Purfleet 5 - 2 Hampton

The Kandol's alight!

Following our defeat on Boxing Day at Grays it was nice to get back to winning ways with a comprehensive 5-2 victory over Hampton & Richmond Borough here at The Hotel on Saturday. Although Hampton had gone twenty games without a win they had a change of manager who brought in new players and on Boxing Day had held Kingstonian to a 2-2 draw.

It did not take us long to get into our stride. In the tenth minute Tresor Kandol played the ball through to Jon Keeling. Keeling turned and his left foot shot was only just wide of the post. A minute later we did take the lead. Keeling went down the left and his cross may well have been turned into his own net by Sam Okafor but "TK" was right on hand and as our announcer credited the goal to him history and the records will state that it was his goal. If Okafor had put the ball in his own net he made up for it a few minutes later. Lee Allen played the ball down the right hand side to Keeling. Keeling rounded Hampton keeper Andy Iga but his angled shot was cleared off the line by Okafor.

. After twenty-seven minutes we went two up. A Kris Lee cross from the left found Keeling, Keeling's shot rebounded from a Hampton defender to Kandol to score from close range. In the 38th minute we went three up. The ball was played out by keeper Alex O'Reilly to Lee on the right hand side. He moved inside and his shot could only be parried by Iga into the path of the oncoming Kandol who planted the ball firmly in the net. Within three minutes of the second half the game was well and truly over when we scored our fourth goal. Iga was slow in coming out of goal from a Hampton back pass and Kandol was able to collect the ball and shoot into an empty net.

We still kept pressing forward and Lee on two occasions was unlucky not to get his name on the score sheet. Played in by Terry Bowes, who had come in as a half time substitute, his long range shot was only just wide. He then sent a thirty yard free kick crashing against the cross bar with Iga well beaten. In the 73rd minute Wayne Cort pulled one back for the visitors. Ashley Sestanovich's cross from the right being turned in by Cort from close range. We quickly restored our four goal advantage with a solo effort from Bowes. He collected the ball on the left wing turned inside and fired home past Iga. The scoring was not yet over and right on the whistle Jesse Hall scored a second goal for the visitors