Those Were The Days; 24th January 1998

[Les1949]

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
24th January 1998

Isthmian (ICIS) League; Division 1

Barton Rovers 1 (Wheeler, 85’) Hampton 1 (Vines, 19’ ) Att; 75

Hampton;-
Mark Russell; John Crouch, Barry Moore, Peter Wood, Steve Cheshire, Craig Reilly, Robin Lewis, Ian Savage, Francis Vines, Roy Jellow (Paul Jennings, 78’), Nick Burton.
Unused Subs; Warren Drew, Dave Rattue

The first task for Hampton’s Manager, Chick Botley, on arrival at Barton’s Sharpenhoe Road ground was to request that their groundsman fill a hole in the middle of the pitch. Sadly, not much could be done about the rest of the bumpy and muddy pitch. Despite the vagaries of the pitch Hampton did try to keep the ball on the ground and it paid off in the 19th minute. Hampton were playing down the slope and a delightful exchange between Vines and Moore led to Vines controlling the ball on his knee, taking the ball into the penalty area and finishing with a crisp shot past Barton’s keeper, Gary Turner. Vines almost repeated the dose six minutes later but Reilly was unable to get his shot on target. Playing up the slope in the second half Hampton were unable to generate much in the way of chances. In the 56th minute Moore crashed a free-kick against the crossbar and ten minutes from time a strong run by Jellow was stopped when Turner came out bravely at his feet. A one goal lead never seemed enough especially with Referee Downs willingness to award free-kicks against the visitors. Five minutes from time, one of those paid off when Kevin Wheeler got on to the end of one to deprive Hampton of a valuable two points.


The Old Historian