The visitors from Cherrywood Road have yet to win in their opening three games and have only claimed one point and scored one goal to date. All this after they cheated relegation last season due to the failure of Hucknall Town to meet the Conference's stadium requirements. Ex-Tottenham, Palace and Southend defender Dean Austin took charge during the summer and he faces a tough task to raise the Boro back to the levels they enjoyed a couple of seasons back when they reached the Third Round of the FA Cup and played Arsenal at Highbury. But there have been off-field problems with a takeover battle being waged between three local businessmen Tony Theo, Tony Tuberville and Ron Higgins. Theo believes he is the rightful owner of the club although former owner Vic Seale apparently gave his shares to the other two during the summer. The situation reached a head the day before the season started when supporters of Theo staged a sit-in at Farnborough's modest ground. They were evicted and both Tuberville and Higgins were granted access to the ground by a judge. All in all, not an ideal background to what looks like being a tricky season down in the Hampshire commuter belt. The Boro began with a 3-1 defeat at Hereford and then collected a point in a goalless midweek draw at home to Barnet, where fans again demonstrated in support of Theo. Last Saturday they came a cropper at home to Scarborough where veteran midfielder Neil Redfearn claimed the only goal. Misery was compounded for the 633 attendance when Lloyd Blackman fired a 68th-minute penalty kick straight at Seadogs keeper Leigh Walker. To add spice to the off-field situation Theo's son Adam is a regular in the Boro starting line-up. They were certainly a bit unlucky to take nothing from last Saturday's game in which Blackman and fellow striker Ali Chaaban looked lively. Unfortunately failure to convert chances has put Austin's men under pressure and they will not be able to extend such generosity to the Cumbrians and expect to return south with anything in their back pockets. Austin said after Saturday's setback: "Sometimes you don't get what you deserve in football. I said to the players after Tuesday night that they will better than that this season and lose. I didn't expect it to happen four days later." United will be hoping to improve on the rather disappointing display against Canvey two weeks ago in front of a league-best 7,234. Although Saturday's attendance will almost certainly be down on that figure, manager Paul Simpson is hoping the 'Fortress Brunton' effect will intimidate some of the visiting teams this season, many of whom rarely see more than 1,000 at their home games. This certainly goes for Farnborough and the majority of their players will not have sampled 5,000+ attendances on a regular basis. Simpson has yet to invest any more of Brooks Mileson's money in new signings and he is likely to retain the same side that eased past Forest Green last week. That would mean another spot on the bench for Brazilian Magno Silva Vieira who scored after coming on as a substitute in the second half. Simpson is the only player injured and he will be hoping to complete his rehabilitation from a knee operation over the next fortnight or so. United will be looking to take their goalscoring form of last weekend into the match, having won just one of their last seven league games at Brunton Park, including pre-season. Prediction: UNITED 3-1 Farnborough |
