On Tuesday 27th January Hampton & Richmond Borough host second-placed Worthing.
The Beavers earned their first point of the new year away to Salisbury last Saturday, with Reece Grego-Cox getting on the end of a Sam Deadfield set piece to bring the scores level at 1-1 in the 87th minute to ensure the team returned to southwest London with a hard-earned point.
Worthing, who have led the league for much of the season have fallen to second after falling 3-2 away at Bath City.
Despite their league position, the Mackerel Men are winless in their last four league games. Before defeat in Bath, they drew with Horsham and Chippenham and lost that 5-4 thriller away to Salisbury.
They are searching for their second win in 2026 and first in the league, after beating Step 4 Broadbridge Heath FC in the Sussex Transport Senior Cup on January 20th.
They will prove formidable opponents Tuesday, and they come to the Bev with the best goal difference in the league, and the joint second most goals scored across the National League and National Leagues North and South with 64, 11 more than Torquay who have the second highest tally in the National League South.
We last faced Worthing on November 1st, falling 0-3 on the South Coast.
Young striker Brad Dolaghan was profiled in that matches edition of fixture focus, and he opened the scoring that day. He has since gone from strength to strength, sitting top of the scoring charts on eighteen goals, ten coming since we faced him last. He has netted 24 goals in 33 appearances in all competitions.
His red hot form earned him The National League South player of the month award for November, with his manager Adam Hinshelwood winning the manager of the month award in the same month.
Other players to look out for include Razzaq Coleman De-Graft, who has returned from the Baller League in recent weeks. He has nine goals and six assists in the league after making the move from Hornchurch to Worthing in the summer.
At the other end of the pitch, they are anchored by club captain Joel Colbran and Harry Ransom. The former has made over 300 appearances for the club and has been a regular feature at their end of season awards presentations.
Ransom has made 25 starts in the National League South this season after joining in the summer from Sutton United, and has win percentage of 61%.
It will be a tough test for Alan Dowson and his men, who will be buoyed by finally getting reward for their performance last time out. Tuesday’s visitors last played out a 0-0 draw back in August, so it is a safe bet to assume they’ll be goals!
Let’s hope they come for the home side!
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Up the Beavers!
By Jack Lonergan