Boro Reserves hosted a strong and organised Wokingham side at Farnborough Elite Centre last night, eventually going down to a 2-0 defeat.

Craig Belgrave's side were looking to build on Saturday's impressive 4-1 thrashing of Chinnor, but they knew they would be in for a tough game against one of the favourites for the Hellenic Division One East title. 

Boro suffered a pre-match setback with the news that the influential Mamodou Lamine was delayed on his way to the game and would not arrive until half time.

That led to a reshuffle in personnel and formation, but the changes did not hinder the Boro young guns, who played some excellent football in the first half and created some good openings.

The best chance came after 20 minutes, when the in-form Nick Hutchings swung in the perfect cross from the left which wad met powerfully by Daniel Bowden, but his header was somehow kept out by the impressive Stuart Harris in the visitors' goal.

Boro continued to press and an excellent move involving Mo Harkin, Johnny Brown and Scott Costello resulted in another fine save from the keeper.

At the break, the visitors wore a frustrated look, realising they were in for a tough game and they were slightly lucky not to a couple of goals down.

Boro knew that they needed to reproduce their performance in the second as they pushed for the elusive goal, but on 55 minutes a lapse inconcentration from Luke King allowed the impressive Richard Bland to get past him in the area and the youngster pulled him back.

The referee had no option but to award the spot kick, and while Ashley Scott got a hand to Shaun Wanklyn's penalty, the visitors took the lead against the run of play.

As the second half progressed, Wokingham got more into the game without really threatening Scott's goal.

But Farnborough continued to move the ball around well, and they could have found themselves level when the excellent Harkin found Louis Wilson. the youngster slipped the ball to substitute Lamine in the area, but he snatched at the chance and put it over the bar.

With Boro continuing to press for the equaliser, gaps started to appear and on 87 minutes Wokingham got their second when Bland rounded off a good personal display to get a well-deserved goal.

Farnborough's never-say-die spirit continued and in the last minute they were very unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when Lamine was taken down in the area, but the referee waved away the appeals.

After the game Belgrave said he was pleased with his side's efforts against a strong team.

"It was pleasing to hear the applause and cheers from the Farnborough fans for the players," he said. "They have witnessed a young farnborough side that played some excellent football and were very unlucky not to get a result against a side that I feel will be challenging come the end of the season.

"I was also very pleased with the attitute of Mo Harkin as the senior player in the side.

"If we keep that effort and comittment up throughout the season, and can learn to concentrate for 90 minutes, we will definately win more games than we lose."

Attendance: 67