Eastleigh 1-1 Hampton & Richmond

EASTLEIGH 1-1 HAMPTON & RICHMOND BOROUGH

SATURDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2011

Blue Square Bet South

Match report by Jamie Montigue

Ian Baird was left ruing “two points dropped” at the end of today’s encounter between the Spitfires, (who came into the game on the back of two defeats) and bottom of the table Hampton & Richmond (who had registered just two points from eight games prior to today’s ‘six-pointer’).

Eastleigh made two changes to the starting line-up who were defeated 3-0 away to Dartford last weekend. The Spitfires welcomed Danny Smith back from injury and handed a debut to new loan signing Graeme Montgomery from Aldershot Town. The 23-year-old left sided midfielder joined the club this week and linked up with fellow Shots loanee Henrik Breimyr at the Silverlake Stadium. Breimyr has had his loan stay extended into a second month following a string of impressive performances in midfield and at right-back.

Former Havant & Waterlooville midfielder Shaun Wilkinson also joined Eastleigh at the end of this week and was named on the bench this afternoon.

The game began with Eastleigh on the front foot as a cross-field pass into the path of Richard Gillespie saw the Spitfires striker opt for an early shot towards goal. Gillespie’s effort had to be turned over the bar for a corner kick by Hampton goalkeeper Rodney Chiweshe.

In the early stages of the game, the first impressions of Montgomery were positive. Graeme has a good left foot, a dangerous cross and excellent set-piece delivery (both from corners, free kicks and even a long throw in!). His style of play is not too dissimilar to that of Tony Taggart, now of Sutton United.

Eastleigh looked to get the ball into the box at every opportunity from wide positions in the first half and managed to force several corner kicks through out the game.

Breimyr, who again looked composed on the football, played a neat pass into Jamie Slabber inside the opening 10 minutes, who in turn struck the foot of the post with an effort from 18-yards; though the flag went up for offside anyway.

With 19 minutes played, a good effort from Montgomery saw the winger spin his marker with a good turn on the edge of the penalty area before seeing his right foot shot saved low save by Chiweshe.

The closest Hampton had come to a goal, saw Jacob Erskine’s header watched comfortably wide of the target by Eastleigh goalkeeper Gareth Barfoot midway through the half.

Eastleigh continued to be the better side. A fine delivery from impressive debutant Montgomery narrowly evaded the head of Richard Gillespie in the centre. Then in the 33^rd minute, Gillespie worked an opening for himself cutting in from the left and firing a high shot just over the bar.

The Spitfires took the lead ten minutes before the break when JAMIE SLABBER broke the deadlock with a flicked header to beat the keeper. The goal came from Montgomery’s free kick that picked out Slabber, who with his back to goal used the back of his head to find the net with a good finish.

As the half came to a close, Gillespie’s snapshot from the left forced another Eastleigh corner.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 1-0 Hampton & Richmond Borough

After the break, Hampton & Richmond captain Matt Ruby was perhaps a shade fortunate to have only been shown a yellow-card despite what looked to be a dangerous lunge on Andrew White.

A quickly taken free kick by Henrik Breimyr and Graeme Montgomery down the left hand side nearly paid off for the hosts in the 49^th minute, before Eastleigh were pegged back following a fine individual effort from NATHAN COLLIER.

With Eastleigh’s Andrew White in some pain clutching his leg, the Beavers proceeded to attack with the end product resulting in a sublime equalising goal from Collier, whose solo run saw the winger stick the ball in the top corner.

Hampton & Richmond’s game plan saw them sit deep defensively and look for opportunities on the counter attack. Having drawn level, the visitors had a decent attempt from Aaron Morgan kept out by Barfoot a minute shy of the hour mark.

Eastleigh had chances to restore their lead when Graeme Montgomery's dangerous corner caused all sorts of problems in the Hampton six-yard box. The ball fell for Jamie Slabber, who couldn't quite turn the ball home with his back to goal.

Andy Forbes then thumped a thunderous volley against the inside of the post showing his attacking instincts, despite now playing in defence.

Eastleigh made three substitutions with Jordace Holder-Spooner providing width off the bench and later Sam Wilson and new signing Shaun Wilkinson also coming on in place of Andrew White, Richard Gillespie and Billy Tsovolos respectively.

The game was finely balanced at 1-1 with ten or so minutes to play, which resulted in an exciting close to the game with both sides coming close to winning all three points following end to end football.

In the 78^th minute, Forbes made an excellent tackle to prevent Collier a clear strike at goal before Eastleigh went straight up the field and came so close through Slabber. Last season’s top goal scorer showed exceptional footwork inside the penalty area to the right of goal to make space for the shot, which went agonisingly wide with his weaker right foot.

Nathan Collier proved to be the biggest threat for Hampton & Richmond with his trickery and pace proving very useful time and again as the visitors played on the break. David Tarpey fired a long-range effort wide of goal before Ross Bottomley made an important intervention to deal with a high ball that nearly fell kindly for Billy Jeffreys.

With two minutes of normal time to play, Hampton substitute Stuart Duff was denied by a low save from Barfoot, whilst at the opposite end, Eastleigh’s Montgomery shot wide of the post coming off of the right flank.

Into injury time, there was still plenty of action with Danny Smith twice coming close to sealing victory for Eastleigh. His first effort was stunning and had to matched by an equally impressive, athletic save to stop goal bound effort from flying into the top corner.

Holder-Spooner then teed up Smith who again let fly with another cracking effort that went just past the upright.

Eastleigh pushed hard for a winner late in the game with skipper Tom Jordan also having a header cleared off the line, but it wasn’t to be and now the Spitfires must focus on an away trip to former manager Paul Doswell’s Sutton United on Tuesday night.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 1-1 Hampton & Richmond Borough