BEAVERS ON FIRE TO DOWSON DELIGHT BOSS
HAMPTON & RICHMOND boss Alan Dowson saluted his injury-hit squad after they sealed the double over in-form St Albans.
Both successes have seen the Beavers hit four; Saints going down to a 4-2 defeat at Clarence Park.
Nicke Kabamba got things going with goals either side of half-time before Tom Jelley and Brendan Kiernan completed the win.
But while the score looks impressive, Dowson was just grateful for three points. He told The NLP: “Yesterday we thought we only had 12 players.
“If they had scored first we could have been in trouble but we weathered the storm and I’ve got to praise the lads.
“We always score goals so whatever happens we’ve always got a goal in us.”
Hampton may have led 1-0 at the break but Saints had had more shots.
Within 60 seconds, Junior Morias had forced a frantic clearance and Graeme Montgomery had fired just wide. When they did get efforts on target, they found home keeper Billy Bishop in fine form.
Kabamba’s goal was scrappy, poking it home from close range after James Russell had parried a deflected free-kick from the left wing.
And they could have gone in at the break with an even better lead but Kiernan’s fine curling shot rebounded off the bar.
What St Albans needed was a lightning start to the second period. What they got was Kabamba’s second.
It was one to forget for Russell. The keeper had everything under control after Josh Hill had made a block to deny Jamal Lowe. But he failed to gather and Kabamba poked in through a crowed area.
A brief City fightback followed but ended when Hampton got a third.
A loose back-pass by Tom Bender saw Kiernan get to the ball first and go round Russell.
His shot hit the retreating full-back’s hand, earning his side a penalty and the City man an early bath. Jelley missed the spot-kick but scored from the rebound and with City in disarray, Kiernan completed the rout, firing a low drive home from the edge of the area. And they could have had a fifth, but Nathan Collier’s shot came back off the goal frame.
For City boss Ian Allinson it was all about silly errors. He said: “I felt the first third goals were all individual mistakes and then it’s 3-0 and we’re a man down.” STAR MAN: Brendan Kiernan (Hampton) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★