The Black and Whites remained in second place in the Regional 2 South East league table with two games in hand over league leaders Horsham. 

A 13-point gap remains, but two good wins would close that to make for a thrilling finale.  

Next Saturday will make or break that possibility as Farnham travel to Walton on Thames to tackle Reeds Weybridge, who are just one place below them in the league. 

Dartfordians had the advantage of the slope and the wind at their backs at the kick off and immediately seized upon it. After just five minutes they were ahead by two unconverted tries to nil. 

Farnham had been caught cold, perhaps too mindful of the fact they had beaten Dartfordians earlier in the season and that they sat second from bottom in the league. 

Once the more skilful Farnham side had recovered from those early scores, it made for a compelling encounter played at a frantic pace.

After that stuttering start, Farnham were dealt another blow when their hooker clashed with second row Bobby Mitchell. The hooker was lucky to get binned for only ten minutes while Mitchell left the field with a dislocated shoulder. Tom Dullage came on.

There then followed two incidents when the ref’s shrill whistle blew at a point when both sides were on the verge of scoring, only for them to score the moment the game restarted.  

Farnham won their line out on the Darts 22 and a training ground move gave centre Tim Salmon the space to surge over.  

However in the midst of that surge, the whistle blew to halt the game for a Darts player down with a head injury. With no other pitch to adjourn to, there was a long delay while the player was treated and, thankfully, escorted upright from the pitch.  

The ref restarted the game with a Farnham five-metre scrum. Farnham attacked with some sharp phase play forcing the Darts seven to flop over and kill the ball. Scrum half Harry West was quick to react and took a quick tap and then quick hands released Jonny Vincent to go over.  

Toby Salmon missed the difficult conversion across the wind and the score was 10-5 after 23 minutes.

The second incident saw the Dartfordian fly half take a penalty advantage with a long raking kick in behind the Farnham defence. However, as his winger gave chase with an open plain between him and the Farnham line, the ref blew for the penalty and pulled him back.  

The disgruntled Darts fly half then put in a huge kick with the wind behind him to the Farnham five-metre line and from the line out their huge No8 powered over. The conversion was missed, leaving the score 15-5 on half an hour.

At this point full back Mike Salmon returned to the fray after ten minutes in the bin having been adjudged to have made a dangerous tackle.

Man-of-the-match Reece Stennett was instrumental in Farnham’s next score. Always aggressive in defence, he darted in to thwart a thrust down the blind side and forced a knock on. Farnham spun the ball wide from the ensuing scrum and Stennett punched into the Darts defence on the right. The ball was quickly recycled and props Chapman and Woodhams combined with strong carries and good hands to release Toby Salmon who went over out wide on the left. 

He failed to convert his own try and although Farnham trailed 15-10 they were back in the game.

Toby Salmon’s next touch was a gem. The Darts chasers knocked on at the restart and Farnham had the scrum near their 22. Harry West popped the ball to Toby S who rounded the rear of the scrum and galloped up the blind side.

Winger Phillimore, sprinting in support, was the target for any number of dummy passes, as Salmon bamboozled the defence, sprinted the 75 yards and dived over out wide. He failed to convert his own try but the game was locked at 15-15.

As the half drew to a close, a final Farnham attack put them ahead. Stennett, when he’s not putting in last-gasp tackles, terrorises defences with mazy runs up the touchline. After one such effort, he released the dynamic No8 Oscar Henderson who burst through a couple of tackles to jog in behind the posts for the bonus-point fourth try. Toby could not miss the conversion and Farnham led 15-22.

With conditions now in their favour, Farnham had the chance to cut loose but it never happened.

Both Toby and Mike Salmon launched kicks that were on their way to delivering the much prized 50-22 attacking line out, only for the bounce of the odd-shaped ball and a stiff breeze to take it over the dead ball line. Twice the final pass to put the try scorer in were intercepted. 

Fly half Farnes, after another assured performance, did put in a successful 50-22 but tweaked a knee as he chased the kick and Ollie Brown came on to fill his place.

Dartfordians did an excellent job disrupting the Farnham line out and their heavy pack kept the pressure on in the tight.

Thirty minutes into the half, Farnham’s defence gave way and the Dartfordian winger went over out wide. The conversion was missed and at 22-20 the spectators’ nerves were stretched along both touchlines.

The last ten minutes saw fluent Farnham attacks break down, Dartfordians counter attacks, great defending with notable turnovers from Ben Brown, Jonny Vincent and Tom Dullage, and brilliant last-gasp tackles by the back three of Stennett, Salmon M and Phillimore. 

Mark Weeks