Reece Grego-Cox and Harry Gardner combined to give Hampton & Richmond Borough a 2-0 win over AFC Totton at the Bev, handing HRBFC their first league win since August and kicking off Alan Massey’s managerial career with a victory.
Despite the eleven league places separating the sides, AFC Totton and HRBFC came into the game with the same run of form, both having lost four of their last five, and both drawing the remainder. Pre-game drizzle had stopped but provided a sleek, fast surface for the evening’s football.
An uneventful opening eighteen minutes was disrupted by Jude Mason making a great recovery tackle, as he stopped Andre Changunda who broke down the right-hand side. This proved to be the first spark of the game, which proved to be the first of many.
HRBFC grew into the game midway through the first half. Harry Gardner drilled in a free kick 22 minutes in from just over the halfway line; Charlie Sayers came across the box to meet the ball with his head but glanced it just over the bar.
Moments later, Gardner followed up with a lovely one-two with Craig Fasanmade, threading it to Mason on the right, who played a cross into the box.
The home side grew in confidence as the clock ticked on, Sayers earned applause from the stands in the 38th minute, chasing down three loose balls, all deep inside the Totton half, and winning all three of his duels.
A Gardner set-piece provided the breakthrough. Massey nodded a lovely delivery back across goal for Reece Grego-Cox, who chested and volleyed the ball over the keeper and into the roof of the net.
As the roof of the Bev lifted, so did the pressure. The reactions around the ground matched the magnitude of the goal, both in the stands and on the pitch as the Beavers took the lead.
The Stags instantly tried to negate HRBFC’s lead when a free kick struck the players congregated on the edge of the box and ricocheted for Changunda who lashed at the ball, and launched it just over the crossbar. HRBFC went into the break 1-0 leaders.
Frustration set in for Totton, resulting in some wayward passing. Grego-Cox pounced onto a loose ball and charged towards Max Evans’ goal. Totton escaped without further damage as Grego-Cox’s tame effort only required a routine save from the keeper in the 50th minute.
Nathan Paul-Lavaly showed his superb footwork in the 54th minute, creating space to deliver a ball to the edge of the box. The ball dropped in the middle of the six-yard box and required a clearance. Had any striker gambled on the chance, they certainly would have scored.
Rowley reacted quickly and kept his clean sheet intact 65 minutes in. Changunda’s strong shot was spilt by the keeper, but he re-gathered the ball before any Totton player could tap in the rebound. A lapse of concentration allowed Malachi Linton to pick Massey’s pocket, who then broke at pace from the halfway line and drove a shot along the ground, but again Rowley was on hand to make calm of the situation, making another save in the 72nd minute.
Junior Dixon forced a great save out of Evans in the 77th minute, having run onto an outlet pass to inspire a counter-attack. He cut down the line and thumped the ball across the face of goal, which was pushed wide.
Totton lived to regret their missed chances throughout the game: Sayers proved hard to beat, heading away most crosses put into the box. Tony Lee was unable to make the most of one of the few chances Sayers didn’t head clear, putting it over the bar.
In a decisive 45 seconds of the game, Rowley clawed the ball off the line to provide a match-winning save 83 minutes in, denying Lee on the line to keep his clean sheet intact, and more importantly, the lead.
The ball was crossed in from the right-hand side, and Lee nodded it back across goal. Rowley flung himself across the goal mouth and made himself big; he somehow managed to make the save.
Instantly, the ball went down the other end of the pitch, where Harry Garnder drilled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to double the home side’s lead and secure the win.