Hampton & Richmond Borough 1 - 1 Purfleet

TIED WITH A BOWES

Purfleet's Terry Bowes scored a stunning goal but it was not enough to secure the points for Fleet.
The skilful midfielder, fresh back from playing for England in the beach football tournament had an outstanding game for unbeaten Fleet. His midfield partner Danny Jones also played an excellent game on this balmy afternoon.

Hampton enjoyed some good moments during the first half but it was Fleet who controlled long spells of play with plenty of possession.

The midfield battle was always going to be a huge factor in the game and both sets of players worked hard to deny each other any space.

On the stroke of 30 minutes, Fleet's young defender Mark Goodfellow, won a great tackle and laid the ball forward into the path of Colin Simpson. Simpson turned and played an inch perfect pass to the advancing Terry Bowes, who held off his marker to skilfully lob the advancing Iga in the Hampton goal from the edge of the box.

Just three minutes later the referee awarded the home side a penalty after he spotted a push inside the Fleet area. Up stepped Riddell who made no mistake from the spot kick to level things.

Fleet pressed forward in search of a second but to no avail.
The second half saw Steve Pashley replace the injured Dean Chandler, and Steve was as solid as ever in the middle of the back four alongside the ever-reliable Jimmy McFarlane. All in all Fleets defence played well throughout, which was a reflection on the Hampton strikers, who kept at them all game.

Both keepers made good saves to prevent anyone winning this game. Fleet thought they had hit a winner late on when Pashley threw himself at the ball only to be denied by the keeper, Jamie Southon also went close. The home side also went close forcing Alex O'Reilly to make a great save.

It really was a case of two points dropped rather than a point earned on this occasion. However, everyone was in upbeat mod afterwards as Fleet are still unbeaten an have only conceded once in three outings.