Hampton & Richmond Borough 2 Dorchester Town 2 (From Surrey Comet)

Hampton & Richmond Borough 2 Dorchester Town 2

4:21pm Wednesday 1st September 2010 in

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Three substitutes found the net for three of the game's four goals, which all came in a frenetic eight-minute spell which turned a scrappy encounter into an end to end contest for the final 20 minutes, writes Daryn McCleave.

The Beavers were forced to make one change to the side that started the 1-1 draw at St Albans on the Saturday, illness ruling out right wing-back Danny Allen-Page meaning a full league debut to summer signing Danny Adams, who is a like for like replacement.

The game got off to a lively start on a pleasant, if a little breezy, Bank Holiday Monday at the Beveree, but that was to be a false dawn as both sides got bogged down into playing direct football which just saw each defence using their respective midfields as a tennis net.

But the visitors, in their changed strip of all yellow, belied their placing at the bottom of Blue Square Bet South by taking the early initiative, and could count themselves extremely unfortunate not to take the lead in the opening quarter of an hour, with a superb strike by Steve Devlin from fully 25 yards thumping against the post, and the former Yeovil man Nick Crittenden seeing a closer effort also strike the same piece of the goalframe.

These let-offs spurred Hampton into action, the Dorchester 'keeper Simon Evans' first piece of work was to pluck David Tarpey's shot from range out of the air underneath the crossbar.

Charlie Moone then saw a shot blocked after a brilliant piece of control from a long ball across field from Craig Tanner.

The Dorset outfit then tested Matt Lovett when Ryan Hill's cross found James Coutes whose header was beaten away by the home keeper.

Hampton then had another anxious moment when Lovett's punched clearance was sent back into the box by Crittenden, Magpies forward Stuart Douglas got in an effort which was blocked and a melee ensued before the loose ball was eventually scrambled clear by the home defence.

With half-time approaching the Beavers produced the best move of the match so far, Tarpey and Barrie Matthews combining to create an opportunity for Nathan Collier, who fired wide.

Hampton were dealt a blow at the start of the second period when captain Dean Wells had to go off with an ankle injury, and with five forwards occupying the bench, it meant manager Alan Devonshire had to re-shuffle the pack as Ian Hodges came on with Tarpey dropping into right midfield and the defence being deployed as a flat back four.

The game was screaming out for a goal to liven things up, with Moone bursting forward before hitting a disappointing effort wide, and the Magpies really should have gone in front when Dave Allen fired tamely at Lovett following Crittenden's pull back.

It was the visitors who looked the more likelier deadlock breakers, a cross from Neil Martin headed just over by substitute Ryan Moss who managed to escape from his marker, and that should have served as a warning to the Beavers for what was to come.

Still Dorchester threatened, the influential Moss forcing a great save from Lovett with a superb overhead kick, and it needed a goal-line intervention by Dave Stevens to complete the clearance.

So it was totally unexpected and against the run of play when the Beavers took the lead in the 69th minute. Tanner's cross into the box was nodded on by Hodges into the direction of Tarpey, who headed past Evans for his first goal of the season.

Five minutes later the scores were back level when an excellent pin-point cross from Devlin on the left found Matt Groves, only on the field three minutes prior as an immediate response to going behind, and he made no mistake with his header, planting it beyond the reach of Lovett.

No sooner had the disappointment of being pegged back began to sink in, the Beavers found themselves behind. Another ball from the left, this time a corner, found another substitute, dangerman Moss, who made no mistake this time with a bullet header from around eight yards totally unchallenged.

Hampton hauled themselves back on level terms, Charlie Moone's replacement Lawrence Yaku, lifting the ball over Evans and into the net from around ten yards.

So what had been a rather scrappy affair suddenly became a thriller and both sides went all out looking for a winner in the closing 13 minutes.

Coutes firing narrowly wide from 20 yards was the closest Dorchester came to winning it, and a spectacular bicycle kick from Dean Inman flashed just over as Stevens' similar overhead kick had turned from a shot into a cross!

So Hampton fans were left frustrated at a third successive draw, and fourth game without a victory, with Dorchester perhaps feeling they just about deserved more than just their second point of the season.

On a positive note, the side from Dorset did the double over the Beavers last season so at least that won't happen again this term!

A trip to the Dripping Pan, Lewes is next up on Saturday for Hampton (3pm), always a popular away day for Beavers followers!

HAMPTON: Lovett; Adams, Tanner, Inman, Stevens, Wells (c) (sub 46 mins, Hodges); Collier, Simmonds, Matthews; Moone (sub 67 mins, Yaku), Tarpey (sub 87 mins, Lucien). SUBS NOT USED: Gibbs, Witham.

MAN OF THE MATCH; Matt Lovett - Pulled off a couple of fine stops and didn't put a foot wrong.