Hampton & Richmond 4-0 Enfield Town
Report by Martin Bentley

It was a case of one step forward, two steps back for Enfield Town, as they were comprehensively beaten at the Beveree by a lively Hampton & Richmond side. Town’s performance was in dramatic contrast to the previous week’s narrow victory at Bath, with Town never really in the game at all.

Gavin Macpherson opted for an unchanged starting eleven, with new signings Alfie Tuck and Jake Hutchinson named as substitutes, together with the returning Harry Ottaway.

Town’s afternoon got off to a disastrous start after just three minutes, when Hampton were awarded a penalty following Carl Mensah’s ill-judged challenge on the leggy Bunmi Babajide. Captain James Roberts sent Rhys Forster the wrong way from the spot, and Town’s proverbial mountain to climb got a little bit steeper.

The half then developed along familiar lines, with the home side enjoying the lion’s share of possession, with Town successfully snuffing out the majority of their attacks. Babajide somehow missed on 27 minutes when clean through on goal, while Town only succeeded in carving out a couple of half-chances. Three minutes before half time, Town were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal. Harley Mills curled the ball against keeper Ted Curd’s right hand post, with the ball then rolling across the goal to hit the left hand post before being cleared. Truly, if it wasn’t for bad luck, we’d have no luck at all.

The second half opened in similar vein, although the only chance of note was a Mauro Vilhete effort that flashed wide. The home side doubled their lead on 59 minutes though, Jake Gray netting a rebound from a Forster parry. At this point Gavin decided to reshuffle the back with a triple substitution, giving debuts to Tuck and Hutchinson, as well as introducing Ottaway to make a twin-pronged forward line. The increased physical presence up from did at least give Hampton a bit to think about, and Tuck hit a shot wide after Lennon Peake’s cross was only half cleared.

The chances were still coming at the other end however, with the outstanding Mickey Parcell having to react quickly to clear a loose ball after Roberts’ low shot was parried by Forster. The inevitable happened as Town chased the game, and Roberts added a third after 77 minutes, and completed his hat-trick in stoppage time to complete a thoroughly miserable afternoon for the travelling Towners.

At least the rain stayed away.

Team: Forster; Parcell, Mensah, Tanner; Adjei-Hersey, Leshabela, Youngs, Leonard, Mills; Beckles-Richards, Peake

Subs: Tuck (for Youngs 65), Ottaway (for Tanner 65), Hutchinson (for Beckles-Richards 65), Benjamin (for Mensah 78), Payne (for Peake 83)