On Saturday September 27th Hampton & Richmond Borough will travel to Wales to face National League North side Merthyr Town.
The Beavers will turn out in the world’s oldest domestic cup competition for the second time this season, beating step 4 AFC Croydon at Beveree Stadium on the 13th of September 4-2.
Hampton & Richmond Borough will look to make it eight games unbeaten in all competitions this weekend against the Martyrs. Last time out they were held to a 3-3 draw away to Dover Athletic which saw the home side equalize deep into second-half stoppage time.
Despite conceding late, it is still another away point gained from one of the longest journeys the team will have to do in their league campaign this year. Craig Fasanmade scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season as well as provided an assist for midfielder Harry Gardner’s first of the season, a precise left-footed shot from the edge of the box which capped off a well-worked move by the Beavers.
Hampton & Richmond Borough now sit in 5th place in the National League South, but the attention is back on the FA Cup this week.
Merthyr Town sit in 8th in the National League North table after being promoted from the Southern League Premier Division South last season, undergoing a 32-game unbeaten run in the process. This is their first season at National League level since 1995, but the club has a storied history.
First being founded in 1909 as Merthyr Tydfil AFC, the current iteration was formed in 1945 by a group of supporters once it was obvious the original club would be forced to fold. Arguably their most impressive spell was in the mid-1980s when they won the Welsh Cup against Newport County, earning a place in next season’s European Cup Winner’s Cup.
In September 1987, they hosted Atalanta at their home ground Penydarren Park and beat the now-Serie A side 2-1! They lost the return leg but put their name on the world footballing map. Promotion to the conference followed and they played pre-season friendlies against the likes of CSKA Moscow, Red Star Belgrade and Glasgow Celtic in the ensuing years.
In the FA Cup, their best result was an appearance in the second round against Watford in 1928, but in recent history, they reached the first-round proper in the 2022/23 season where they fell to National League North opposition Buxton. This was their first appearance in the first round in seventeen years, and last season they lost to Bath City in the 2nd qualifying round.
In the league they have enjoyed a good start, but unlike Hampton & Richmond’s tough start, Merthyr have had an easier start to the season through nine fixtures. They have five wins and four losses giving them a total of fifteen points. However, their wins have all come against teams tenth or lower in the National League North table. T
hey have split their last four games in the league, with wins against 10th placed Macclesfield and 12th placed Worksop Town respectively coming in between two heavy losses.
In their final match of August, they lost 4-0 away to King’s Lynn, and their most recent result was a 5-0 home defeat to Radcliffe who only sit one place above them in 7th. They have conceded sixteen goals, which is the most in the top seventeen teams and the third most overall in the league. They also have a negative one goal difference, scoring fifteen in the league so far.
They tend to concede goals in bunches, against Radcliffe they were level 0-0 39 minutes in but conceded three before half-time. Against King’s Lynn they conceded in the 17th then the 21st minutes. Earlier in the season they were 1-0 up against Scarborough before losing 1-3, conceding the equalizer and second in the space of three minutes.
An opposing player to look out for is striker Ricardo Rees. The former Bristol City U23s man joined the Martyrs in 2022 and scored 38 goals in 2023/24 and 33 goals last season. He also just notched his 100th for Merthyr in their last home win against Worksop.
The Martyrs will be eager to get back on track after their heavy defeat last time out, but Hampton & Richmond also have a point to prove after scoring three against Dover but not coming away with the three points. A win here would see the Beavers enter the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2022 where they forced a replay against Torquay United.
Be sure to catch the Beavers at Beveree Stadium as they return to take on Slough Town on the 4th of October. Get your Tickets here!
Up The Beavers
By Jack Lonergan