On Saturday December 6th, Hampton & Richmond travel to North London to take on 20th-placed Enfield Town for National League South fixture number 21.
The Beavers broke their thirteen-match winless streak on Tuesday, beating AFC Totton at Beveree stadium 2-0 to secure our first league win since the end of August.
Two goals of real quality earned the Beavers a much needed three-point haul.
The first, a 41st minute volley from the returning Reece Grego-Cox, who made his first start since the FA Cup second qualifying round tie against AFC Croydon on September 13th was his fourth of the season.
With seven minutes of normal time left to play, goalkeeper Matt Rowley made an excellent save before HRBFC blitzed forward on the counter, and a cross from substitute Soul Kader was only partially cleared when Harry Gardner struck the loose ball on the half-volley with a scissor-kick technique to find the bottom right hand corner and send the Beavers faithful home happy despite the wet conditions.
Speaking post-match, captain Alan Massey, who acted as temporary manager following Alan Julian’s departure after the defeat at Eastbourne Borough said of his teammates, “Every single one of them to a man put in a shift tonight [especially] in the final minutes when we had to dig in.”
Looking ahead to Saturday, Massey added, “We going to look at it and take all the positives that got us that result and try and implement that into Saturday which will be another tough game away at Enfield. They’re a good side, a big physical side so we’ll have to be ready to work again.”
Despite sitting one place below Hampton & Richmond Borough, Enfield Town are three games unbeaten, most recently drawing 1-1 away at Bath City and securing a pair of impressive victories at home, 5-1 over Farnborough and a 2-1 over Maidstone United respectively.
Two attacking players are worth looking out for when the team travels to the Dave Bryant Stadium this weekend.
Striker Lamar Reynolds has enjoyed a decent start to life in north London, netting seven goals so far, including a hat-trick against his former club Maidstone. He scored their opener and assisted the second against Ipswich in their now famous FA Cup victory.
Sam Youngs will be a player to look out for. Last season he hit seventeen league goals and picked up the manager’s player of the season award. He is fast approaching 300 appearances for the Towners.
Overall, the two sides have played each other twelve times, with HRBFC winning seven of those encounters. Last season the home side won the bout on both occasions, with this fixture ending 1-0 in the Towners favour in March of this year.
After a galvanising win at home against the Stags, the Beavers will be looking to make it two consecutive league wins since the last week of August.
After taking on Enfield, Hampton & Richmond Borough will be back at the Bev next weekend Saturday 13th to take on Massey’s former home for ten years Maidenhead United, grab your tickets for that festive fixture HERE!
Up the Beavers,
Jack Lonergan