Beavering Away With Hampton & Richmond Borough

[FM_TNSSO]

October 2020

October 2020


Saturday 3rd October 2020
FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round
Hythe Town (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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The standard squad rotation was implemented against our lower league opposition and again we dominate but only scrape by with a narrow win. Still, it's job done, and we march on to the final qualifying round again.


Wednesday 7th October 2020
Vanarama National League South
Farnborough (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Our set pieces were on point today with Henry Cowans giving us the lead from a direct free kick, before he flighted in another indirect one for Ollie Cook to head home! Cowans added a 2nd goal of his own to secure a comfortable win and another 3 points!


The final qualifying round of the FA Cup has thrown up a tough draw for us away to Torquay United!

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Saturday 10th October 2020
Vanarama National League South
Weston-super-Mare (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A pretty lacklustre performance from us as we play out a very boring game for the fans!


Saturday 17th October 2020
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
Torquay United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond (Changed to 4-1-3-2 Narrow on 66 minutes)

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We'll need a replay to settle this one, but it was a great comeback today from my lads from 2-0 down and we should have won the game late on as we heaped pressure on them in the final 15 minutes but just couldn't find a winner.


Monday 19th October 2020
Vanarama National League South
Torquay United (Home)
Formation 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Before we take on Torquay in the FA Cup replay, we had a league game with them to get out of the way! And it was a great performance and a very good win against one of the stronger sides in the league...this really was a big result for us as both strikers were on song and bag 3 goals between them!


Thursday 22nd October 2020
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round Replay
Torquay United (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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I would use the excuse that we'd played 3 games in just 6 days and the lads were knackered, but Torquay had done exactly the same. We created more, but lacked precision in front of goal, whilst they took their chances better! Our FA Cup run for this year is over!


Saturday 24th October 2020
Vanarama National League South
Chesham United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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When you're playing your 4th game in a week, you want to be playing the side that's bottom of the table and that's exactly the situation we found ourselves in here. And it's easy to see why Chesham are bottom as they were ****** awful as we romped to a big away win!


Tuesday 27th October 2020
Vanarama National League South
East Thurrock United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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40 minutes in and we were comfortable with East Thurrock only managing 1 shot on goal to that point. Then Chris Bush was sent off for a stupid and wreckless challenge and Thurrock dominated the 2nd half. We were lucky to get away with a draw in the end and I'm laying the entire blame at the feet of Chris Bush who was fined 2 weeks wages!


Saturday 31st October 2020
Vanarama National League South
Boreham Wood (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We'll take that all day long. Boreham Wood have an extremely strong team for this league and if we can avoid defeat to them this season it will be a good achievement!


October Review; It's been pretty hectic this month with 9 games to play, but we done extremely well to only suffer 1 defeat and that was in the FA Cup! Our league form has been strong and we've had some great results which keeps us at the top of the table! Only Boreham Wood and Woking seem to be keeping up with us so far and we've already opened up an impressive gap of 11 points back to 8th!

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Player of the Month
Tobi Omole

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We kept 5 clean sheets this month and centre back Tobi Omole has been a big part of defensive effort! Incredibly, he featured in 8 of our 9 games and his consistent form has earned him the player of the month! He even chipped in with a couple of assists in one of the Torquay games!


November Preview; We've got a couple of weeks break now, which will be well received after a busy month! November will calm right down with only 3 games scheduled, 2 in the league and 1 in the FA Trophy.

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[FM_TNSSO]

November 2020

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November 2020

Saturday 14th November 2020
Vanarama National League South
Dagenham & Redbridge (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We gave Dag & Red a good game, but they just managed to get the result on the day. A close game that could have gone either way, but we did ourselves justice against a team much stronger than us on paper!


At the end of the month, we take on minnows, Ashford United, in the FA Trophy!

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Incoming Transfer; With our strikers not being the most consistent (combined with the fact we only have 3 in the first team squad), I was keen to add another! 19 year old Welsh striker, Josh Thomas, has now joined the club on a free from divisional rivals, Boreham Wood! Josh has some great pace, a good work rate with a decent level of determination! He can finish too and is composed in front of goal and will certainly challenge our current crop of strikers for their place in the starting 11! Thomas has signed a 1 year deal on £275 per week!

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Saturday 21st November 2020
Vanarama National League South
Dartford (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Dartford are sitting in the playoff spots and look a decent side, so this has to be seen as an OK point to pick up and was an important game not to lose!


Saturday 28th November 2020
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Ashford United (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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I did the usual amount of rotation for playing lower league opposition and this was an easy win for us. The lads never needed to get out of 2nd gear as we cruised through to the next round. Only one negative was a bit of complacency and the lapse of concentration late on to allow them to score a silly goal! Josh Thomas bagged himself a debut goal for the club in injury time!


We've been handed a tough draw in the 1st round of the FA Trophy next month and we'll have to be at our best to beat National League side, Sutton United.

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November Review; Two league games and only one point is not good, although we did play some top opposition! Progress in the FA Trophy was good, although expected! We now sit 2nd in the league and in a blink of an eye, Boreham Wood have opened up a 6 point gap at the top!

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Player of the Month
Henry Cowans

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With most of our players only playing 2 games this month, the award was always going to go to a player that had 1 stand out performance, and that is Henry Cowans for his great game against Dartford!


December Preview; We'll be looking to pick up our league form next month, although we start with a tough game against 4th placed Chippenham! Concord also sit in the playoff spots at present, so it looks like a tough December coming up!

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[Yeti01]

This is quality mate - love a good LLM save. Also, when I lived in London as an early adult I wasn't too far from Hampton so I have a somewhat tenuous claim to becoming a supporter!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

This is quality mate - love a good LLM save. Also, when I lived in London as an early adult I wasn't too far from Hampton so I have a somewhat tenuous claim to becoming a supporter!!

Cheers buddy! Glad you're enjoying the read!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

December 2020

December 2020


Saturday 5th December 2020
Vanarama National League South
Chippenham Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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This was a statement and a half from us against 4th placed Chippenham! We absolutely demolished them on their own patch and fully deserved the 4-0 win! Josh Thomas is already looking like a decent signing with 2 goals in 2 starts now!


Tuesday 15th December 2020
Vanarama National League South
Bishop's Stortford (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We picked up where we left off against Chippenham and recorded an easy win here over much lesser opposition in Bishop's Stortford! Another clean sheet as the defence looks strong again and hopefully we can sustain this form for the rest of the month!


Saturday 19th December 2020
FA Trophy 1st Round
Sutton United (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Not only did we beat a team from the league above here, we absolutely battered them for 90 minutes and the 1-0 scoreline really flatters Sutton as we could easily have won this by 3 or 4!


More National League opposition in the next round of the FA Trophy for us!

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Contract Signed; It's a new deal for me and this time it's a 2 year contract! Plus a £50 p/w pay rise on top of that!

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Saturday 26th December 2020
Vanarama National League South
Oxford City (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A disappointing draw at home to one of our bogey teams! All in all, it was a pretty boring game with no good chances for either side!


Monday 28th December 2020
Vanarama National League South
Concord Rangers (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Another good win away from home against a side in the playoff places...that's two big scalps we've taken in the league this month! A single Norman Wabo goal on his return to the starting lineup was enough as our defence kept their 5th straight clean sheet!


December Review; We haven't conceded a single goal this month as the defence looks rock solid! 10 points in the league from 4 games is a great return and beating higher league opposition in the cup makes it an almost perfect month for us! It's looking like a 3 horse race for the title this season at the moment as Boreham Wood, us and Woking are opening up a gap back to the rest!

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Player of the Month
Tobi Omole

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With the team managing to keep 5 clean sheets this month, the award was always going to a defender and there were none better than the ultra consistent Tobi Omole!


January Preview; Five more league games coming up in January plus the FA Trophy game away at Gateshead! We have the potential for a really good month in the league with all of our opponents in the bottom 7!

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[FM_TNSSO]

January 2021

January 2021


Saturday 2nd January 2021
Vanarama Natinal League South
Havant & Waterlooville (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We kicked off the new year with a disappointing draw at home to Havant! We were dominant throughout, but failed to put our chances away and have to settle for a point!


Saturday 9th January 2021
Vanarama National League South
Basingstoke Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Liam Bishop's solo effort was enough for the 3 points today as we narrowly squeeze by relegation threatened Basingstoke. A bit lacklustre today and I'd like to see more from the lads over the coming games!


Injury; Jamie Reynolds has definitely been one of our star men so far this season, but we'll now have to do without him for the next few weeks!

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Tuesday 12th January 2021
Vanarama National League South
Hungerford Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Hungerford made us work really hard for this, but it's always good to see your hard work pay off and it did here with another 3 points! After they went 1-0 up early in the second half, we looked up against it, but the lads turned on the style in the final half an hour and we ended up recording a pretty comfortable win in the end!


Saturday 16th January 2021
FA Trophy 2nd Round
Gateshead (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Before Gateshead scored, we missed two really good chances, both close range headers from set pieces! If one of them had gone in, it might have been a different story, but after Gateshead got their first goal, our heads dropped and we never really looked like getting back into the game from that point!


Saturday 30th January 2021
Vanarama National League South
Carshalton Athletic (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We had a bit of a break between games as our match last week against Salisbury was postponed! The break seemed to have done the lads good as they looked full of running here against a Carshalton side that are battling for their lives in this league. But they couldn't live with us on the day and we overran them on our way to a good away win!


January Review; Another unbeaten month in the league and another 10 points added to our tally! We crashed out of the FA Trophy, but there is no shame in losing to a decent side from the league above! Two years ago Billericay were winning the league at this stage with 54 points, and last year Maidenhead were winning it with 54 points, so that is testament to just how well we are doing so far this season...we're just unlucky that we've run into Boreham Wood and Woking who are also having outstanding seasons!

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Player of the Month
Eddie Jones

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Eddie hasn't exactly been a regular starter this year for us, but after a run of games this month, he has certainly put himself back in the mix with some very good performances! A couple of goals from midfield will also help his cause and he's given me something to think about in my central midfield roles now.


February Preview; We kick off with the rescheduled game against Salisbury, before a big game at home to Woking who sit just above us in the table! Again, there are some tough games ahead of us next month but if we continue in the same vein of form as we are now it feels like we can beat anybody!

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[FM_TNSSO]

February 2021

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February 2021


Tuesday 2nd February 2021
Vanarama National League South
Salisbury FC (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A result that I fully expected if I'm honest! Salisbury have a weak side and were simply no match for us on the day as we romped to an easy home win! We could have had 5 or 6 to be fair and the 3-0 result actually flatters our opponents!


Our next game will see us take on 2nd placed Woking, a match that will see the two sides with the longest current unbeaten streaks in the division!

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Saturday 6th February 2021
Vanarama National League South
Woking (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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This was a game that involved two really good sides, with both teams playing some lovely football at times! But it was Woking who just got the better of us on the day and this is a big defeat for us in the title race against the 2nd placed side!


Saturday 13th February 2021
Vanarama National League South
Welling United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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After losing to Woking, it was essential that we bounced back immediately here and that's exactly what we did! A professional performance with 3 cracking goals gets us back to winning ways. Liam Bishop's second goal was a wonderful curling shot from the edge of the area right into the top corner of the net!


Saturday 27th February 2021
Vanarama National League South
Slough Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Another 2 week gap between games after our match with Truro was postponed last week! What the **** happened here?! We were ****** awful and fell to a big defeat to Slough who absolutely battered us! Needless to say, the lads got a ****** good kick in from me after the game!


Takeover; Looks like our chairman is looking to sell up and we could have new owners coming in any day now!

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February Review; Only 4 games played and not the best of months with 2 defeats to our name! We remain 3rd in the table with a game in hand and an opportunity to overtake Boreham Wood as they also had a pretty poor month! However, Woking are starting to open up at the top a little and we need to keep tabs on them if we're going to have a chance of winning the title this season!

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Player of the Month
Liam Bishop

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4 goals in 4 games is enough for the striker to take his first player of the month award for us!


March Preview; Five games coming up next month and if we are going to catch Woking at the top, I'd say we've probably got to win 4 of these and hope they drop points!

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[FM_TNSSO]

March 2021

March 2021


Takeover; More news on the potential takeover at the club with a local businessman now named as the prospective buyer!

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Tuesday 2nd March 2021
Vanarama National League South
Truro City (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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This was never likely to be an easy game with Truro sitting inside the playoff places, but we turned up and got the job done! Both strikers got on the scoresheet and were our best players on the pitch...their partnership could be key for us over the final 10 games of the season!


Youth Intake; This year's youth intake isn't the worst, although it isn't a whole team of future prospects! The best of the lot is 16 year old centre back, Jamie Henderson, who has some great mental statistics already and if we can train him on with his tackling, heading and marking stats, then there's no reason why he can't be making the first team in the next 2-4 years!

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Saturday 6th March 2021
Vanarama National League South
Farnborough (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Farnborough are another side chasing a playoff spot and this was another tough game for us! And this time we didn't come away with all 3 points and instead have to settle for 1! Farnborough were the better side in the final 30 minutes and missed a couple of good chances to win the game, so I have to be happy with the point!


Takeover; The club's takeover is now complete and I officially have a new boss! Before he took over the club's finances were in the red by £160k, but he has cleared that and we now sit here with £30k in the bank!

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Saturday 13th March 2021
Vanarama National League South
Weston-super-Mare (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We were disappointing here but at the same time I'm not surprised we didn't manage to win as WSM are another side we have struggled against in the past too! Just gutting that it looked like we'd get one over them here and then they banged in an equalizer in the final 10 minutes!


Saturday 20th March 2021
Vanarama National League South
East Thurrock United (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We were the better side and deserved the win here! Norman Wabo made it two goals in two games as each of my strikers continue to impress and stake their claim for a spot in the starting 11!


Saturday 27th March 2021
Vanarama National League South
Torquay United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Simply not good enough here! Our defence has definitely become a little more suspect over the past couple of months and this was a prime example of it here as two of their three goals were down to defensive errors! Not the way I wanted to finish the month!


March Review; Eight points from five games is probably not enough when you're chasing down a title and we'll need a **** of a lot of luck to win this division now! We're still 3rd in the table but a good 8 points off top spot now with only 6 games remaining! Unless we have a complete disaster, we should be guaranteed a top 3 place, giving us an advantage in the playoffs again though!

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Player of the Month
Liam Bishop

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Everyone's form dipped a bit this month, but it's Bishop that takes the award again after continuing a decent return in front of goal, scoring 3 this month and bagging an assist as well!


April Preview; We have a massive month ahead of us, playing 5 of our last 6 games! Huge games against Boreham Wood (2nd) and Dag & Red (4th) will shape our final position in the table!

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[Sam91]

Unlucky in the play offs mate. Currently doing a LL save with Boreham Wood and loving it

 

[FM_TNSSO]

April 2021

Sam91 - "Cheers fella...hopefully we'll do better in this year's playoffs! Boreham Wood have been ridiculous in my division this season, their squad is far too good for the National League South"

April 2021


Saturday 3rd April 2021
Vanarama National League South
Chesham United (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We kick off our final run of games in perfect fashion with a win over mid table Chesham, who have done well since coming up last year! Woking only managed a draw so it was 2 points gained on the leaders too!


Monday 5th April 2021
Vanarama National League South
Boreham Wood (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A 0-0 draw does neither of us any favours as we both try desperately to chase down Woking! I'm actually a little gutted we didn't win this one though as in the dying minutes of the game, both Norman Wabo and Josh Thomas missed one on one chances with the Boreham Wood keeper!


Saturday 10th April 2021
Vanarama National League South
Dagenham & Redbridge (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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After going 3-0 up, I thought we was going to throw this game when they pulled back to 3-3! However, we found another gear from there and bagged a couple more goals to win a thrilling game 5-3!! It was a big one for us as well with Dag & Red sitting 4th in the table and if they'd have beaten us here then our place in the top 3 would have been under threat!


Saturday 17th April 2021
Vanarama National League South
Dartford (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We were the better side here against 5th placed Dartford, but just couldn't find a winning goal despite increased pressure throughout the 2nd half!


Saturday 24th April 2021
Vanarama National League South
Chippenham Town (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A solid enough result at home and a good clean sheet for the lads against another side in the playoff places! 18 year old Tony Bird, a product of our youth academy picked up his 3rd goal of the month as the lad looks to be maturing well!


April Review; Considering the level of opposition this month playing 4 teams in the top 7 in the league, we've done ******* well to go the whole month unbeaten and I can't fault my lads at all! Taking 11 points from this run of games is an excellent effort! Unfortunately, it is only enough for us to remain 3rd which is where we'll finish this season, whilst it will be final day dramas for Woking and Boreham Wood to decide where the title and automatic promotion goes!

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Player of the Month
Tony Bird

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It's always good to see a youngster that has come through the academy and who you've given a shot to, playing well! And Tony Bird has played very well this month for us in his advanced playmaker role and I think this kid could have a big future with us if he continues to develop the way he has this season!


May Preview; The game against Bishop's Stortford is just a formality, but we'll have the excitement of another playoff campaign coming up next month as well!

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[FM_TNSSO]

May 2021

May 2021

Saturday 1st May 2021
Vanarama National League South
Bishop's Stortford (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Our final game of the season was a bit of an anticlimax, ending in a 1-1 draw with Bishop's Stortford who survive relegation!


Final League Table; Our final points tally of 85 points would have won us the league in my first season in charge, but this year it's only good enough to finish 3rd! Our biggest achievement of the season is probably the fact that we only lost 1 home game all year! Boreham Wood win the league on the final day of the season, so Woking will join us in the playoffs. Carshalton, Havant & Waterlooville and Salisbury are all relegated!

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Chippenham overcame Dartford 3-0 in the Playoff First Round and they'll be our opponents in the Playoff Semi Final!

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Saturday 8th May 2021
Playoff Semi Final
Chippenham Town (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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It was a dominant performance from us, even if the result wasn't that convincing! Still, who cares, we're through to the Playoff Final and that's all that matters! One game away from promotion!


It's Dagenham & Redbridge who await us in the Playoff Final after they beat Woking 5-3 (after extra time) in the other semi.

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Saturday 15th May 2021
Playoff Final
Dagenham & Redbridge (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Playoff heartbreak again for us! Despite being the much better side throughout and even playing extra time with an extra man, we couldn't get the job done and Dagenham beat us in the shootout! Billy O'Brien (Dagenham's keeper) single handedly kept them in this game pulling off fantastic save after fantastic save as he played the game of his life!!


Liam Bishop has had a great season on loan with us and the striker jumps straight into the starting lineup of the overall best eleven this year! Eddie Jones and Tobi Omole also make the starting lineup, whilst Jamie Reynolds makes the bench!

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Awards; Star centre back, Tobi Omole, wins the fans award, whilst our other new signing this season, Jamie Reynolds, takes 2nd place in what was a pretty tight vote! Omole cleaned up, taking the signing and young player of the season awards as well!

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Season Review; Again, the general consensus was that we had a great season. We were right up there from the off and in the top 3 pretty much all season!

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Board Confidence; My new boss is generally happy with my performance and won't be looking to replace me anytime soon!

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Budgets; No surprise that there is no money in the transfer kitty again, but the wage budget has been risen a little bit to enable me to make a couple of improvements to the squad.

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I finished runner up in the Manager of the Season award this year. That's all 3 seasons in charge that I've finished in the top 2, winning it once!

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Contract Signed; It's a new 1 year deal for centre back and captain, Ollie Cook!

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[FM_TNSSO]

English Football Roundup

English Football Roundup 2020/21


Premier League
Champions; Liverpool
Runners Up; Manchester City
Relegated; Fulham, Wolvesm Middlesbrough


Sky Bet Championship
Winners; Derby
Runners Up (Promoted); West Brom
Playoff Winners; Preston
Relegated; Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall, Burton


Sky Bet League One
Winners; Barnsley
Runners Up (Promoted); Birmingham
Playoff Winners; Rochdale
Relegated; Oxford United, Scunthorpe, Gillingham, AFC Wimbledon


Sky Bet League Two
Winners; Walsall
Promoted; Northampton, Cheltenham
Playoff Winners; Bury
Relegated; Cambridge United, Tranmere Rovers


Vanarama National League
Winners; Ebbsfleet
Playoff Winners; Salford City
Relegated; Wealdstone, Barrow, Eastleigh, Bromley


Vanarama National League North
Winners; Harrogate
Playoff Winners; Chester
Relegated; Hereford, Staylybridge, Alfreton



Vanarama National League South
Winners; Boreham Wood
Playoff Winners; Dag & Red
Relegated; Carshalton, Havant & Waterlooville, Salisbury


FA Cup
Winners; Liverpool
Runners Up; Arsenal


Carabao Cup
Winners; Manchester City
Runners Up; Spurs


Community Shield
Winners; Liverpool
Runners Up; Manchester City


Checkatrade Trophy
Winners; Swindon
Runners Up; Liverpool U23s


FA Trophy
Winners; Barnet
Runners Up; Harrogate
​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

June 2021

June 2021


Incoming Transfer; My first permanent signing of the Summer is right back Ryan Moore, who has been releaed by our senior affiliate club, Birmingham! Moore will come in as the number 1 right back for next season with Marcel Elva-Fountaine and Joe Felix both deciding that they are leaving the club this Summer as they're ****** we didn't get promoted (was an ambitious promise in their contracts from me). Moore is better than both Elva-Fountaine and Felix on paper, so it's an improvement to the squad overall! Ryan as has signed a 1 year deal worth £600 per week with us!

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Incoming Transfer; As mentioned above, both my right backs are leaving the club this Summer, so I needed to bring in a backup to new signing, Ryan Moore. That backup is Ben Nunn who will join on a free on 1st July! Ben has done well when he has played for Hungerford in our division this season and at a relatively cheap wage of £325 per week, he will do that same backup job for us!

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Incoming Loan; After he finished up as our top goalscorer last season, it was a no brainer to renew the loan deal for Liam Bishop for another season!

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Brexit; It's happened...the UK has now left the EU!

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Fixtures Day; Our opening 5 games for the new season could have been a **** of a lot harder and with all due respect to our opponents, we should be looking at a decent start to the campaign!

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A few player have been released after their contracts expired. As already mentioned, I've let go both right backs, centre back Jack Cowgill who hardly featured and striker Josh Thomas who I found to be a bit disappointing up top last season!

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July Preview; Whilst most of next month will be spent preparing the players in training for the new season, and keeping a close eye on the transfer market for improvements to the squad, we will also play 5 friendlies against mixed level of opposition!

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[FM_TNSSO]

July 2021

July 2021 (and a bit of August) - Pre Season


Incoming Loan; Taking advantage of our affiliation with Birmingham City, I bring in 18 year old striker Ryan Carson on a season long loan! His finishing is **** hot for this level and he has some good mental attributes as well...there's no reason why Ryan can't become the main man up front this season! We won't pay anything towards Carson's stay with us!

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Incoming Loan; I wanted a decent keeper to push Charlie Grainger for his starting place in the team this season and the man I've brought in to do that is Michael Luyambula! The 22 year old joins us from Birmingham City and with them being our senior affiliate we'll pay nothing towards his stay with us this season!

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Outgoing Transfer; Young attacking midfielder, Dylan Randall, has left the club on a free to join Linfield! I'm convinced I can bring in a better player for his position this season so was happy to let him leave!

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Incoming Transfer; We'll have no excuses in attack this season after another top notch striker joins the ranks! I've signed Callum Hendry on a free transfer after he was released by Eastleigh and he looks very good! I like to play with a pressing forward and Callum's work rate, teamwork, determination, tackling and aggression stats make him perfect for this role! He's not a bad finisher either to be fair to him! Hendry joins us on a 3 year deal and becomes our highest earner on £800 per week!

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The bookies have released their pre season odds and it's relegated Bromley that are the favourites to lift the title this season! They're expected to be chased him closely by Woking and us, who finished 2nd and 3rd last season! However, the odds are extremely tight (as they always seem to be at this level) and even Farnborough who are predicted 12th are only 7-1 to win the league!

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Liam Bishop is right up there among the favourites to finish top goalscorer this season!

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And centre back Tobi Omole is one of the favourites to win the Player of the Year award in this division!

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Pre season has gone as expected with wins over lower league opposition, but although we lost to Birmingham and Celtic, they were by no means dominant and we held our own in both games where we were expected to get smashed! We finish off with a 0-0 against Barnet, but we were the better side and it was encouraging for the start of the competitive campaign!

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Here's the squad I'm working with going into the start of the season. Plenty of quality in defence and attack, although the central midfield is lacking and is something I'll be looking to address in the transfer market. I strongly believe that in 4 seasons this is the best squad I've had at Hampton & Richmond and for me, nothing less than a title win will be acceptable this season, as I really don't want to have to go through the playoffs again!

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This year's media dream 11 finally has a Hampton & Richmond Borough players in it for the first time...Tobi Omole!! The team this year is a lot more mixed with players from Bromley, Eastleigh, Dartford and Woking also represented!

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August Preview; 6 games coming up in August and we'll be looking to get off to the best start possible!

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Expectations; The final thing on this update is the board's expectations. It seems my new boss is less demanding as he only requires a top half finish despite us being 3rd favourites for the title!

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​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

August 2021

August 2021


Saturday 7th August 2021
Vanarama National League South
Farnborough (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Left back, Jamie Reynolds, scored on the opening day of last season, and he repeated the feat this year giving us the lead on the stroke of half time with an absolute cracker from outside the box!! And despite us having another 21 shots at their goal, it was Reynolds strike that was the only goal of the game and gets us off to a winning start!


Another 4 extra season tickets sold this season! We're slowly, slowly crawling towards that big 100!

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Tuesday 10th August 2021
Vanarama National League South
East Thurrock United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 20439


Absolutely brilliant! Dominant from start to finish, solid defensively, and banged in 4 goals in attack! Best performance I've seen from my team in a long time!


Saturday 14th August 2021
Vanarama National League South
Slough Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 20438


Our first defeat of the season comes a lot earlier than I'd have liked, but Slough have started the season well and with this result make it 3 wins from their opening 3 games!


Saturday 21st August 2021
Vanarama National League South
Bishop's Stortford (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 20437


Stortford came into this in high spirits after an unbeaten start to the season, but we soon brought them back down to earth here! We looked at our best again following the disappointment against Slough, recording a comfortable 3-0 win!


Tuesday 24th August 2021
Vanarama National League South
Concord Rangers (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 20436


Our home form last season was superb and we've kicked off this season the same way with 3 wins from 3 at home already! Henry Cowans scored a cracking free kick to set us on our way and once Tony Bird had doubled our lead inside 25 minutes, it always looked like there would be only one winner from there with Concord offering very little!


Saturday 28th August 2021
Vanarama National League South
St.Albans City (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 20435


We tried and we tried to score for 90 long minutes with no joy and just as it looked like we would have to settle for a bad point, Ollie Cook steps up and heads home from a corner to give us the win!


August Review; Despite the blip against Slough, it's been a good month winning 5 of our opening 6 games and it means we finish the opening month of the season in 2nd place behind the team that managed to beat us! A good, solid start!

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Player of the Month
Henry Cowans

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Maybe I won't need to sign any central midfielders after all...well I definitely won't if Cowans keeps up this level of form! He's been terrific in our opening fixtures!


September Preview; Woking will present us with a tough game to kick off next month, whilst I won't look forward to the final game of the month against Torquay whom I have a pretty **** poor record against (only won 1 in 8).

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​

 

[Sam91]

Not again:O this season though! I can feel it, keep going my man

 

[FM_TNSSO]

September 2021

Sam91 - "Cheers mate. Hopefully this is our year!"

September 2021

Award; The National League South Player of the Month award for August went to Henry Cowans!

View attachment 19928


Saturday 4th September 2021
Vanarama National League South
Woking (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19927


Woking suffered almost identical fate to us last season...right in the mix until the very end and then playoff heartbreak! They, like us, have improved over the Summer and will surely be chasing the title win like ourselves! So away from home, this draw has to be seen as a good result, especially as they did the double over us last season!


Injury; Defensive midfielder, Nathan Orafu will miss the next 5-6 weeks after coming off injured against Woking!

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Injury; Left back, Jamie Reynolds also picked up an injury in the Woking game and will also miss up to 6 weeks of action!

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We will play Tonbridge Angels, a local side to me in real life (about 4 miles away), in the FA Cup in a couple of weeks!

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Tuesday 7th September 2021
Vanarama National League South
Basingstoke Town (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We absolutely got away with one here! We were awful and Basingstoke pretty much battered us for the whole game but through a Liam Bishop goal off the bench, we manage to nick the win! The message at the end of the game was clear though...we need to step it up against better opposition!


Saturday 11th September 2021
Vanarama National League South
Truro City (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19922


Again we weren't at our best, again we nick the win, again Liam Bishop is our goalscoring hero from the bench!


Saturday 18th September 2021
FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Tonbridge Angels (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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Plenty of rotation for this one and plenty of goals from the fringe players that came in as we comfortably seal our passage to the next round!


We'll go away to Wimborne Town in the next round of the FA Cup.

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Tuesday 21st September 2021
Vanarama National League South
Chesham United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19919


For the third league game in a row, we really weren't the better side, but somehow managed to win the game! Chesham created more and the better chances, but we were lucky that they couldn't take them, meaning that Liam Bellamy's strike for us grabbed all 3 points!


Saturday 25th September 2021
Vanarama National League South
Torquay United (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19918


This was a 1st vs 2nd top of the table clash at kick off and with the way we'd played over the past few games, I didn't fancy us. However, the lads did me proud and earned a hard fought win over out title rivals on their own turf. The stats suggest Torquay were well on top, but most of their shots were speculative long range efforts not even worthy of a highlight, whilst we created 2 clear cut opportunities and tucked them away with expert precision!


September Review; The football might not have been pretty this month, but the results and the league table make for attractive viewing! We sit top of the league after an unbeaten September, although there are a number of clubs that have made good starts and are right behind us!

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Player of the Month
Tobi Omole

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With our attacking play not being all that exciting this month, the award goes to our main centre back! Omole has had a huge impact on this squad since he joined us and the defender will be absolutely key in our title challenge this year!


October Preview; A busy month ahead with the next round of the FA Cup first up, before 6 league games including tough matches against Oxford City, Eastleigh and Bromley who all sit in the playoff spots!

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​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

October 2021

October 2021


Saturday 2nd October 2021
FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round
Wimborne Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19810


Easy enough, as expected. Complete domination and from the very start it just looked like a case of how many we'd score.


We go away to divisional rivals, Hungerford Town, in the next round of the FA Cup.

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Tuesday 5th October 2021
Vanarama National League South
Oxford City (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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A good draw away from home against a side that sit just behind us in the league! Liam Bishop kept up his excellent goalscoring run with his 6th goal in his last 7 games!


Saturday 9th October 2021
Vanarama National League South
Eastleigh (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19807


This was actually a pretty close game between two decent sides, but Eastleigh scored a couple of absolute bangers from well outside the box which was the difference on the day!


Saturday 16th October 2021
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
Hungerford Town (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19806


We simply weren't good enough and our FA Cup journey ends in the qualifying stages this year! Hungerford were good value for the win and we must do better!


Tuesday 19th October 2021
Vanarama National League South
Bromley (Away)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

View attachment 19805


This was an awful performance from us and we were lucky to only get beat by the single goal in the end!


Saturday 23rd October 2021
Vanarama National League South
Dartford (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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After the Bromley game, I called a team meeting in an attempt to boost the morale and it seemed to have worked as we record a good win over Dartford immediately afterwards! Henry Cowans and Ryan Carson were the star players here combining well from midfield to attack and both chipping in with goals and assists!


Tuesday 26th October 2021
Vanarama National League South
Wealdstone (Home)
Formation: 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond

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We were definitely the better side here, but struggled in front of goal. Wealdstone were much more clinical with their chances and it was the difference between the two sides on the day!


Incoming Transfer; I felt I needed an extra man in the midfield roles and after some extensive searching by my scouts, they suggested the signing of Prince Buaben. I liked the look of the experienced Ghanaian and he has now joined us on a free transfer with a pay as you play contract. Prince has played all of his career football at a much higher level and could bring some valuable experience to the club, having featured in over 320 games in the Scottish Premiership and English League One for Dundee Utd, Hearts, Southend and Lincoln.

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October Review; It's been a really poor month as we crashed out of the FA Cup at an earlier stage than I'd have liked, whilst only picking up a single win in the league, which sees us lose top spot in the table. We are still right in the mix though and if we can quickly put this month behind us, we'll stay in contention.

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Player of the Month
Henry Cowans

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With most of the team's individual performances dropping off this month, there was still one player who kept up his decent form and was head and shoulders above the rest! Cowans has really come on this season and is having his best campaign for me by a long way since joining the club!


November Preview; A quiet month ahead with only 4 games scheduled. Three in the league against sides in the bottom half of the table which should give us an opportunity to turn our form back around!

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​

 

[Yeti01]

Here's hoping Prince Buaben can help fire you to victory mate!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Here's hoping Prince Buaben can help fire you to victory mate!!

He looks like a very good addition to the squad and the experience he brings will be invaluable! Hoping he can rejuvenate the side back to form!