On Tuesday February 10th Hampton & Richmond Borough travel to The Focus Community Arena to take on 7th-placed Hemel Hempstead.
It is a quick turnaround after the Beavers struck twice in added time to snatch a point against Hornchurch at Beveree Stadium last Saturday.
Buoyed by two great home results, the squad should head to Hemel full of confidence.
The Tudors will be well rested after their away trip to Bath City was postponed. They also avoided a trip to the West Country last Tuesday as their tie with Weston-Super-Mare was also a casualty of the recent rain.
When they have gotten a chance to play in recent weeks, they have performed relatively well, winning three of their last six in the league.
A routine home win over Enfield at the end of December was built upon with another home win against Dagenham & Redbridge as well as impressive away victory in Kent over Maidstone.
Despite these impressive performances, they have fallen 0-3 to 16th placed Slough Town and most recently, 1-2 to 15th place Dover Athletic.
Earlier in the season Hemel had an fairytale run in the FA Cup, reaching the first round proper for only the third time in their history and the first time since 2014. They made the trip to Lancashire to face League One Wigan Athletic, and after a red card and converted penalty made it 1-1 in the 50th minute, the dream looked alive.
A saved Paul Mullin penalty added to the feeling that it might be fate for the Tudors to prevail.
They had two chances to nick it in the final minutes of added time, with Olatunbosun Adenola’s 35-yard effort being clawed away from danger by the Wigan ‘keeper, and just seconds later Millar Matthews-Lewis clattered his point-blank effort onto the crossbar.
The tie was to be decided from the spot, and that is where Tudors’ luck ran out, falling out of the cup 5-3 on penalties.
The star player of the first half of the season for Hemel was Millar Matthews-Lewis, but the 20-year-old striker’s 12 goals earned him a move to League One side Burton Albion at the end of the January transfer window.
There is still plenty of talent throughout the Tudors’ squad, not least in the known quantities of Jake Gray and Mauro Vilhete.
The Tudors have scored the fewest goals of the top nine teams, but are solid at the back which has recently been bolstered by the arrival of centre back Louis Lomas from Farnborough.
To replace Matthews-Lewis’s goals two attacking additions have been made in recent weeks, the first of which being Remaye Campbell.
Campbell, 25, joins from Hereford FC where he scored three goals in seventeen appearances in the National League North this season. He also notched six in fifteen in the National League North last season after making the step up from Step 3 Matlock Town.
However, his first two starts have not gone to plan, failing to find the net and missing a penalty against Ebbsfleet United last time out.
Another new addition, Aston Ellard, fared much better on his debut, scoring a last minute equaliser against the Fleet after arriving on loan from League One side Barnsley.
It was defeat for the Beavers on Tuesday October 21st last time we faced the Tudors, falling 2-1 after a long-range effort from Kyle Ajayi lobbed James Holden, and a wicked deflection carried their second over our former ‘keeper’s head.
Let’s hope tomorrow’s result is better reading for Beavers fans at the end of the 90 minutes!
The fixtures just keep on coming this time of year, and the Beavers will be back at home on Valentine’s Day February 14th against the Clarets of Chelmsford City.
Come show some love to your non-league football club and secure your tickets for that one HERE!
Up the Beavers!
By Jack Lonergan