Hampton & Richmond Borough (0) 1 Deadfield 90+4
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 708
Admission: Pass
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 120/2,132
If, and despite the six point billing of a match that is played in September, it remains an if, Tonbridge might look back on the 17th minute of this game as one of those pivotal moments.
Steve McKimm had made the bold choice of leaving Joe Turner on the bench and with James Folkes injured, Alex Bentley was restored to full back.
The opening quarter-hour had been nothing more than a gentle feeling out of the opposition on both sides when, out of an innocuous area in midfield, Tommy Brewer recklessly clattered a challenge into Hampton’s Jake Gray leaving the referee to flourish the red card in an instant. It later proved to be his last act for the club.
There was no panic reshuffling and the game largely followed the pattern of the first quarter-hour. Indeed, after 30 minutes, Jared Small had the ball in the net but this was ruled out for offside, a hairline decision if it was right.
The better chances had fallen to the visitors as half-time approached but with a couple of minutes left on the clock they survived as a shot from Danilo Orsi-Dadomo struck the right hand post.
Turner was introduced a the start of the second period for Small, which left a few scratching their heads but the onslaught from Hampton was about to begin and an inspirational half of goalkeeping from Jonny Henly was underway.
Within a minute, Sam Deadfield had struck a shot into the side-netting when he should have done better and in a 10 minute spell, Henly denied Hampton at least seven times. A free kick from Deadfield found the head of Dean Inman, but Henly diving backwards clung on to the ball and, two minutes later, Inman thought he scored as his header was clawed away from the line by the Tonbridge goalkeeper.
Orsi-Dadomo struck a post with the rebound blocked by Henly and the chances created and wasted by the home side mounted.
But, having miraculously emerging unscathed from those frantic minutes, Tonbridge started to find chances of their own on the counter. Khale Da Costa put in a right wing cross that just evaded the head of Tom Derry and after a powerful run from Turner, Derry struck a post.
Four minutes of time added firstly brought a free kick in a dangerous position and a sigh of relief was audible as it was wastefully floated into no man’s land but the cruelest of blows was still to be inflicted on the Angels as Derry, who could (should) have run the ball into the corner lost possession, the ball was switched to the right from where Louie Soares produced a match-winning cross that left Deadfield only needing to put his head on the ball to win the game.
Hampton supporters could rightly claim they deserved the points with the chances they had, but it was the cruellest of outcomes for a brave Tonbridge rearguard action. How pivotal that 17th minute was, only time will tell.
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