Slough Town 1 Hampton & Richmond 1

[GlenSTFC]

A decent performance in what must have been difficult playing conditions. We certainly had chances to win it but you could argue so did they, so maybe a point is fair. Also pleasing was the crowd of 866, hopefully any newbies will be tempted back.

[Stan]

Thought we did enough second half to deserve a win. First 30 mins they were hurting us on the break but we settled down after our goal and second half we looked much more solid. Good crowd considering they only brought about 100. Tough night Tuesday to come but bring it on .

[Guest Wycombe Rebel]

First game in a new division and a positive result in unbearable heat, well done boys!

[Irishadrian]

I thought we would win and both sets of Twitterfeed suggest we were wasteful of chances H&R certainly didn't play as if they had 10 players making their first league appearance and another his first since the autumn of 2010 Still we have started with a point on one of those might have been days. We still have six teams to play this month and none of them won today so some optimism called for Chippenham went down 4-2 so looking forward to that one

[PaxtonLee]

Thought we started bright but hit straight away with a sucker punch. It then felt we went rather direct to work our way back into the game. Needs must and the hot conditions dictate so won't be harsh for that. Then thought we were the more likely team to win it. No real stand out performer, for me, a solid team effort.

[PaxtonLee]

On a side note, I like Ben Harris's workrate and attitude but certain antics are starting to grate with me. The middle finger to the right back after needlessly kicking him in the corner was cringeworthy and I was amazed at the vitriol from our fans at the No 6 after Harris bought that 2nd half free kick where he stopped dead in his tracks to get walloped by the chasing defender. I'm all for being biased in favour of your team but that was laughable.

[Irishadrian]

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Edited August 4, 2018 by Irishadrian

[Guest Wycombe Rebel]

On a side note, I like Ben Harris's workrate and attitude but certain antics are starting to grate with me. The middle finger to the right back after needlessly kicking him in the corner was cringeworthy and I was amazed at the vitriol from our fans at the No 6 after Harris bought that 2nd half free kick where he stopped dead in his tracks to get walloped by the chasing defender. I'm all for being biased in favour of your team but that was laughable.

Have to agree, his antics are not in keeping with the rest of the squad BUT sometimes a player of this type is needed as other teams will have players that try these antics on us! The middle finger gesture should be stamped out though, not a good example in my opinion to younger fans!

[C'est la vie]

On a side note, I like Ben Harris's workrate and attitude but certain antics are starting to grate with me. The middle finger to the right back after needlessly kicking him in the corner was cringeworthy and I was amazed at the vitriol from our fans at the No 6 after Harris bought that 2nd half free kick where he stopped dead in his tracks to get walloped by the chasing defender. I'm all for being biased in favour of your team but that was laughable.

Agree with you on this PaxtonLee. Ben Harris is a talented footballer but must cut out some of these antics. The diving gets to me, just gets tedious after a while. Today I think it actually affected his game as he was more interested in trying to win a foul or wind up the opposition.

[PaxtonLee]

Have to agree, his antics are not in keeping with the rest of the squad BUT sometimes a player of this type is needed as other teams will have players that try these antics on us! The middle finger gesture should be stamped out though, not a good example in my opinion to younger fans!

Fair point, you need some attitude in the team. I worry that he could cause a serious injury with the way he works a position to get fouled by a player going at pace or in the air. Pretty sure that might be why the Boreham Wood player went for him in pre season.

[Guest Wycombe Rebel]

Fair point, you need some attitude in the team. I worry that he could cause a serious injury with the way he works a position to get fouled by a player going at pace or in the air. Pretty sure that might be why the Boreham Wood player went for him in pre season.

Again, I agree with you, an accident waiting to happen!

[SloughFlyer]

Thought the boys looked good today. A H+R team that only wanted to go long and have the #9 win headers to play off was a bit of a surprise, but thought the defence coped very well.

 

On the way to the game we were saying that in this league it wi be key to take our chances, but alas today it wasn't to be. We 100% did enough to win the game, but just didn't kill them off.

 

On Ben Harris, the type of player that you love if he is on your side and hate to play against. I love his work rate and the edge he plays with, and think he wouldn't be the player he is without this in his game, long may it continue and hopefully be backed up with some goals soon.

 

On the free kick mentioned above, a shocking refereeing decision, as this should have been a free kick to H+R. I did think though that the ref had a solid 7/8 out of 10 performance today and was a marked improvement on many we had last season.

 

All in all, a bit of a missed opportunity to take all 3 points, but a very good performance and 1 point put us 1 point better than last season already LOL

 

Roll on Tuesday night and the first away game.

[3spirit]

On a side note, I like Ben Harris's workrate and attitude but certain antics are starting to grate with me. The middle finger to the right back after needlessly kicking him in the corner was cringeworthy and I was amazed at the vitriol from our fans at the No 6 after Harris bought that 2nd half free kick where he stopped dead in his tracks to get walloped by the chasing defender. I'm all for being biased in favour of your team but that was laughable.

 

Couldn't agree more.

No one minds Ben having an edge to his game but frankly a couple of his challenges were embarassing,that one with the young Hampton number 6 was cringeworthy.

And what's with this diving all the time? He fooled the ref for good while but even that wore thin in the second  half, I was glad when he got subbed.

What I can't make out is why he keeps doing it because he could be one of our better players if he got on with the game.

 

On the game itself. it was never going to be a classic in those scorching conditions but I thought Slough edged the game but struggled to get the second goal. Chris Flood deserved to score after he did his Ricky Villa impression by twisting and turning three Hampton players to get his shot away which unfortunately hit the post. I thought Floody put in a decent shift and was among our best on the day.

My man of the match was Simon Dunn. He covered a lot of ground and did a lot of unsung work.

We got caught out for the Hampton goal, a mix up between Sam Togwell  and Josh Jackman but after taking the wind out of our sails for awhile,both players grew into the match and Josh in particular played well.

 

On to the next one.

[HorshamRebel]

Match photos

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horshamrebel/albums/72157699443325034

[Irishadrian]

Only Chelmsford and Welling had higher gates today

[maidenheadrebel]

Thought we could have got three points just a bit unlucky with a couple chances hitting the wood work.

Re BH my view he needs to control his game as at this level or he won't last. At least two decisions should have gone against him today and not the other way.

Did not like to see a few balls just hit out of our defence, to no one and to nowhere early on. Luckily I think their forwards ran out of ideas in the second half. Saying all that a good start.

[Radders]

We’ve put up with enough crap from opposing teams where we are always saying ‘we need someone a little nastier in there’ (Callum Donnelly for one). Ben Harris has received 2 yellow cards in 13 appearances for us so either he fools a lot of refs or maybe he’s just good at reading a game and when oppo teams have one or two players out of their depth (number 6 today for example) and utilising that by playing on the edge. You’re right, I’d hate for us to be playing against him but, for once, we are not so I will take it tbh!!!

[Neil Baker]

Exactly what the Hampton Manager said after the game... Ben is a top local lad, and extremely well liked within the changing room.... yes he plays on the edge, he will however also be the most fouled player in our league this season, and when you have a player like Dobbo whipping balls in from dangerous areas, this is a big things to have.

[redwine rebel]

Hes liked outside the changing rooms as well xx

[Irishadrian]

In fairness to Ben Harris there are no adverse comments on his playing behaviour anywhere in H&Rs detailed match report or anywhere on their fans forum or other social media and its usually the opposition who complain loudest