On Tuesday January 20th Hampton & Richmond Borough host Chesham United for our second home match in four days.
Last time out it was defeat at the hands of Dorking Wanderers for Alan Dowson’s men.
Despite the result, Dowson was upbeat in the post-match interview saying, “I thought it was a great performance if I’m being honest. The lads really dug in. There’s a lot of positives to take from it and because of the position we’re in at the minute we can’t take negatives out of it.”
Dowson also mentioned the current make-up of the squad, hinting that the new players still are bedding in and getting up to match speed, and the squad he inherited maybe are still feeling the memory of the 14-game winless run at times, which he is keen to shake off.
As the squad continues to gel, the moment where it clicks feels closer and closer, and Dowson sees Tuesday as an opportunity to do that, much like the Farnborough performance, which due to the postponements unfortunately wasn’t the momentum builder it could have been.
In the National League South in the second half of the season the league starts to break up into mini leagues it feels. The top teams pull away, and it becomes increasingly hard to pick up points against teams like Maidenhead, Maidstone, Torquay, and Dorking as we’ve seen.
Therefore, there is more importance placed on those matches against teams around you, like the Farnborough match, and like this Chesham match tomorrow.
Chesham sit 11th in the table and have enjoyed a good sophomore season in the league following their 13th-placed finish in their first National League South season ever in the 24/25 campaign.
Since the beginning of November, 11 of their last 13 have been decided by one goal or fewer (a 1-1 draw with Hornchurch on November 4th), with the latest exception being a 3-0 defeat to Slough Town on the 30th of December.
They have a goal difference of zero, scoring the joint-third fewest in the league with 27, a record they share with Chippenham, and ourselves.
Their latest result was a narrow 1-0 victory away at Farnborough.
Chesham captain Callum Adebiyi was in the National League South team of the week for his performance in the Generals’ victory and clean sheet, netting his 4th goal of the season after he ventured forward for a corner in the 9th minute.
The 31-year-old defender is comfortable at both left back and centre back and has racked up 110 appearances in two and a half years for the Buckinghamshire side.
Before that they had a 3-2 win in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup over a youthful MK Dons side, the first time Chesham have scored 3 goals or more since October 7th, when they did it in the same competition.
We last faced Chesham on the August bank holiday, winning late on courtesy of a Reece Grego-Cox poacher’s finish, after the hosts cancelled out Davide Rodari’s spectacular opener.
Last season, both away sides won, so let’s hope this season won’t see history repeat itself!
It the the first of two Tuesday home matches back to back, as we welcome top of the league Worthing on the 27th of January. Be sure to secure your tickets for both of our midweek matches HERE!
Up the Beavers!
By Jack Lonergan