Farnborough produced a solid display in their third pre-season outing of the summer against local rivals Woking, but an injury to striker Michael Charles has given them cause for concern.

Charles had earlier won a penalty against his former employers before he was caught on the ankle in the middle of the pitch after 35 minutes. The energetic forward tried to run off the injury but was withdrawn from the action minutes later.

Boro boss Francis Vines was quick to allay any fears of a lengthy injury, but did confirm that he expected Charles to miss next Tuesday’s clash with Camberley Town.

“Michael does have a heavily swollen ankle, but hopefully that is all it is,” Vines said. "The guy trod on him and it was a kick rather than any ligament damage.

"Luckily the season is still a month away, so if anything more serious is wrong he has time on his side and  in a couple of weeks he should be OK.

“I think Tuesday’s game will probably come too early for him, but that opens the door for someone else to come in and they need to work as hard as he does to stake a claim for a place in the side.”

After three games in a week against teams from higher leagues, it was perhaps no surprise to see Boro run out of legs against the Blue Square Premier outfit.

Woking brought a squad of 23 players for Kim Grant’s first game in charge, and he changed his entire team at the start of the second half.

As Boro began to tire some of the Cards’ fresh legs began to cause problems but even so Boro defended stoutly and picked up a decent 1-1 draw.

They have not been embarrassed in any of their pre-season games to date, despite not yet playing a side from their level, and Vines was content with another hard-working display.

“It was another good run-out to see how organised we are,” he said. “We didn’t give them any real chances to run us ragged and kept our discipline. We worked hard and there was plenty of sweating going on.

“The difference between us in a way was that they had 23 players to use and we had 17, so we were going to run out of steam a little bit. As some of their players went into their 30th minute we were in our 75th minute, and that does have an effect.

“But when the season starts, everyone will have played 90 minutes and they should be match fit.”

Vines shuffled his pack for Tuesday night’s game, bringing in Lyall Beazley in goal, Liam Pestle and Dave Woozley at the back and Connor Hamilton in midfield. Michael Barima and Darren Wheeler also started while Marcus Richardson got the nod up front.

It was the Blue Square side who made the more assured start and passed the ball well but it was Boro who created the first good chance, when Ian Oliver headed Wheeler’s freekick wide after finding space in the box.

Woking always looked likely to break the deadlock, and so it proved as the Cards were in front after 16 minutes when Danny Bunce crossed for trialist Wilfred Draumond who slid the ball under Beazley.

The visitors continued to dominate proceedings, without creating too many openings, but when Boro finally put together some slick passing it was enough to find a way back into the match.

A good ball to the right found Barima in space and he chipped into the box for Charles. As Woking stopper Ross Worner charged off his line Charles nicked the ball round him and was brought down, leaving the referee no choice but to award the penalty. Wheeler made no mistake from the spot.

Then came Charles’ injury, seeing him replaced by Paul Harkness, and it was Woking who carved out the last chance of the half, with Beazley making a smothering save from Draumond.

After the break Woking rang the changes, while Nic Ciardini and David Ray came on for Boro, and it was the home side who should have done better when Wheeler picked out Hamilton who headed over the bar when well-placed.

After 70 minutes skipper Liam Marum burst forward, exchanged passes with Williams and fired over the bar before lashing in another shot moments later that Beazley did well to hold.

Marum then played in Joel Ledgister who brought another good save from the young Boro keeper, before Beazley won the final act of the Marum-Beazley show with another great save from the Cards captain.

Substitute Rob Saunders picked up a booking for a poorly timed tackle, but the game fizzled out as both sides settled for a draw.

Boro are next in action when they take on Camberley Town at Cherrywood Road next Tuesday (kick off is at 7.45pm).

Boro: Lyall Beazley, Liam Pestle (David Ray, 45 mins), Ian Oliver, Dave Woozley, Nick Burton, Ryan Scott (Nic Ciardini, 45), Michael Barima, Connor Hamilton (Rob Saunders, 58), Marcus Richardson (Mark Gamble, 50), Michael Charles (Paul Harkness, 43), Darren Wheeler.

For a full report and more comments from Vines pick up a copy of Friday's News.