Hampton & Richmond Borough 0 Thurrock 2
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- Created on Sunday, 20 November 2011 13:19
- Written by Rob Overfield
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‘1 step forward, 2 back’ for Beavers
The Beavers faced Thurrock in an important clash at the foot of the table and failed to carry on the good form of Tuesday night as they went down to a classic smash and grab raid by the Fleet writes Rob Overfield.
Manager Mark Harper chose to keep an unchanged starting 11, but brought in Dean Inman onto the subs bench in place of Tom Hickey.
After an even first 15 minutes, in which both teams had a chance; Boylen glancing wide from a Gemilli cross and then Simmonds forcing the youthful Hughes to parry a strong shot, the rebound which spun behind Dave Tarpey and was cleared, the Beavers lost link man James Simmonds, who aggravated the injury sustained on Tuesday night. This brought on Aaron Morgan and the game subtly changed.
Thurrock started to have more of the game in midfield and forced the Beavers onto the back foot, Boylen first hot wide after Lewis Ferrell had to put himself in the way of a dangerous shot, but on 28 minutes, Boylen latched onto a header from a long ball forward, to finish past Craig Ross as the defenders looked for the offside flag they were expecting.
The Beavers came back immediately as Tarpey tried to finish off a good run by Morgan, but the shot was wide with Hughes stranded.
Thurrock almost doubled their lead on 35 minutes, when Boylen’s long range shot beat Ross and clipped the bar as it went over. The Fleet were looking dangerous as big Drewe Broughton was creating problems for Jeffreys and Ruby just through his height and presence, leaving space for Boylen to exploit.
A persistent run by Nathan Collier almost brought dividends as he managed to swing over a cross from the Beavers right hand side, but as the ball cleared Hughes in the Thurrock goal, Joel Ledgister was just off balance at the back post and his header squirted wide.
Once again it was nearly a second for the Fleet, just before the break, as once again Broughton played in Boylen, his shot was saved well by Craig Ross, and the Beavers goal was left untouched, for a while at least.
HT HRBFC 0 Thurrock 1
Once again, the manager’s half time talk gavanised the Beavers into some greater purpose for the first 15 minutes of the second half, as first Tarpey had a long shot blocked, then Ledgister dragged a shot well wide and after Tarpey had done well on the ball, Ledgister again was guilty of missing the target, as his shot ran across goal.
This wasn’t to last as Thurrock stood firm and it was Boylen again who managed to find room to shoot, thankfully his shot was wasted; the Beavers were starting to look like they were rocking as Thurrock were creating more chances than they were.
On 69 minutes, it could have been all so different as JJ O’Donnell beat three Fleet defenders and got an exquisite cross to the back post, which had Hughes scrambling to frantically claw the ball away from the threatening Ledgister, who was lurking with intent to capitalize on the inviting aerial ball; however it trickled out for the corner which came to nothing.
Lee Boylan had terrorized the Beaver defense all afternoon, and on 74 minutes he doubled his personal tally and the Fleets similarly with a well taken goal, as Jamie Guy threaded a pass through the centre of the Beavers defense for him to latch onto and bury past Craig Ross.
Although the game now looked beyond them, the Beavers kept pushing but in spite of Dave Tarpey’s best efforts, the Fleet defence held the Beavers at bay and sheltered the junior keeper David Hughes.
Late into injury time, JJ O’Donnell went down under a slight challenge, this looked bad at the time as the stretcher was called for and he was carried off. He may well be a doubt for Tuesday’s game at Bromley, depending on whether it was just a bad knock or something worse.
After the game, Mark Harper freely admitted that it was very much as case of 1 step forward and two back this week as the team never got to grips with Thurrock’s direct, aggressive play and the likes of Drewe Broughton, who never gave Jeffreys and Ruby a moments peace with his bustling, robust brand of forward play.
Ross, Ferrell, O’Donnell, Jeffreys, Ruby ©, Andrews, Collier (Thompson 81), Huggins (Inman 70), Ledgister, Simmonds (Morgan 19), Tarpey.
Subs not used: Moone, Johnson.
Att: 590
