Referee – Michael Ryan
Entertainment Factor – 3/5
Star Man – Jack Paxman
Written by Ciaran ONeill
Hampton & Richmond Borough (4–4–2): Julian 7, Cox 7, Ruddick 8, Donaldson 7, Farrell 7, Gray 7, Miller-Rodney 7, Deadfield 7, Carvalho 7, Vilhete 8, Muir 7
Ebbsfleet United (4–3–3): Holmes 7, Adebayo-Rowling 7, Chapman 6, Kahraman 6, Taylor 6, Solly 6, Egan 6, Paxman 8, Wood 6, Bigham 6, Mekki 6
Substitute David Fisher left it late to secure a victory for the Beavers, with an injury time winner at the Christ Sweet Beveree Stadium.
The match was certainly played and won in the midfield, with Jack Paxman running the show for Ebbsfleet, but a moment of magic from Jake Gray in the dying embers won it for the home side.
The weather definitely impacted the pitch, no period more telling of this when Ebbsfleet keeper Jordan Holmes slipped, nearly allowing Nico Muir through on goal had it not been for Holmes’ quick recovery.
Ebbsfleet thought they had taken the lead late on in the first half, only to be denied by the offside flag. A smart corner routine left Bobby-Joe Taylor free to play the ball across the box, but the connection by Rakish Bingham ruled the chance out.
Both teams created chances for themselves either side of the halftime whistle, with Paxman fashioning a brilliant chance on the hour mark for Bingham, only to be denied by a fantastic last-ditch block from the versatile Sam Cox.
It was the Beavers who finally broke the deadlock, Wilson Carvalho evaded the tackles of two Ebbsfleet players to send debutant Mauro Vilhete one-on-one, who dinked the ball over Holmes in wonderful fashion midway through the second half.
The away side responded really well to going a goal behind, substitute Iffy Allen nearly making an instant impact, only to be stopped by the ever-impressive Alan Julian
With less than ten minutes on the clock, Bingham found himself through on goal, and despite Julian’s save from the initial shot, the ball landed to Mike West who made sure he equalled the score.
The remaining time was, unsurprisingly, end to end. Both sides refused to sit back and accept the point, going all out in order to try and take all three.
Into injury time, and following a neat pass by Vilhete, Jake Gray found himself with enough space to send a first time cross into the Ebbsfleet box, and his ball was met by the incoming Fisher, who’s touch was enough to send it past Holmes’ flailing arm.
Hampton & Richmond boss Gary McCann praised his opponents post match, “Ebbsfleet really showed their credentials, they stayed true to their style and that’s not easy on a difficult pitch like this”.
Dennis Kutrieb also spoke at length on his teams performance after the game, “I’m happy with the performance by my boys today, but the most important thing is getting the points and the result. We’re not where we want to be so we want to pick up some points and win some games to pick up our confidence”.
Match Stats:
Hampton:
Shots on target – 5
Shots off target – 0
Corners – 0
Offsides – 5
Fouls conceded – 17
Yellows – 1
Reds – 0
Ebbsfleet:
Shots on target – 5
Shots off target – 3
Corners – 6
Offsides – 2
Fouls conceded – 16
Yellows – 3
Reds – 0
