Hampton & Richmond Borough travel to Chippenham Town for Match Day 8 of the National League South on Saturday September 6th.
The Beavers travel to Wiltshire looking to continue their fine run of form which sees them sitting third in the league table.
Their latest result, a 2-2 against Torquay United was another good performance from Alan Julian’s men who keep exceeding early-season expectations.
Tuesday night saw the Bev welcome 1,014 people, the largest midweek attendance since 2005, and they were treated to another fine display of National League South football.
After another late winner on the weekend, the Beavers picked up where they left off, and the game started at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, the away side, fresh off two disappointing defeats, started quickly and opened the scoring in the 5th minute.
However, just four minutes later Craig Fasanmade notched his second in as many games to bring the score to 1-1 less that ten minutes in.
The Gulls were on top for most of the first half in a match no-doubt affected by being a midweek fixture. Both teams took a while to settle, and it was not played as an intense a pace as the first ten minutes had shown.
Torquay threatened from set-pieces and regained the lead before half time through Sam Dreyer, whose glancing header following a short corner hit the crossbar and bounced in, leaving James Holden helpless to stop it.
The second half was intense, and the mist being illuminated by the new floodlights set the stage for a performance deserving of a comeback.
Against one of the favourites for promotion, the Beavers went toe-to-toe with the Gulls and were by far the better side in the second 45, running forward with pace and repeatedly threatening their goal. The deserved equalizer finally came in the 79th minute, after Nathan Paul-Lavaly surged forward and cut the ball back to centre-back Charlie Sayers who had ventured forward on a counterattack. The Beavers looked to go one better, but they ran out of time, and the referee concluded proceedings with the teams deadlocked.
Despite only getting a point, the momentum does not slow for Hampton & Richmond who will look to pick up where they left off against Saturday’s opponents.
Chippenham Town have had a poor start to the season, winning just one match from their opening seven.
They find themselves on four points in 22nd After recent losses to Slough Town and high-flying Hornchurch respectively. They conceded three goals in both of those matches.
But this does not tell the whole story. Away to Slough Town they had more than enough chances to win their match, and manager Gary Horgan was disappointed they could not get a result saying, “that is a game of football we should’ve won”.
Despite their poor record, all their four points have come at home, with a draw against Dorking on the opening day and a victory over Worthing.
They have dropped points from winning positions on three occasions so far and will be determined to put together a performance for a full 90 against the Beavers this Saturday.
After our trip to Chippenham we are back at Beveree Stadium on Saturday September 13th for our first FA Cup fixture of the season against AFC Croydon.
Tickets are now on sale! Get yours using this link.
By Jack Lonergan