, the 21-year-old forward returned to make his debut in January 2022 before becoming a mainstay in the side from the start of the 2022/23 campaign, notably notching a match-winning hat-trick in the Southern Combination Cup final in May 2023 to cap off a terrific breakthrough campaign where he scored 14 goals and laid on eight assists in 41 appearances, before continuing to go from strength to strength ever since.
He spearheaded a title-winning attack at The Memorial Ground with his 22 goals helping him with the club’s Golden Boot for 2023/24 in addition to his 14 assists aiding the Town’s efforts towards an invincible league campaign, before agreeing contract extensions which have kept him at the club for the last two seasons.
He has continued to go strength to strength in Farnham’s first seasons at Steps 3 and 4, adding another 26 goals last term and another 20 this term as the Town sit third in the Southern League, with the prospect of three successive promotions still very much on the cards.
Recent Form
Sholing 1-2 Farnham Town
Farnham Town 1-3 Bracknell Town
Wimborne Town 0-1 Farnham Town
Farnham Town 1-0 Chertsey Town
Plymouth Parkway 2-1 Farnham Town
Farnham Town 1-1 Basingstoke Town
Last Time Out
Farnham Town secured their play-off spot in the Southern League Premier Division with a 2-1 victory over Paul Doswell’s Sholing.
It took a moment of brilliance to break the deadlock in a tight and tense opening 45, with Tom Leggett firing the visitors into the lead from range, having picked the ball up 25 yards from goal before finding some space and rifling the ball past Jack Turner from distance to edge Town in front.
With the Boatmen chasing a late leveller, they were hit with a sucker punch with five minutes of normal time remaining. A long goal kick from Mike Eacott sailed all the way through to substitute Adam Liddle, who slotted past Turner to double his sides lead late on.
Brad Targett then reduced the arrears in the second of five additional minutes, finishing well at the back post from a cross from the left to send Farnham nerves twitching, but it was too little, too late for the Boatman, who suffered only their fourth home league defeat of the season.
