MATCH REPORT | Hampton & Richmond Borough (A)

Hampton and Richmond 1 Hemel Hempstead Town 2

 Vanarama National League South 08/03/25

 Match Report by Allan Mitchell

Hemel came away from The Beveree with all three points after another dominating second half performance that saw them come back from a goal down at the break.

This fixture has become known as The Tudor derby due to both clubs links to Henry the Eighth and its usually a close affair. There were problems getting to the ground with all the surrounding areas becoming gridlocked due to the M25 weekend closure and the kick off was slightly delayed.

It was a tight first half with only a few chances at either end. Mauro Vilhete was proving to be a bit of a handful up front for Hampton and he will feel he should have done better after he put an early header over the bar and up the other end Oliie Lynch could only put his shot wide of the post after finding himself in space in the penalty area.

Hampton had Max Merrick to thank halfway through the half when he tipped a powerful drive from Brandon Barzey over the bar and the Hampton keeper was to prove to be a major obstacle for the Tudors as the game went on.

Photo Credit: Club Photographer Jemma Sear | @_photosbyjem

Just when everybody was starting to think about their half time refreshment the home side took the lead with the last play of the half, Hemel lost possession on the half way line and the ball was fed down the line, the cross came in and it looked to have too much height on it but Josh Keeya was able to get his head on it and it looped over Brad House and into the back of the net.

That was the last action of the half and Hemel would have felt slightly aggrieved at going in a goal down but Lee Allinson’s side have a good habit of turning up the power in the second half and so it proved.

The Tudors came out flying in the second period and Merrick was hand twice to keep them out, saving from Kai Brosnan and the follow up from Barzey but it was only a short lived reprieve as Oliver Lynch won the ball and set up Kyle Ajayi who smashed it past the Beevers keeper on 48 minutes to level the scores.

Hemel really ramped it up now and Merrick saved again from Barzey after a mistake had let him in and followed up by tipping George Williams follow up effort round the post.

As the clock tipped down it looked as though the on loan Chelsea keeper was going to earn his side at least a point with his heroics but with 85 minutes on the clock he was powerless to stop Philip Chinedu’s close range header from a George Williams corner giving the Tudors a deserved lead. The corner coming as a result of another superb save by Merrick from Oli Lynch.

Photo Credit: Club Photographer Jemma Sear | @_photosbyjem

Hemel saw the remaining minutes out comfortably as Hampton offered little and the players celebrated another three points on the road with their noisy band of supporters behind the goal,  a result that pushes us into 12th place with 50 points, 13 off the play off places. A gap that may be too much to bridge but Lee Allinson said after the game, he was brought in to stop us getting relegated, let’s see how many points we can get in the remaining fixtures.

Attendance: 655

Tudors Man of the Match: Matty Achuba (as voted on X) Kyle Ajayi (Mitch)