Farnie: I want the same commitment - EXCLUSIVE

Tunbridge Wells boss Martin Farnie urges his side to continue their battling qualities during Tuesday night’s FA Vase replay at Thamesmead Town, writes Stephen McCartney.

Farnie was proud of his side having held the Kent League leaders to a 2-2 draw, after extra-time, in the first round clash at Culverden Stadium yesterday.

They were just ten minutes away from causing a shock, but Mead striker Rikki Cable netted his eighth goal of the season to force extra time.

But Wells were reduced to ten-men when striker Aaron Shade was shown his second yellow card by Worthing referee, Mr Robert Wilkins, who was refereeing the two sides for the very first time.

The 85^th minute sending off forced Wells to play with just substitute Mike Lord upfront and deserved to earn a second bite of the cherry.

Curtis Williams had given Thamesmead Town the lead inside the opening five minutes but Ben Starkey scored for the second successive game to claw Wells back on level terms on 25 minutes.

But when Joe Fuller netted his sixth goal of the season to give Tunbridge Wells a deserved lead, Farnie was looking forward to Monday’s second round draw.

But Cable rescued Mead and Wells held out with ten-men and Farnie wants more of the same at Bayliss Avenue on Tuesday night.

“I just said to the boys there, it’s half time!” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk after yesterday’s fine performance which stretched their unbeaten run to five games.

“We’ve got another go. We’ve given ourselves a great opportunity.

“Thamesmead will come out with a different attitude (for the replay) I would imagine. I think they will be a bit more at it then they was today.

“I thought we stopped them all round the pitch to be honest. We battled hard, we worked hard and I thought some of the football we played was first class at times today so I’m pleased with the way we went about our business.”

Farnie was full of praise for all of the 12 players that took on the Kent League leaders, but singled out Andy Garrett.

“I thought Andy Garrett was superb today,” he said. “I thought he was absolutely brilliant.

“Gary Clark, in midfield, was excellent as well but the whole team from start to finish, I thought the whole side, but if I had to pick anyone, I thought Andy Garrett was our best player today.”

Farnie wasn’t happy about his side’s sloppy start but didn’t want to criticise Shade for his needless sending off.

He said: “I wasn’t very happy because it was a poor goal to concede but we showed a lot of character to come back.

“I knew five minutes in, the way we’ve been playing, we was always going to get in and get at them, so we done well.”

And on Shade’s red card, Farnie added: “It’s a learning curve for him. I thought it was a foul on him initially when he went through.

“If the ref blows and gives us a foul he doesn’t get sent off for kicking the ball away. The rules are stupid in my opinion.

“But I’m not going to beat him up over it, it’s just one of those things.”

Visit Tunbridge Wells’ website: www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk

Thamesmead Town v Tunbridge Wells
FA Carlsberg Vase First Round Replay
Tuesday 9^th October 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ