Sutton were on the receiving end of one of this season’s FA Cup shocks as Farnborough substitutes Michael Fernandes and Francis Amartey scored inside the last ten minutes to send the National League South side through to the second round.

Having created the majority of the chances in the first half and seeing them go begging thanks to a mixture of determined defensive blocking and good goalkeeping, Sutton increasingly lost their way in the second half and, having blunted U’s threat, Farnborough grew in attacking confidence and were rewarded for their efforts when Fernandes scored with five minutes of the ninety remaining, and Amartey took advantage of U’s pushing for an equaliser to score the second in the sixth minute of the stoppage time.

It was Farnborough who had the first shot, Jonathan Page’s long range effort comfortably saved by Lewis Ward inside the first minute, but it was Jack Turner who was the busier goalkeeper and he had an uncertain start, allowing a shot from Will Randall to slither under his body and grateful to his defence for scrambling the ball off the line. There were several other scrambles, with Kylian Kouassi not quite getting a shot in from close range before being crowded out and Enzio Boldewijn, who replaced Josh Neufville in the starting line-up after the winger was added to the list of absentees, had a shot blocked.

In an entertaining first half Hisham Kasimu was a threat for Farnborough and his header from Sam Deering’s cross was just too high, but it was Sutton who looked the likelier scorers, Rob Milsom flicking a shot just wide at the near post and Louis John, on his 250th appearance, having a header blocked on the line while Turner, recovered from his early scare, made two good stops from Craig Eastmond, the first from a left foot shot (above) and the second a glancing header from a corner.

Sutton continued to have the better of things early in the second half, but found Turner in fine form as he dived to his left to push away a Kouassi header and as the half progressed U’s became more frustrated and the attacks became untidier. Donovan Wilson often had the beating of the defence, but after cutting in between two defenders he blazed wildly over from a tight angle when he had support in the middle, while Joe Kizzi came in at the far post to meet a Boldewijn cross but opteed to play the ball across to Kouassi rather than take the shot himself and the ball ran harmlessly through to Turner. 

Farnborough started to create chances themselves, a superb jinking run from Selim Saied setting up Deering, a member of the Billericay team that had knocked U’s out in 2019, and Coby Rowe rescuing Sutton with a fine block to divert the ball over. By then Rowe was struggling with injury, and he soon had to be replaced, Luke Gambin coming on as Boldewijn dropped to right back and Kizzi moving in to the middle. Within two minutes Farnborough had taken the lead, a long throw in from Ollie Robinson carrying all the way to the far post where Fernandes forced the ball in.

U’s threw on Craig Dundas in a last ditch effort to force a replay, but pushing so many players forward were always vulnerable to a quick break, and when Kouassi’s throw in was cleared, Deering’s through pass left Amartey with the freedom of the Sutton half. Ward came outside his area to try and clear the danger but Amartey knocked the ball past him, shrugged off Boldewijn’s challenge and set the celebrations in motion for the 510 travelling supporters.

Sutton: L Ward, J Kizzi, S Hart, C Rowe(sub L Gambin 84), C Eastmond, L John, E Boldewijn, D Wilson (sub C Kendall 83), K Kouassi, R Milsom, W Randall(sub C Dundas 89). Subs n/u T Fadahunsi, R Charles-Cook, B House, J Rose. Booked: Boldewijn, Gambin, Kouassi.

Farnborough: J Turner, J Ball, F Grant, J Page, O Robinson, K Lokko, S Saied(sub M Fernandes 81), S Deering, H Kisamu(sub F Amartey 81), O Pendlebury, J Norville-Williams. Subs n/u C Fearn, R Holmes, R Young, L Paget, O Rowe.

Referee: Alan Young

Attendance: 1,929(510 away)